Scarlett St. Clair

Recommended: yes
if you're fine with a TON of explicit sex scenes, but also it resolves into a pretty damn good story (that still has a lot of sex scenes)

Thoughts:
OKAY, first of all, I don't know if all of the author's books are like this and I just had no idea, but the first half of this book is basically just erotica with a light vampire theme. There's several scenes of masturbation, filthy talk, sexual tension, and yes, sex. The word clit is said 13 times, starting as soon as chapter two. show more (Thrust is also said 13 times, but once is referencing a pivotal violent moment rather than sex, so look forward to that, too!)

So it's a LOT of sex stuff (*cough* chapter six *cough*), but it's also preeetty satisfying sex stuff. Jus' saying -- it wasn't exactly a con for the book. xD But a heads up because this would have been real awkward had I been reading on public transport like I used to all the time.

The second half of the book expands a lot on the deeper story once you get past the post-coital haze of the first half. There are some intriguing hints along the way, but they really start to resolve towards the end. They become tantalizing -- which is actually the perfect word to describe this whole book -- and I will absolutely be reading further books in this series. 

Characters are always fun to watch when they grow, and particularly when they have their world-view and prejudices challenged. Why else would Pride and Prejudice still be so popular? It's a strong path to success, and the discoveries found along the way in the story were extremely satisfying. Plus they were often in a library, which is always a plus.

The one thing I seriously hated was a moment at the end when one character is unforgivably and immediately an idiot. Besides that, the conclusion was decent, but damn if this moment wasn't predictable and still infuriating.
Isolde is all like, there are only 3 people who know the secret to killing me / Adrian, so we absolutely CANNOT let anyone else know, because we can trust very few. And then she immediately tells her father, the person who has been encouraging Adrian's murder from the start, and clearly hates him, and CLEARLY is also not feeling the same about his daughter now that he's heard her sex sounds from banging an (in his mind) evil vampire. She immediately tells this one critical secret to a guy with every motive in the book to take advantage of it, and is then surprised when he immediately acts on it! Oi, Isolde, girl, what the fuck. You're reincarnated, and you're still naive as shite.

Overall, FABULOUS and dark though definitely much different than what I expected it to be. I'll be looking up the author's other books and continuing this series for sure! show less

Gesela, who has a bit of fae blood, is scorned and isolated in her village of Elk. She is believed to have been cursed, and thus villagers are just waiting for an excuse to get rid of her. In particular, Sheriff Roland of Elk wants revenge because Gesela has repeatedly rejected his sexual advances. Thus when the town needs a “sacrifice” to break the curse of the well having run dry, Gesela is “chosen.” She has to kill the toad at the bottom of the well, but it turns out the toad is show more an Elven prince under a curse of his own, and his brothers - there were originally seven in all - want retribution after she does the deed.

Five of the brothers take Gesela and banish her to live with the remaining brother, whom they call The Beast. The Beast, whose human name is Casamir, was cursed by the Glass Mountains. He only has five more days for someone to guess his real name, or he will forget it, and then he will cease to exist. Moreover, the person who guesses it has to be in love with him. And if he ceases to exist, Gesela will never be free, so their fates are tied together.

At first, Gesela detests Casamir. Or at least, she claims she hates him. She also feels irresistible lust for him, only enhanced after he repeatedly sexually harasses her. Under his heated gaze and with his heated thrusting into her, she feels like “someone.” But can she grow to love him and guess his name in time? Can he love her? After all, neither of them has known love in their lives - only loss and cruelty.

Well, we can see where this is going. But all that lust and angst and tension keeps us turning the pages anyway.

On the one hand, this is a mash-up of fairytale retellings and a very hot romance, with explicit details. But to my mind, and more importantly, it is a stereotypical story from pre-Me-Too days of the appeal of the rapey bad boy.

Typically such plots involve a Byronic hero who is powerful and attractive, yet flawed in ways most notably exemplified in the life and writings of Lord Byron. This hero (often a vampire, but an Elven Lord works as well) is moody, dark, cynical, independent, masterful, and has a mysterious past that not only gives him much pain but has made “love” almost impossible for him. But he is also absolutely magnetic and sexually irresistible. He can be cruel, too, but who can blame him, given all the grief festering inside him? Not we readers, surely!

Furthermore, we know that only a very extraordinary woman [such as each of us secretly is] can get this guy to open up to her and let himself feel love. [The fact that the young woman is usually surly and obnoxious but beautiful adds to her appeal for the Bad Boy.]

This woman has the potential to pull such a hero out of the abyss in which he passes his days and long nights, falling in love with him in spite of his stern demeanor, dark past, and sexual abuse. The reward? She is needed by him, more than she has ever been needed by anyone. And she thereby is “someone.”

Look at what this fantasy says about the women who find it appealing:

1. We may want agency and importance, but these desires pale besides the attractiveness of enticing otherwise recalcitrant men and then wallowing in sexual submission to their uncontrollable desires;

2. Besides, then we not only realize the triumph of having broken through the man’s supposedly impenetrable barriers, but we also have power conferred upon us by being his woman (and the one who finally conquered him!);

3. We find his sexual violation, especially if it involves “ravishment,” erotic and irresistable rather than traumatic and horrific (adding to and reflecting the cultural acceptance of the rape defense of "Hey, don't blame me! She wanted it!");

4. Only we can provide redemption for this tortured man.

Gesela is not the weak, fainting sort, and yet clearly there is in this book the association of sexual arousal with her subordination. At one point, we have the somewhat startling passage:

“As much as I hated to surrender to this creature, lying beneath him right now, it only seemed right. ‘Choke me,’ I said. He did not need encouragement. . . I thought I might die from the rush of pleasure that blossomed throughout my body, only growing in intensity as he continued to press on either side of my neck.”

After this fiery encounter, Gesela asks (or rather, “moans”) “What kind of magic is this?” “This is not magic,” he responds, “This is need." She thinks, “If this was need, I had never known it before, but I was certain I could not live without it . . . .”

Gesela understood Casamir was "demanding my complete submission. I was ready for it."

There is a long history of men promulgating male privilege and sexual dominance, but this book was written by a woman. That isn’t a mystery; androcentric media has affected women on both conscious and subconscious levels, influencing what they have grown to believe is romantic and/or erotic, and what they define as "success" in life. Thus male domination is a turn-on for *both* men and women. [The dynamic is aided by women wearing sheer, revealing clothing (featured aplenty in this book) and assuming physical positions of submission.] Men can’t resist these women (no matter how surly), and other women want to emulate them. Being “hot” is equated with success and self-esteem, just as Gesela feels being ravished by Casamir makes her “someone.”

What about the fact that these women almost always have unpleasant personalities, being rebellious, stubborn, and often insufferable? I would guess this is the author’s way of establishing the “independence” of the woman, as well as giving the male hero more of a challenge to “conquer.”

Evaluation: Fairytale retellings are generally appealing; after all, there is a reason they have remained part of culture for so long. And if you are looking for hot sex and have never been sexually abused or harassed in any way so you aren’t offended by the social dynamics of the story, you will find this story entertaining. show less

Saw this novella in B&N and after reading the cover summary, I knew I had to read this, and I am happy I did. This is a wonderful original story, mixing in elements of many classic fairytales including those from Hans Christian Andersen & the Grimm Brothers, such as Snow White, Rumplestiltskin, The Bell, and The Seven Ravens. The number seven is a constant theme throughout the book, whether it is the number of elven princes, the number of days, number of letters, etc. For those who love a show more good twisted and dark romantic fairytale retelling, Mountains Made of Glass is a quick read with a HEA, which will have you flipping through the pages as you follow Gesela's quest to figure out the Beast's real name in time. I'm intrigued to continue the future books as Scarlett St. Clair digs into the tales of each brother, including Eero, whose life met an unfortunate end by Gesela's hand.

Lots of steam, lots of fairytale references, many interesting fae characters, and two very stubborn lead characters. Casamir, aka Beast, has only ever had to care about himself and wants his curse to end. While the curse requires his true love to lovingly speak his true name, he does not think he needs to return the love to Gesela. Gesela has had a hard life, shunned by the village and viewed as being no better than a living curse as everyone she loves dies. The two are occasionally aggressive with each other as they spit words of hate, but neither can deny the sexual tension between them. The story is a wonderful reminder that love is learned and not immediate. While we love our insta-love stories, that isn't usually what happens in life. Love is learned, both on a platonic and romantic level. show less

Mountains Made of Glass is the first book in Scarlett St. Clair's newest series, Fairy Tale Retelling. As the series title lets you know, it is all about fairy tales but with Ms. St. Clair's spin on them. In this first book, she tackles Beauty and the Beast.

Ms. St. Clair does not just retell the tale as old as time. In Mountains Made of Glass, she also plays around with the story of Rumpelstiltskin. And she doesn't stop there. Showcasing her love of all things mythical and fantastic, you show more will also see Slavic and Irish creatures appear throughout the story. When Ms. St. Clair retells a fairy tale, she makes it uniquely hers.

The essential Beauty and the Beast story remains intact in Mountains Made of Glass. A young woman must stay in the mansion of the Beast until he releases her. There are no talking teapots, but we do have a magic mirror and a delightfully snarky brownie named Naeve. The Beast has to make the girl fall in love with him to break a curse. Yada, yada, yada.

The changes Ms. St. Clair brings to the tale add a layer of complexity to this simple tale. For one, the Beast in Mountains Made of Glass is an elven prince. Except, one could make the argument that the Beast could also be the heroine, Gesela. Both are fiery, fiercely independent, easily angered, and downright nasty around other humans. Both are beautiful, and both are beastly. More importantly, they both need something from the other to escape their individual curses.

It wouldn't be a novel by Scarlett St. Clair if it weren't spicy, and here too, Ms. St. Clair does not disappoint. In fact, I think she has a lot of fun torturing her two characters in that regard, as both are too proud to cede any iota of control to the other. What I appreciate the most, however, is not the sensual torture but the fact that no matter how desperate they are to have at each other, they both take the time to obtain consent. It's a little thing, but it means so much in the battle against rape culture.

At 219 pages, Mountains Made of Glass is a fast and fun read. I found it particularly fun to see the changes Ms. St. Clair wrought in this famous tale while maintaining some of the humor from the Beast learning what it is to be human and feel something other than anger. After whipping through this first book and thoroughly enjoying myself, I look forward to seeing what other fairy tales Ms. St. Clair plans to retell in this series. show less