<blockquote><b><i>“People who want to be loved always do the most idiotic things.” </i></b></blockquote> Seriously, how can I not love this woman's writing? It's flawless and beautiful and engrossing. I think I could read anything Rosamund Hodge writes. She has this talent for rewriting fairytales in a dark, twisted, but beautiful and compelling way. In Cruel Beauty, she created this world of demonic shadows and bargains, and in Gilded Ashes, she inserted the classic storyline of Cinderella but with a main character who is bitter and cynic, totally unlike the Cinderella we know from the original fairytale and Disney's version. And slowly we see her falling in love and learning to love her sisters (who are not the evil and brainless girls we know from the tale). I actually loved Koré and her love for her younger sister and how far she was willing to go to protect her, even though it made her miserable. I felt for her striving to earn her mother's love and how she came to accept that she could never have it. And Thea is so sweet, even though we don't have much development of her character. Unlike Crimson Bound or even Cruel Beauty, there were not many plot twist or surprises here, and it actually followed the classic fairytale's storyline, so I knew what to expect at all times, but that didn't take anything from my enjoyment of this little story. Ugh, I just loved everything from this novella and this world.