I was eight when I quit believing in fairy tales. Being raped will do that. After years of abuse for sexual profit, I never dreamed of meeting my prince at a magical ball. But when midnight strikes can Charm break the curse…or must I learn to save myself?
Rosie Thinks: With this story's Cinderella-esque theme and use of Disney quotes, it practically belongs on this site! (Because we all know how much we love Disney). But instead of being a fluffy fairy tale, it's more closely related to the old, original fairy tales with the main character, Eloise, being a prostitute from the age of 8. It's a story of a woman's journey of healing and learning to love. It's not so much about her leaving her life as a prostitute, which she was forced into, as it is about a woman struggling with a dark past to find that she does deserve to be loved. The author manages to capture Eloise's trials and insecurities perfectly, highlighting how much she changes from the beginning to the end.
CassandraRose526 also manages to express her emotions perfectly - you feel Eloise's pain, nervousness and happiness like it's your own. I found it a nice change that at the beginning, for once, the main girl was the one throwing herself at the guy. Each chapter has a great structure, with a kind of summing up of each chapter written like Cinderella at the beginning, then a flashback to the past and her father, before finally going back to the 'present day'. I have never seen a story set out like this and I thought it gave amazing insight and depth into the story, and I absolutely adored the quotes from Disney, Lilo and Stitch, the Little Princess, Enchanted, and many more.
I also loved how Eloise's love interest, Jared, doesn't play games or leave things unsaid. Instead, he's upfront from the beginning about how he feels towards Eloise. I was a bit hesitant to read it at first, due to the story's dark themes, but I found it truly heart-breaking and that you could lose yourself in it. The story speaks to you, in the trial scene especially, in which I was alternatively crying or biting my nails. From the amount of detail in the story and the raw emotion, you can tell CassandraRose526 really does know what she's talking about, and she even says in an author's note that this story was inspired by the human trafficking classes she's been taking. I can't think of anything negative about this story, other than maybe two word omissions, but that really is stretching it to find something bad! The interaction between the two main characters, Eloise and Jared, is beautiful and realistic, and their relationship also undergoes visible changes as Eloise learns to stand on her two feet.
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