THE FROG BECOMES A PRINCE AND CINDERELLA RESCUES HERSELF -- SORT OF
**3.75 stars**
“In this fairytale, he catches the princess and does very, very filthy things to her.”
If the glass slipper fits … I ended up loving this wack job couple and their twisted fairytale from the romance angle. Winston was no prince in the first book. He turned me off, and Ash was too much of a lovestruck, insta-love pushover. The fairytale seemed unrecoverable, but then I was charmed by the second book and their slowly disarming romance. Cold and cruel Winston finally caught feelings in constant denial, and their transactional relationship transformed into a cute partnership, complete with smexy times and a tiny little guard bird named Shrimp. He and that bird were priceless. I laughed, swooned, and fist-pumped at the gradual thawing of Winston’s heart, while Ash’s spirited sass kept him on his toes and always coming back for more. She read him like she wrote the manual, and he was defenseless against her spunk. How masterfully she sweetly played the long game of true love and taught him things about himself with confidence and certainty that only an unjaded 18 year old could. She always knew what he tried to deny. Nothing has tickled me as much as the “whore apartment” and Ash spinning it around to use against Winston. Twisted fairytales are the best kind.
Winston was a such a lovably sarcastic and grumpy bastard. Their snark was a hoot -- funny or dramatic. What could be better than a villainous prince, a sassy Cinderella, and a cutesy bird?
“The girl who stormed into my world leaving a trail of Starburst wrappers, pink feathers, and a whole lot of fucking attitude.”
After that cliffy in Prince Charming, I expected some real fireworks and drama from all the betrayals, but the plot never really got off the ground after 3 books' worth of buildup. All that stuff about her dad and evil stepmother, and the terror triplets was compounded by Winston’s business rivalry with another family, but it ended up all tell and no show. It’s a problem for me when a trilogy stretches a story beyond its limits in a disappointing payoff. There were some interesting surprise twists for Ash, her family and Winston. Only wish they’d been better developed instead of rushing it all at the end.
The romance by itself was the best part with Winston dragging his feet to love, and Ash propping him up all the way. There was poetic justice to Ash’s untraditional damsel in distress role and end rescue with a twist that added to her independence. Who cares who rescues whom or how it happens? It shouldn’t have been a trilogy and the end drama was hokey, but I loved their romance. And that epilogue was a sweet slice of the future for the charmed couple.
“We’re not good. That’s not who we are. We’re bad, but don’t worry, we’re really really good at it.”