I loved this. So so cheesy and so so good. The way that St. Clair incorporated so many Fairy Tale stereotypes humorously was so fun. Can't wait to read the next one. ( )

[bc:Mountains Made of Glass|84354929|Mountains Made of Glass (Fairy Tale Retelling, #1)|Scarlett St. Clair|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1674837828l/84354929._SY75_.jpg|108897074]

I do not even know where to start, this book had me by the throat and would not let go until I finished it. If I am being honest it still has a hold one me. I absolutely loved Casamir and Gesela. This fairytale retelling felt like no fairytale I had ever read before while at the same time bringing with it a sense of familiarity as it wove together bits and pieces of so many beloved tales.

We meet Gesela shortly before she is sent to break a curse that has befallen her village, one of many, however each curse broken comes with consequences for the one who broke it. The consequences for having broken the curse that has befallen the village this time finds Gesela face to face with five Elven Princes, the brothers of the cursed prince she killed in order to break the curse. As punishment for killing their brother she is sent to be the prisoner of the seventh brother. But, to earn her freedom she must speak his name within in seven days. However, there is a catch...

She must speak his name in love in order to set him free as well.

This story was so beautiful, it had me wanting to smack Casamir for being an idiot but loving him in the same breath. I love Gesela, watching her struggle with her feelings for Casamir and slowly realizing everything he gave her or was willing to do for her so that she never need know pain again. Not only were Casamir and Gesela beautifully written but this book is also full of amazing side characters some you will love and others that you will love to hate. Each though brings something to the story that drives it forward and makes the ending all the more beautiful.

The spice in this story was just perfect and it never felt forced. I loved that it was in these moments that saw the characters growing closer that they also struggled with what that meant for them. That while they could appreciate the passion, desire and longing that they felt for each other that they were still hesitant to admit that those feelings may actually be the product of something far stronger growing between them.

There is so much I want to say about this book but I am terrible at telling people all of my favorite parts so that they will read a book, so I shall stop here to avoid any spoilers. Just know that this book is the beautiful beginning of something far larger. ( )

Mountains Made of Glass by Scarlett St. Clair
This is a relatively short read, and it’s a fairytale retelling with quite a bit of spice. It’s a mix of Rumpelstiltskin and Beauty and the Beast. Gesella is a young woman who the village people throw down a well to kill a toad to get rid of a curse. Well she kills the toad, but it turns out that he was a elven prince (one of seven) who was cursed. The brothers show up and send her to the seventh brother (a beast) for punishment. She has to solve the riddle of his true name in seven days.
It’s a clever way to retell these two stories, and I think the author did a fabulous job writing it. She captured the intense emotions of love, and how it changes a person. Wishes, promises, and how things are worded play a big role in the story, where everything has consequences (positive or negative). Overall, I enjoyed the romance.
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Spice: 4/5 ( )

Gesela, who has a bit of fae blood, is scorned and isolated in her village of Elk. She is believed to have been cursed, and thus villagers are just waiting for an excuse to get rid of her. In particular, Sheriff Roland of Elk wants revenge because Gesela has repeatedly rejected his sexual advances. Thus when the town needs a “sacrifice” to break the curse of the well having run dry, Gesela is “chosen.” She has to kill the toad at the bottom of the well, but it turns out the toad is an Elven prince under a curse of his own, and his brothers - there were originally seven in all - want retribution after she does the deed.

Five of the brothers take Gesela and banish her to live with the remaining brother, whom they call The Beast. The Beast, whose human name is Casamir, was cursed by the Glass Mountains. He only has five more days for someone to guess his real name, or he will forget it, and then he will cease to exist. Moreover, the person who guesses it has to be in love with him. And if he ceases to exist, Gesela will never be free, so their fates are tied together.

At first, Gesela detests Casamir. Or at least, she claims she hates him. She also feels irresistible lust for him, only enhanced after he repeatedly sexually harasses her. Under his heated gaze and with his heated thrusting into her, she feels like “someone.” But can she grow to love him and guess his name in time? Can he love her? After all, neither of them has known love in their lives - only loss and cruelty.

Well, we can see where this is going. But all that lust and angst and tension keeps us turning the pages anyway.

On the one hand, this is a mash-up of fairytale retellings and a very hot romance, with explicit details. But to my mind, and more importantly, it is a stereotypical story from pre-Me-Too days of the appeal of the rapey bad boy.

Typically such plots involve a Byronic hero who is powerful and attractive, yet flawed in ways most notably exemplified in the life and writings of Lord Byron. This hero (often a vampire, but an Elven Lord works as well) is moody, dark, cynical, independent, masterful, and has a mysterious past that not only gives him much pain but has made “love” almost impossible for him. But he is also absolutely magnetic and sexually irresistible. He can be cruel, too, but who can blame him, given all the grief festering inside him? Not we readers, surely!

Furthermore, we know that only a very extraordinary woman [such as each of us secretly is] can get this guy to open up to her and let himself feel love. [The fact that the young woman is usually surly and obnoxious but beautiful adds to her appeal for the Bad Boy.]

This woman has the potential to pull such a hero out of the abyss in which he passes his days and long nights, falling in love with him in spite of his stern demeanor, dark past, and sexual abuse. The reward? She is needed by him, more than she has ever been needed by anyone. And she thereby is “someone.”

Look at what this fantasy says about the women who find it appealing:

1. We may want agency and importance, but these desires pale besides the attractiveness of enticing otherwise recalcitrant men and then wallowing in sexual submission to their uncontrollable desires;

2. Besides, then we not only realize the triumph of having broken through the man’s supposedly impenetrable barriers, but we also have power conferred upon us by being his woman (and the one who finally conquered him!);

3. We find his sexual violation, especially if it involves “ravishment,” erotic and irresistable rather than traumatic and horrific (adding to and reflecting the cultural acceptance of the rape defense of "Hey, don't blame me! She wanted it!");

4. Only we can provide redemption for this tortured man.

Gesela is not the weak, fainting sort, and yet clearly there is in this book the association of sexual arousal with her subordination. At one point, we have the somewhat startling passage:

“As much as I hated to surrender to this creature, lying beneath him right now, it only seemed right. ‘Choke me,’ I said. He did not need encouragement. . . I thought I might die from the rush of pleasure that blossomed throughout my body, only growing in intensity as he continued to press on either side of my neck.”

After this fiery encounter, Gesela asks (or rather, “moans”) “What kind of magic is this?” “This is not magic,” he responds, “This is need." She thinks, “If this was need, I had never known it before, but I was certain I could not live without it . . . .”

Gesela understood Casamir was "demanding my complete submission. I was ready for it."

There is a long history of men promulgating male privilege and sexual dominance, but this book was written by a woman. That isn’t a mystery; androcentric media has affected women on both conscious and subconscious levels, influencing what they have grown to believe is romantic and/or erotic, and what they define as "success" in life. Thus male domination is a turn-on for *both* men and women. [The dynamic is aided by women wearing sheer, revealing clothing (featured aplenty in this book) and assuming physical positions of submission.] Men can’t resist these women (no matter how surly), and other women want to emulate them. Being “hot” is equated with success and self-esteem, just as Gesela feels being ravished by Casamir makes her “someone.”

What about the fact that these women almost always have unpleasant personalities, being rebellious, stubborn, and often insufferable? I would guess this is the author’s way of establishing the “independence” of the woman, as well as giving the male hero more of a challenge to “conquer.”

Evaluation: Fairytale retellings are generally appealing; after all, there is a reason they have remained part of culture for so long. And if you are looking for hot sex and have never been sexually abused or harassed in any way so you aren’t offended by the social dynamics of the story, you will find this story entertaining. ( )

The book is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and the closest comparison I have to it is ACOTAR. Shocking, right? Our main character, Ela, has absolutely no one in the world. Her sister and her parents are dead, and the village seems to fear her family and the woods surrounding them. A curse claims a villager every year, egged on, of course, by the more powerful sacrificing the weaker ones, and this year it’s Ela’s turn.

Instead of kissing the frog (I loved the inclusion of that tale), Ela has to kill it, which she does. But the frog has six elven brothers ready to avenge him, with five of them appearing to send her to their brother, the beast of the story, as a slave. Ela can either be free in a week if she guesses his name right, or he’ll forget his name and fade into oblivion, but she doesn’t know that for the most part.

We know how the story will go; this is a fairy tale retelling; there is a happy ending. But there is a reason why we read and don’t use those stupid book summary apps; we enjoy the path the author takes to get us there. St Clair builds a good worldbuilder! She grounds it things we’ve heard about and then takes it away from there to something magical and horrible at the same time. Wolf is the only decent thing there; everyone wants something and is constantly bartering to get it, whether that is the selkie or even the prince. Nothing is gentle and pretty; beautiful things are cruel, as is expected of them.

The fairy tale elements keep coming in with a sentient magic mirror and the beast’s acquaintances that remind him that the way to win a woman’s heart is probably not just through cruelty; you need to be gentle and have tact and patience and a bunch of other things. In that regard, I also felt for the prince and his role in this fairytale; a prisoner trying to return to a princess he does not love.

Fundamentally, Mountains Made of Glass is the adult version of Beauty and the Beast and is done well enough for me to understand this author’s hype. I thoroughly recommend it, and I’m leaving it four stars out of five, and I will try to start A Touch of Darkness soon! ( )