"I can't help seeing you the way a starving man sees bread." 
 "You don't know what it is to be hungry, let alone starving." 
 I'm gonna start with the only upsetting thing in this book: its length. It's so damn short! And I don't mean this in the I never want it to end sort of way (though I wouldn't mind it one bit if it didn't) but it's a mere 111 pages. I was ready to stay up all night to finish this!!! 
 Gilded Ashes was my first encounter of the Cruel Beauty universe and I fell in love. This was such a great take on Cinderella. You know how the new Disney Cinderella was perfect? So was this! After I finished it, I was SO UPSET. So upset that I didn't for a second believe that Cruel Beauty would stand up to this but also so upset that I had to start a new book so I wouldn't sink into my misery of it ending. 
 I think my favorite part about this was the dialogue. I was squealing. The freaking repartee in this was perfect. So perfect that I don't have any other adjectives to describe it. Don't believe me? Here's a glimpse: 
 "Did you think it was good?" 
 "What?" 
 "My playing." He's staring at the piano keys, and his voice is light, but I can hear the tension underneath. "Did you think it was any good?" 
 I consider the question. He's never punished me for telling the truth yet. 
 "It wasn't terrible," I say. "But it wasn't good. It wasn't anything, really." 
 He laughs softly. "Did you like it?" 
 I shrug. 
 "Don't be tactful now. You were thinking something." 
 "I was thinking," I say, "what does it matter if I liked it or not? You won't stop or start playing for love of me. You don't care what I think, and I don't care what you play." 
 Can I just go there please? Now? No? I guess I'll just go read your other books and play pretend.