"Thief Liar Lady" starts a bit slow, but once it caught me, I could no longer put it down. Lady Aislinn is Cinderella, except most of that story was fabricated by her stepmother, herself and then people wanting to believe in true love spun even more magic into that tale. In reality, Lady Aislinn calls herself Ash, her stepmother is not evil, but has trained her to use magic and manipulate and survive, and then sent her to court to marry well, and the prince did not fall in love with Aislinn by himself, but was helped by magic to develop those feelings through an intricate plan. When the book starts, the ball and its machinations are already past, but now Aislinn has to keep up the ruse and keep both her fiance and his brother the suspicious king from finding out the truth of what she's doing before the wedding can take place. And even then, Ash is not just there to marry the prince, she has other goals to achieve, things where one mistake could mean Ash's whole plan unraveling. Of course, things don't always go as planned, needing Ash to adapt, especially as she realises that her fiance's best friend, the hostage prince, is more observant than his lazy demeanour would suggest, but also the only person in the palace who might fully understand her. Navigating befriending him (and developing feelings for him) without risking her position and plan become a struggle. At the same time, through occasional flashbacks, we learn how Ash got into the position she is in, what the original plan was, how she executed it, but also how it changed, as well as what her relationship to her stepmother and stepsisters is and was actually like, how she actually grew up, and what her mission in the palace actually is. As I said in the beginning of the review, the start of the book was very slow. Ash was rather new in her position as the future princess and so her place at court and in her fiance's heart was still in its initial phase, and as the reader I didn't yet understand the meaning of all of her actions. Once the flashbacks gave us more information, recontextualising her position at court, and the hostage prince's appearace mixing up the dynamics at court, I became very invested in finding out what Ash's end goal is and if she would achieve it, as well as if she would be able to keep her position at court. I enjoyed that even though her love interest was an important character and driving force in the plot, the romance was more subtle and not overpowering the main power struggle and identity struggle of Ash. Her dilemma's in her actions, especially in the political dimensions were very much the focus of the plot, but the romance nicely developed alongside it. I wished for and expected a slightly different end, and while I don't think the book would have had the time for that and this ending is certainly also satisfying to the characters in a certain way, I still think the ending I expected might have been more satisfying to them, but may have needed a second book to reach. Especially when it comes to the hostage prince, I feel like there were a few things set up about his character and his arc that made the actual ending a bit anticlimactic for his character, even if I can find arguments for all other characters to be satisfied with their ending. Still, this doesn't distract from the way the plot gripped me and so I still give this book 5 stars because I loved the way the plot moved, the way we were told information and the plot and its backgrounds unraveled, and the romance with its banter was also very fun to follow along. Great book, can recommend.