Small Feet - Aelth Faye

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Author: Aelth Faye

Genre: Fairytale retelling
Series: Fairytale Hour #1
Rating: 3.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: A retelling of Cinderella from the point of view of another girl with ‘small feet’. Lovely concept, but the execution could have been better. Nevertheless, it still counts as one of the more unusual fairytale retellings and definitely worth a try when you want a quick read.


Story Synopsis:
Jade lives her life filled with mixed feelings. On one hand, she has material comforts and books. On the other hand, most of her material comforts are hand-me-downs from her three elder sisters, and her books stay on the shelf while her mother is determined to take her to balls and make her find a suitor. Jade realises that her life is still far better off compared to that of her acquaintance Ella, whose evil stepmother is way too abusive.
Jade has two big surprises coming her way soon. One, she sees Ella at a great ball in a private tête-à-tête with the prince. Two, she is mistaken for Ella because of her small feet and is asked by the prince to marry him. Jade knows that she can implement many changes as a queen, but will her conscience allow her to ditch Ella’s chance at happiness?


The story provides a nice spin on ‘Cinderella’. While retaining many of the same elements, it sprinkles enough of novelty to make this an independent and intelligent read that stands on its own feet.

Though it is a fairy tale retelling, it doesn’t contain any magical elements at all. The track related to the fairy godmother is given a more realistic cause. There are also plenty of women-centric touches through Jade’s thoughts on education, independence and entrepreneurship.

Though it was just 84 pages long, the first half seemed a bit dragged. There’s a lot of internal rambling and not enough action. There are also some inherent contradictions in Jade’s character, though she is a strong lead character.

The second half saves the book. It gets predictable at the end obviously, but in a good way and without resorting to too many OTT clichés.

This novella will work better for the YA readers because of the writing style. It is a fun one-time read that provides almost a modern feminist punch through a regency storyline.

The book is free for KU subscribers.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author through ‘Voracious Readers Only’ and these are my honest thoughts about it.

PS: I must add that I love that gorgeous cover, even though the girl’s gown doesn’t suit the regency timeline.

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