Review: Spacer’s Cinderella by Adria Rose

Publisher: Self published

Where did you get the arc: Bought

Release date: Out now

Reviewed by Has

A broken shoe. A forbidden ball. A sexy cyborg with a secret. 

Born on an abandoned colony barely held together by sealant tape and hope, Aurora Sato is at the very bottom of the social pecking order. Hard work and brains got her into a coveted spot in the quadrant’s top university… But her new supervisor is a woman who’s not about to let an upstart like Aurora get anything close to a break.

And a break is exactly what Aurora needs right now. Her home colony is dying and nobody is in any rush to save it or her family. Aurora’s research project is their last hope, but only if she can complete it in time — an impossible task.

One night out is all she’ll allow herself. One night to forget her troubles. She never expects to meet a man who dazzles all her senses. Magnus Thorne is a battle-hardened, ruthless cyborg. Rich, respected and powerful, he’s too much for innocent Aurora. For one magical night he makes her feel like a princess, awakening a longing she doesn’t know how to quell.

But Aurora is in more danger than she realizes. And Magnus isn’t about to let her face it alone, no matter how hard she tries to shut him out.

He’s determined to break every rule to save her from ruin.  But will she trust him enough to let him?

*Blurb taken from Goodreads*

I love it when I pick up a book, especially when it’s on a whim after seeing a recommendation on twitter, and I love it even more when it surpasses my expectations. I am so glad that I succumbed to that whim and borrowed SPACER’S CINDERELLA on Kindle Unlimited and later bought it because I loved it so much. This was such a gem of a book that I had the giddy feels and that is only for must have authors or the rare book that unexpectedly surprises me. 

SPACER’S CINDERELLA is set on a university planet, and the story focuses on Aurora who is struggling to get her research for a new method of terraforming approved for wider testing. She is hoping to save her dying planet and her parents who still inhabit there which was left to rot after its own terraforming failed due to corruption and incompetence. She is smart, determined and stubborn to fulfil her quest in saving her world and family. However she has to struggle against vicious university politics that has left her research on the brink of disaster and she has to find a way to complete it and to avoid being deported from the planet.

This was a wonderful take on the Cinderella tale, it literally opens up with a party like setting and a broken shoe which then turns into a very sizzling hot encounter with a sexy alpha professor called Magnus, who is just as intrigued with Aurora as she is with him.  But unlike Cinderella it is Magnus who is forced to run away, leaving a very frustrated and befuddled Aurora. Despite this brief encounter, it is not the last time Aurora and Magnus interact with each other and she soon discovers when trying to find funds to keep her research going, she inadvertently works for Magnus in his lab. And their relationship then takes a turn for a wonderful slow burn that makes you yearn for them to just get together. I really felt for Magnus. He was totally head over heels in love with Aurora but he senses that if he makes a fast move or does anything to help resolve her issues with her research, he would lose her because. 

I found this dynamic totally and utterly refreshing because with this trope, it is expected that the hero who is also a secret bazillionaire who probably owns planets and fleets of ships could literally wave a hand and solve Aurora’s issues with her funding, research and her immigration status on the planet. But he respected her wishes and helped her as any of her friends would and allowed her to tackle the problems her way and I loved that! Not only was the power issues of their relationship ironically reversed, which Adria Rose deftly presented but it contributed to the romance and their relationship. This was a hero who totally understood and saw Aurora as his equal and he was also an alpha male but without the alphahole. I loved loved loved that Magnus was a wonderful combination of a cinnamon roll hero and an alpha and I would love to see more of that in other romances because this was such a delicious juxtaposition. 

I also loved how their romance progressed from that slow burn to a really sweet and tender romance. I also enjoyed the setting, and I literally loved the intrigue of the literal cutthroat world of academia and I could see how much thought and effort, Adria Rose went into creating this world. I also loved the science fiction elements which were also well drawn out and I am really looking forward to the secondary characters who look like they will be up next for the sequel.

SPACER’S CINDERELLA was a joy and a delight of a romance and Adria Rose is definitely an author to watch out for! 

I give SPACER’S CINDERELLA a B+!