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Meet Shadow: Cat, Sidekick, Wizard?
Meet Shadow: Cat, Sidekick, Wizard?
Every good fairy tale needs a sidekick who knows more than they’re letting on. In this one, that’s a cat.
Shadow was Ella’s father’s cat before he was Ella’s — a black cat with a gold-silver magic all his own, unlike anything else Ella has ever seen in a living creature. He has a habit of appearing exactly when Ella needs him most, vanishing from Lady Tremaine’s threats before they ever land, and leading people places they didn’t know they needed to go.
He’s fiercely protective, clever, and seems to understand a great deal more about the kingdom’s failing magic — and Ella’s father’s disappearance — than a cat reasonably should. Whether that’s just loyalty, or something more, is part of the mystery this story is built around.
He’s also the reason Ella and Adrian find each other again at all. Draw your own conclusions about how much of that was an accident.
Want to know more about the world of The Glass Slipper’s Secret? That’s coming in two weeks.
The Glass Slipper’s Secret is a fantasy romance retelling of Cinderella where the kingdom’s ancient magic is fading, Ella can see the magic in every living thing — including what people try to hide — and Ella and Adrian’s paths cross again long before any ball.
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Meet the Stepsisters: Anastasia and Prudence
Meet the Stepsisters: Anastasia and Prudence
Two sisters, raised in the same house, under the same mother’s shadow — and nothing alike.
Prudence is sharp-edged and socially ambitious, quick to mock Ella’s “fairy tales” and quicker to align herself with whatever keeps her mother pleased. Her magic runs jealous and cutting, closer to her mother’s than she’d probably admit.
Anastasia is softer — uncertain, easily frightened, but never quite as cold as the house wants her to be. She’s the one who slips Ella bread and candlelight when she’s locked away. The one who asks the questions her mother doesn’t want asked. Her magic flickers uncertain, vulnerable to the same void that’s swallowed the rest of the household — but it’s never fully gone out.
Growing up in Lady Tremaine’s house means growing up under constant pressure to harden, to choose power over warmth. Prudence made her choice a long time ago. Anastasia is still making hers — one small, quiet act of kindness at a time.
Character introductions continue every two weeks — Shadow’s up next.
The Glass Slipper’s Secret is a fantasy romance retelling of Cinderella where the kingdom’s ancient magic is fading, Ella can see the magic in every living thing — including what people try to hide — and Ella and Adrian’s paths cross again long before any ball.
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Meet Lady Tremaine: The Void Where Magic Should Be
Meet Lady Tremaine: The Void Where Magic Should Be
Every other character in this book carries magic you can see — gold, rose, amber, threads of color and light. Lady Tremaine carries none of it.
That’s the point.
Where magic should be, there’s an absence instead — not darkness exactly, but a void, as if something carved all the light and wonder out of her a long time ago. It’s not just unsettling to look at. It’s hungry.
Her presence doesn’t simply lack magic; it seems to draw it out of everything nearby, leaving rooms colder, wards thinner, the people around her smaller than they were a moment before.
She married Ella’s father and inherited his household after his disappearance — and with it, control over a stepdaughter she has spent a decade methodically diminishing. Every task, every threat, every carefully chosen cruelty is designed to keep Ella small, compliant, and too afraid to reach for what she actually is.
But voids don’t stay empty by accident. Lady Tremaine wants something, and she’s been working toward it far longer than anyone in this story realizes.
Character introductions continue every two weeks.
The Glass Slipper’s Secret is a fantasy romance retelling of Cinderella where the kingdom’s ancient magic is fading, Ella can see the magic in every living thing — including what people try to hide — and Ella and Adrian’s paths cross again long before any ball.
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Meet Adrian: The Prince Who Can’t Read His Own Kingdom’s Secrets
Meet Adrian: The Prince Who Can’t Read His Own Kingdom’s Secrets
Adrian has a gift most people would envy: he can see magic woven into every building, wall, and ward in the kingdom — the crystal formations, the ancient protective spells laid into stone, the slow fractures spreading through it all as that magic fails.
What he can’t do is read the ancient texts that might explain why.
For months, he’s been quietly obsessed with the kingdom’s failing magic, hiding in the palace library instead of preparing for the marriage his parents are pushing him toward. He knows the price of bread. He knows how many families are struggling.
He knows, better than almost anyone, exactly how much is breaking — he just can’t find the words that explain why.
Ten years ago, there was someone who could read those words as easily as breathing. Someone who taught him to see magic differently, whose gift and his own used to spark something neither of them could quite explain.
Then she disappeared, and he never stopped wondering what happened.
When she turns up again — sooner than a ball, sooner than either of them is ready for — Adrian starts to suspect the answers he’s been hunting for were never going to come from a book alone.
Character introductions continue every two weeks.
The Glass Slipper’s Secret is a fantasy romance retelling of Cinderella where the kingdom’s ancient magic is fading, Ella can see the magic in every living thing — including what people try to hide — and Ella and Adrian’s paths cross again long before any ball.
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Check out Christmas in July Romance Event!
Find your new Christmas in July Romance Read!
Look for 26 Reasons to Fall in Love, my Thanksgiving to Christmas SWEET romance on the list. The promo runs July 17-20th.
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Meet Ella: The Girl Who Sees What Others Miss
Meet Ella: The Girl Who Sees What Others Miss
Ella isn’t the Cinderella you’re picturing.
She’s twenty-two, not sixteen. She spends her nights in the garret translating ancient magical texts by candlelight — a gift inherited from her father, a royal researcher who vanished ten years ago on a mission for the crown.
And she can see something almost no one else can: magic itself, living and breathing in every person, animal, and plant around her.
Her stepmother’s presence feels like a void where warmth should be.
Her cat Shadow glows gold-silver, fiercely loyal, more knowing than a cat has any right to be.
And the kingdom itself — its crops, its wards, its old magic — is dimming, and
Ella might be one of the only people who can see exactly why.
She’s spent a decade making herself small and careful, hiding both her gift and her grief. But some things don’t stay hidden forever — not when an old friend reappears in the market square, not when a kingdom’s magic is running out of time, and not when Ella finally stops shrinking and starts speaking the truth out loud.
Character introductions continue every two weeks — Adrian’s up next.
More details about Ella can be found on my Patreon Page next week.
The Glass Slipper’s Secret is a fantasy romance retelling of Cinderella where the kingdom’s ancient magic is fading, Ella can see the magic in every living thing — including what people try to hide — and Ella and Adrian’s paths cross again long before any ball.
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Guess what? I have a new way for you to find my stories.
Welcome to the Rene Rose Hawthorne Romance Collection
The stories I write as Rene Rose Hawthorne celebrate the quiet magic of everyday love. They’re filled with artists, artisans, musicians, bakers, book lovers, dreamers, and creative souls who discover that sometimes the most beautiful relationships begin with an unexpected conversation or a chance encounter.
If you enjoy sweet contemporary romance, meet-cute stories, slow-burn relationships, and closed-door happily-ever-afters, you’ve found the right place.
On my Payhip store you’ll find collections of heartwarming romances where creativity sparks connection, hope grows through ordinary moments, and love often arrives when it’s least expected. Whether the setting is a cozy coffee shop, an art gallery, a neighborhood festival, or a quiet workshop scented with fresh wood and warm bread, each story celebrates kindness, friendship, and the joy of finding someone who truly sees you.
This collection on my Payhip store will continue to grow as more stories become available wide and through my direct store. By purchasing here, you’re supporting an independent author and helping me continue creating stories filled with warmth, creativity, and hope.
I hope you’ll make yourself at home, discover a new favorite story, and return often as the collection grows.
Happy reading!
— Rene Rose Hawthorne
P.S. Don’t worry, you can still find my books at Amazon, with many coming soon to other platforms like Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and more!
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The Glass Slipper’s Secret: A Cinderella Retelling Where Magic is Dying and Love Isn’t Waiting for a Ball
What if the real magic in Cinderella’s story was never the glass slipper — but the girl who could see magic itself slipping away?
The Glass Slipper’s Secret is a fantasy romance retelling of Cinderella where the kingdom’s ancient magic is fading, Ella can see the magic in every living thing — including what people try to hide — and Ella and Adrian’s paths cross again long before any ball.
A Kingdom Losing Its Light
In this world, magic isn’t just spellwork — it’s visible, if you’re one of the rare few who can see it. Ella has always been able to see magic in living things: people, animals, plants, the threads of life-force running through a garden or a person’s heart. Her stepmother’s presence is a void where that magic should be. Her cat Shadow’s is gold-silver and impossibly alive. And the kingdom’s living magic, once vibrant, is dimming season by season, and no one in power seems to know why.
Ella might. Her father — the king’s royal researcher, missing for ten years — left behind ancient texts only she can translate, and a final, cryptic obsession: a pair of glass slippers that were never just for dancing.
A Prince Who Remembers
Adrian isn’t hunting for a bride so much as running out of time. His own gift runs the opposite direction from Ella’s: he can see magic in structures — the crystal wards, the enchanted stone, the built and inherited magic holding the kingdom together — and he can see it cracking. As those protections fracture, he’s under pressure to marry for political alliance — while the one person who ever made ancient magic make sense to him disappeared from his life when they were children, the same year her father vanished.
When Ella and Adrian’s paths cross again — sooner than either of them expects, and long before a ball is ever announced — old magic sparks between them exactly the way it once did. Ancient texts that neither of them can translate alone suddenly make sense when they’re together. That spark might be the key to saving the kingdom. It’s also the last thing either of them is prepared for.
Why This Retelling
I’ve always loved fairy tales for the same reason I love speculative fiction generally: they’re never really about the surface plot. They’re about what a story means when you take it seriously — what if the slipper wasn’t the point? What if the ball wasn’t either? What if the real story was about two people who’d already found each other once, and magic that was trying to tell everyone something all along?
I’ll be sharing character introductions, a look at the magic system, and the first chapters here on the blog over the next few weeks, leading up to full release. If you want the deeper look — worldbuilding notes, longer excerpts, and my behind-the-scenes process — that’s over on Patreon.
Follow along for character reveals, magic system deep-dives, and early chapters — coming every two weeks.
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Why Awkward Meet-Cutes Are the Best Meet-Cutes
There’s something irresistibly charming about an awkward first meeting.
Not the polished kind where everything goes perfectly. Not the kind where two people immediately say all the right things. Instead, the kind where someone says something a little strange, or trips over their words, or finds themselves standing in a situation they didn’t expect.
Those moments may feel uncomfortable in real life—but in romance stories, they’re often the most memorable beginnings.
That’s the magic of the awkward meet-cute.
When two people meet under slightly ridiculous or unexpected circumstances, it instantly lowers their guard. Instead of carefully crafted introductions and perfectly rehearsed conversations, they’re just… human.
They laugh.
They stumble through the moment.
They reveal little pieces of themselves they didn’t plan to show.And sometimes, those imperfect moments become the foundation for something beautiful.
Awkward meet-cutes also carry a sense of authenticity. Real life rarely gives us perfectly choreographed romantic introductions. More often, we meet people in small, ordinary ways—through misunderstandings, shared situations, or moments that feel slightly embarrassing at first.
But those moments can also be the most genuine.
Maybe two people reach for the same painting label in a gallery and bump hands.
Maybe one person accidentally assumes the other is part of the event staff.
Maybe a quiet room suddenly isn’t so quiet anymore when an unexpected conversation begins.In Gallery Mix-Up, the first meeting isn’t carefully planned or elegant. It’s a little awkward, a little surprising, and completely unintentional.
And that’s exactly what makes it special.
Because awkward beginnings often lead to the best stories. When people start from a place of imperfection, it gives them room to discover each other honestly—without the pressure of being impressive or flawless.
Sometimes the most romantic moments begin with a laugh, a misunderstanding, or a slightly uncomfortable silence.
And sometimes those awkward beginnings turn into the start of something wonderful.
Maya planned the perfect entrance.
The perfect dress.
The perfect moment.
The perfect gallery opening.There’s just one problem…
She arrived twenty-four hours early.
Sometimes the best romances begin with the wrong day, the wrong moment, and exactly the right person.
Gallery Mix-Up
A charming art-world meet-cute.Read it Here
#MeetCuteRomance #ArtRomance #RomanceShortStory
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When Accidental Meeting Turns Into Something More
Some of the best love stories begin completely by accident.
A wrong turn.
A mistimed arrival.
A place you almost didn’t go.Or in the case of an art gallery… a quiet room that was supposed to be empty.
There’s something wonderfully romantic about the idea that love sometimes finds us when we aren’t looking for it. We make plans for our day—run errands, visit a museum, stop by an event—and suddenly the ordinary moment becomes the beginning of a story.
That’s one of the reasons I love the accidental meet-up trope so much.
It carries a little bit of magic with it.
Maybe that’s why it feels especially fitting around St. Patrick’s Day, when people talk about luck, chance encounters, and unexpected good fortune. Sometimes love arrives the same way—quietly, unexpectedly, and completely unplanned.
In Gallery Mix-Up, the story begins with exactly that kind of moment. An empty gallery room becomes the setting for an awkward first meeting between two people who probably wouldn’t have crossed paths otherwise.
At first, it’s a little uncomfortable.
A little unexpected.
But that’s often how real connections begin.
Sometimes the most meaningful relationships don’t come from carefully arranged plans or perfect timing. Instead, they grow from small moments—shared laughter, an accidental conversation, or the realization that someone else sees the world in a way that surprises you.
Art galleries are perfect places for those kinds of moments. Standing quietly in front of a painting, two people might see completely different things—or suddenly discover they see the same beauty in it.
And that small connection can turn into something more.
Maybe love isn’t always about grand gestures or sweeping drama. Sometimes it’s about the quiet luck of being in the right place at the right moment.
A gallery visit you almost skipped.
An accidental meeting.
And the beginning of a story you never expected to find.
Maya planned the perfect entrance.
The perfect dress.
The perfect moment.
The perfect gallery opening.There’s just one problem…
She arrived twenty-four hours early.
Sometimes the best romances begin with the wrong day, the wrong moment, and exactly the right person.
Gallery Mix-Up
A charming art-world meet-cute.Read it Here
#MeetCuteRomance #ArtRomance #RomanceShortStory
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Rene (Rose) Hawthorne 