A Cinderella Retelling Gets Deliciously Dark: Ember by Naima Simone
Grumpy, obsessive, morally gray, and a tad taboo. Oh, and she’s DSM certified too.
Can you believe we’re already more than halfway through the year?
This year has been a dumpster fire of gas prices (so grateful for my EV acquired courtesy of my eight year-old vehicle dying on me), AI witch hunts, and general insanity that might actually now be our baseline. What is normal anyway? The time before “we were all in this together”?
Who knows? I’ve been writing a lot lately and ideating too many new potential WIPs that my reading time has reduced by a lot. I’ve been lucky enough to read a few bangers but one thing I can say is that July is stacked with them. The releases coming out this month are so juicy and are wrecking my life back to back. July ARCs have been responsible for me kicking my feet in the air, laughing, crying, and screaming. If there’s an emotion, I’ve felt it and it really feels like the Romance Summer Olympics.
Love this for us. Today I’m talking to you about one of tomorrow’s releases. The author is a personal fave of mine. Her backlist is deep and I treat myself to one when I need an extra special dose of broody, ridiculously beautiful men who don’t play about their beautiful Black women.
This summer I introduced my mother to a couple of her contemporaries and she’s eagerly asking me for more recs (and to annotate my books to her liking) so I know she has something for everyone. But this lane, this dark and twisty lane is where she’s been shining her light lately..
If you were anywhere around me last year I probably recommended Huntsman to you. I stand by that rec and I’m doubling down on it now that I’ve read Ember. I believe there’s one more in this series but I will never be ready to leave this dark and steamy universe courtesy of fairytales and many kinks.
If you want to see what Brandy’s Cinderella looks like in 2026 dark romance novel edition, keep reading.
-Aleia
If You’re Into These Tropes, Keep Reading
Content Warning: Read the author’s note and tell her I sent you but the TLDR; taboo (because stepsiblings), drug usage, light torture, bad things happen to bad people in cages and other places, and parental abuse/neglect.
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Series Note: Ember is book 2 of The Hunted Kingdom series but set in a different world than book 1 and is a complete standalone. Book 1, Huntsman, was one of my favorites of last year and WELL worth the read. Check out the full review ↓
![[Double Booked] Snow White Retelling: Huntsman by Naima Simone](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6taA!,w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fea05f8d4-9eea-4391-911d-3d2b1cc4ae40_1500x1200.png)
Synopsis
Ember is at the funeral of her absentee at best father when her bully of a stepbrother declares the upcoming marriage. What happens next never took a straight line to the next destination.
Here’s how the author (and her publisher) describes it!
He’ll burn it all to keep her.
Her fire will consume his soul.
Today, my father gave me the perfect gift: he died.
But he left my legacy, the multibillion drug empire, to pure evil—my stepbrother, Asad Prince.
Petty even in death? Two can play that game.
As the last Cross, I’ll leave it all behind. And I will have the last laugh too: I’ll take the formula for the drug I created with me.
It’s the perfect plan until Asad makes his final move—marry him, or everyone I love dies.
A deal with the devil. Until he reveals his secrets.
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Content Warning: Read the author’s note and tell her I sent you but the TLDR; taboo (because stepsiblings), drug usage, light torture, bad things happen to bad people in cages and other places, and parental abuse/neglect.
Why I Loved It
This book is so dark and delicious! I cannot say enough about how much I loved this delightfully dirty, revenge driven tale of a love overdue love.
We meet Ember and Asad at a funeral. Ember sees a woman, Michelle and thinks to herself about how much she hates her “bitch-ass husband”. And then we realize Michelle is her step mother and at her father’s funeral.
This sets the tone of chaos to come.
At this funeral we learn that Ember’s father was CEO of a fashion empire and her stepmother and step brothers are head of the condolences receiving line because she’s the secret child working in the basement that no one knows about. To add everything on top of that, she’s a STEM baddie responsible for making the, ahem, product responsible for most of their actual income.
And by STEM baddie I mean she’s a scientist who does terrible things to atrocious people. I love her so much. I love her rights and her wrongs and everything in between. Actually, I don’t believe she has any wrongs. She’s perfect—even with her status squarely on the DSM! From her wit, to her sarcasm, and the circle she chooses to have around her, Ember “Be Safe Out There” Cross is one of my favorite FMCs to date. She might have spent her life in the background but she’s absolutely not a wallflower like the OG Cinderella. She pushes back against anyone and everyone who considers stepping on her. No one who tests her is safe from her wrath in any situation. She might not come at them in the moment but it’s guaranteed she is coming for you. And when Asad moves from being outwardly antagonistic to the tool she goes in her trunk to get, no one is safe.
Ember is made for revenge but she’s also multi-passionate. She can balance revenge seeking with making her own plans to get out of the life she’s been relegated to by making plans to use her talents for herself.
Asad now, he’s everything you want in a morally grey villain with a long held secret. I don’t want to spoil him or his motivations but just know he’s down sooo bad for Ember but only shows it in the most toxic of ways, likely thanks to his horrible role model growing up. To Asad demanding her hand in marriage and torturing people who disrespect her—when he’s not shooting them directly—are meaningful declarations of love. He’s not wrong because I’m in love with him over it! And even though Ember doesn’t want it to be true … he’s it for her too.
The Cinderella elements in this book are so fun! Naima traded step sisters for step brothers, the mice are Ember’s lab assistants and the name Ember in general! The mafia element ends up adding a bit of a mystery storyline that helped me turn the page when we weren’t witnessing their red hot passion on the page.
Speaking of Michelle, it’s forever on sight. Even if I see her in my dreams I’m borrowing Ember’s creative feminine rage and handling business.
There are so many gems in these pages that I won’t spoil for you but I WILL talk to you ad nauseum about this as I re-experience this book via audio! If you’re looking for a book with feminine rage made useful, a morally grey MMC who is down bad and also incredibly bad, and villains who get their comeuppance, this is the read for you!
Want more Dark Romance, Fairytale Retellings, or Naima?
Church Girl by Naima Simone. This might be my evergreen contemporary romcom rec. Von aka Mr. Find Something Safe to do is delightfully toxic—who force buys someone a vehicle?— very broody man burned by love. At the same time he’s a doting father eagerly taking the primary parent role because of his ex’s nonchalance which leads him to hire the recent runaway bride Aaliyah as his nanny. I could go on, read my review or literally DM me and I’ll talk about this forever.
Huntsman by Naima Simone — Book 1 in this series. A killer for killer plot plus Snow White? Yes please.
Crucible & Chrysalis (Men of the Wilds Duology) by B.B. Reid — My dark romance boundaries were stretched with this one. I love a why-choose but why choose means the bullies are multiplied by three (well, four if I mention the neurodivergence aspect) and a bad stalking turned maybe good alongside stalking mixed with murder schemes, LITERAL TERRITORIAL DISPUTES WITH WOLVES, religious cults, and lots of people overwhelmed me in the best way. I spent half my time saying ‘oh no they didn’t!’ and the other half reading in between my fingers. I think that’s fine because in my opinion Goldilocks (this is a Goldilocks retelling) is a horror story anyway.
PSSSSTTT - A dark Little Red Riding Hood duet (book 1 & book 2)is on the way to us later this year from B.B. Reid as well.
Dark Olympus by Katee Robert. This dark, very queer mythology reimagining just completed the ten book series with three FMCs down bad (literally) for each other.
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I’ll be back this week to talk about some of the other darlings released this week (today is a PACKED release day and will give you fun for weeks to come! Do you enjoy retellings and or dark romances? Let me know below!