Ember by Naima Simone

Naima Simone, I like the way your wicked mind works.

A Cinderella retelling, but Cinderella is a secret mafia princess who is also a chemist cooking up lethal drugs? And one of those drugs is called Glass Slipper?

LET’S. FREAKING. GO.

I am completely in love with The Hunted Kingdom world, and Ember gave me everything I want from a dark, morally gray fairy-tale retelling.

Ember is my kind of FMC. She’s brilliant, calculated, angry, and absolutely capable of taking care of herself. Her father may have underestimated her because she’s a woman, but Ember knows exactly what she’s capable of. She doesn’t need Asad to save her, and honestly, he might need to worry about her burning down the kingdom before he gets the chance.

And then we have Asad.

Dangerous. Possessive. Completely unhinged. Morally gray sliding rapidly toward morally charcoal. 😂

The relationship between these two is a BATTLE from the beginning. They’re step-siblings, they hate each other, neither trusts the other, and then Asad decides marriage is the answer to their problems. Because apparently we’re solving family business disputes with forced marriage now, and yo