Review: Charm by Sarah Pinborough

A wicked, delicious, sexy Cinderella fairytale.  It’s Cinderella but not as you know her…

Charm by Sarah Pinborough £9.99 from Gollancz
Charm by Sarah Pinborough
£9.99 from Gollancz


Imagine an enchanted footman, two ugly sisters, and magical ball and a romance to remember…
…and now read the true story of Cinderella, told the way it always should have been… the downtrodden young girl whose life of drudgery and servitude at the hands of her cruel and abusive stepsisters is broken by the arrival of a Fairy godmother, a pumpkin coach and glass slippers.  The only thing that should possibly go wrong is if she misses that midnight curfew… Continue reading “Review: Charm by Sarah Pinborough”

Review: Poison by Sarah Pinborough

poisonIt’s Snow White, but not as you know her…
Take a wicked queen, a handsome princess, and a poisoned apple…
…and now read the true story of Snow White, told the way it always should have been…

Snow White is loved throughout the kingdom.  Carefree and kind, she’s won the hearts of her people and the envy of her young step-mother, who rules through fear and magic while the king fights a war far, far away.  Ruling would be so much easier without everyone transfixed by the young princess.  When a huntsman arrives at her door, the Queen sees her chance.  All she wants is Snow White’s heart…

When you hear the phrase ‘fairy tale’, what does it make you think of?  Disney? Princesses, witches, a handsome prince?  In Poison, Sarah Pinborough brings us all of this and more, viewing the story through grown-up eyes and telling it for adults, while still playing with the conventions we grew up with. Continue reading “Review: Poison by Sarah Pinborough”

Review: Wolfhound Century by Peter Higgins

wolfhoundInvestigator Vissarion Lom has been summoned to Mirgorod in order to catch a terrorist – and ordered to report directly to the head of the secret police. Vlast, a totalitarian state, worn down by an endless war, must be seen to crush home-grown terrorism with an iron fist. But Lom discovers the capital to be more corrupted than he imagined: a murky world of secret police and revolutionaries, cabaret clubs and doomed artists. Continue reading “Review: Wolfhound Century by Peter Higgins”