I have heard so much about Scarlett St. Clair so I was so excited when this showed up in my mailbox. And wow this was a rollercoaster of mixed feelings and complex thoughts. Keep reading this book review of Mountains Made of Glass for my full thoughts.
Summary
All Gesela’s life, her home village of Elk has been cursed. And it isn’t a single curse—it is one after another, each to be broken by a villager, each with devastating consequences. When Elk’s well goes dry, it is Gesela’s turn to save her town by killing the toad that lives at the bottom. Except… the toad is not a toad at all. He is an Elven prince under a curse of his own, and upon his death, his brothers come for Gesela, seeking retribution.
As punishment, the princes banish Gesela to live with their seventh brother, the one they call the beast. Gesela expects to be the prisoner of a hideous monster, but the beast turns out to be exquisitely beautiful, and rather than lock her in a cell, he offers Gesela a deal. If she can guess his true name in seven days, she can go free.
Gesela agrees, but there is a hidden catch—she must speak his name with love in order to free him, too.
But can either of them learn to love in time?
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Okay, so my review of Mountains Made of Glass comes with caveats and lots of ‘buts’. I want to start off by saying that I am always in the mood for a ‘fairy tale’ or ‘folk tale’ retelling and this one is Beauty and the Beast through and through. Not going to lie, when I read the synopsis, I thought it would be Rumpelstiltskin. And for the most part, I think Mountains Made of Glass is full of or made up of elements of a few different fairy tales. But if I had known it leaned more towards Beauty and the Beast I’m not sure I’d have picked it up.
I am not a huge fan of Beauty and the Beast and I have read a bunch of retellings with, honestly, a mixed bag of success. Is this relatively true to the back bones of the original? I’d say mostly. There’s the core elements – curses, “Beast”, enemies to lovers, some side character foils, and similar character dynamics – but there’s the addition of new elements. I have to say my favorite element has to be the other supernatural elements and the fairy tale mish mash for the world. That’s the main reason I’d be interested in the series as a whole. I’m really hoping for a different ‘fairy tale’ for the next one, but also I appreciate this melting pot of worlds and creatures.
But?
Aside from the largest caveat, I felt this was a bit short for us to fully invest in their romance and chemistry. Yes they have a ton of physical chemistry, but I had a hard time buying their love story. I was surprised I actually breezed through this audiobook and physical book combo. It was over before I even knew it. And I think if the book had a bit more space, a few more interactions between them, you could get a better sense of their chemistry as a couple, their love. Because until now it’s more of a story about their physical attraction and a lot of ‘actions speak louder than words’ which, considering the source material, doesn’t feel like enough.
Overall,
I wanted to like this one more than I did. Did I enjoy it? Yes it was a quick fast paced world which would scratch a spicy Beauty and the Beast retelling. But I wanted to fall more in love with the two characters as individuals, but also together. The dual POV definitely helped – even if it felt imbalanced – but I think I just needed more scenes together. That being said, I am interested in potential sequels, because I liked the bare bones of the world and the ‘magical costs’ and cleverness. I’d be interested to see what you all think, especially for fans of Beauty and the Beast. Find Mountains Made of Glass on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, Blackwells, Libro.fm, and Google Play.