A well written and wit-laden Cinderalla retelling. Eloisa James' prose is vibrant and her characters are carefully fleshed out. I particularly enjoyed the first 2/3rds of the book, as she took the time to develop the characters and the intricacies of their relationships into something believable. (Which was a good thing, as I spent the first 150 pages with no liking for the protagonist prince.) 
 There wasn't as much of a twist on the tale as there is in her second book in the series, and the outcome was fairly predictable from the onset (not the inevitable happily-ever-after outcome itself, but the way in which we arrive at it.)