Fragments of Ash by Katy Regnery

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Title: Fragments of Ash
Author: Katy Regnery
Series: A Modern Fairytale #7
Published by: Indie
Release Date: October 1, 2018
Format: eARC
Pages: 268
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Potential Triggers: View Spoiler »Violence, Physical Abuse, behind scenes sexual abuse « Hide Spoiler
Source: Give Me Books Promotions
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2018 #LetsReadIndie Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 New Adult Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 New Release Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:

Blurb:

From New York Times bestselling author Katy Regnery comes a dark and twisted retelling of the beloved fairytale, Cinderella!

My name is Ashley Ellis…

I was thirteen years old when my mother – retired supermodel, Tig – married Mosier Răumann, who was twice her age and the head of the Răumann crime family.

When I turned eighteen, my mother mysteriously died. Only then did I discover the dark plans my stepfather had in store for me all along; the debauched “work” he expected me to do.

With the help of my godfather, Gus, I have escaped from Mosier’s clutches, but his twin sons and henchmen have been tasked with hunting me down. And they will stop at nothing to return my virgin body to their father

…dead or alive.

** Contemporary Romance. Due to profanity and very strong sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18.** 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Fragments of Ash is part of the ~a modern fairytale~ collection: contemporary, standalone romances inspired by beloved fairy tales.

My Review:

I received a free copy through Give Me Books Promotions in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

4.5 stars — So I’ve had an up and down ride with Ms. Regnery’s fairytales, and I was worried about whether this one was going to be a hit for me or not.  I am so extremely relieved to say I LOVED it!  It sucked me in right from the start, and made it hard to put down when I got tired reading in bed!!  I just wanted to know how our fair Ashley was going to fair, and the ending was so worth it!!

As is clearly noted in the blurb, this is a dark story.  I’ve added trigger warnings to my review, but I feel that the blurb does an adequate job of giving the correct feel for the book, so there should be no unexpected surprises.  I appreciated that while we learn enough to understand the horror that is living with Mosier, and there are a few disturbing and uncomfortable scenes, Ms. Regnery does not sensationalize the darkness, or use it for shock value…or at least I didn’t feel she did.

Ashley was an interesting heroine to follow.  Her upbringing molded her into a very naive and sheltered young woman…and I truly felt that.  The religious views she held often made me uncomfortable, and I’m not sure how I feel about the role religion played in the story…but I tried explaining my feelings in an earlier rendition of this review, and it just got convoluted, so I’ll leave it at that.  Ashley was a perfect example of a troubled young woman who’s trying so hard to become the opposite of her mother.  I fully understood how she came to be who she was.  I can’t decide how I feel about the constant reminders of her beauty.  I understand why it was there…it is an element of who Cinderella is.  But it felt…odd.  However, I loved the way she tackled it when talking to Julian.  And she truly exhibited the kindness that Cinderella is also known for.  In the end I liked her, but I had reservations about her.

Julian, on the other hand, was pretty easy to love.  Even though he enters the story further in, I felt like we still got to know who he was and what he was about.  I was glad that his cold attitude wasn’t dragged out too long.  I thought the glimpses we saw of his backstory, and seeing him with his sister really helped to make him well rounded, and easy to love.

Their romance was actually pretty sweet in the end.  I mean, yes, we got the steam as well.  But the parts I loved the most were their connections over conversations…their smiles and crushing on one another.  Even though the romance was fast in some ways, I believed in it, especially under the circumstances in which it developed.  They gave me butterflies, and little smiles, and had me rooting for them to work out.  Their romance felt true, and selfless.

Oftentimes I’m more about the characters than the plot in a story, but I actually felt like the underlying plot was very compelling…it had a great suspense feel, with just enough breaks to give us some character development.  I was also surprised that I ended up enjoying the little interludes with Ashley’s mother’s diary, and seeing the twists that story took that, while hinted at, was still more intriguing that I anticipated.

Shout out to a strong set of secondary characters, from Father Joe to Gus and Jock to Noelle to even a certain love interest.  They all added to the story and to the development of our main characters.

So yeah.  I’m a pretty happy girl.  It’s always nice when you go into a book with reservations and then are pleasantly surprised and blown away!