Rumpelstiltskin meets The Goose Girl.
An opportunistic maid.
A manipulative faerie.
A gilded deal that binds them both.
Ottoline has had enough. After years of enduring Princess Gertrude’s cruelty, the maid’s patience snaps during their voyage to the foreign kingdom of Orcage, where the princess is to marry the crown prince to settle a royal debt. There, she crosses paths with a silver-haired, silver-tongued man with a penchant for deals and deception.
Cunning and Ambitious, fae nobleman Lord Roderick von Ravenstock offers Ottoline the opportunity of a lifetime: to switch places with her tormentor and claim the life of a princess.
With a snap of his fingers, she is set to live the life she had dreamed of at the glimmering court of Orcage...until its superstitious king demands she fulfill her kingdom's debt by turning everything into gold.
Trapped by her own masquerade, Ottoline turns to Roderick again, and he offers to save her, in exchange for a kiss.
One kiss. One favor. One step closer to ruin.
As the king’s demands escalate, so do Roderick’s bargains, each adding another layer to his plot against the royal family, and drawing her deeper into a deadly game of magic and court intrigue. But when the king’s greed spirals beyond control, Ottoline has no choice but to escape into Faerie where she falls from one monster’s grasp into the next.
Risking his plans, Roderick saves her and, as she recovers under his watchful gaze, the forced proximity begins to crack their defenses, revealing who they are underneath their roles as the trickster and the fraud. Villains in the lives of others, but heroes of their own stories.
Together, they plot one last con to bring the king to his knees. But nothing ever goes to plan, especially when hearts are on the line.
Falling For the Trickster is the first book in the To Win a Dark Heart series which retells fairytales as old as time, but this time it’s the villain’s turn to get a happy ending.
In this shadow tinged collection, familiar fairy tales tilt just slightly off their axis. The stories linger where old legends rarely pause, inside the thoughts of characters who usually stand at the edges of the light. The series, To Win a Dark Heart, follows figures shaped by curses, broken loyalties, and the kind of longing that thrives where magic and danger meet.
Each novella steps into a different corner of enchanted lore. You might cross paths with a witch who guards her solitude like a shield, or a fae whose heart has hardened after centuries of betrayal. Their worlds are textured with quiet forests, forgotten ruins, and spells that hum beneath every choice they make. The romance that grows within these pages leans more toward tension than sweetness, the kind that builds slowly as trust becomes more dangerous than any curse.
There is a constant thread running through the series, even as each story stands on its own. Every tale asks what happens when the so called villain is no longer reduced to a single role. When their motives, griefs, and fierce hopes are allowed room to breathe, the line between hero and monster begins to blur. That shift creates a mood that readers of dark romantic fantasy often crave, the feeling that something ancient and meaningful is unfolding just out of sight.
The author’s voice carries a quiet intensity, using atmosphere rather than spectacle to draw you deeper. The emotional pull comes from characters who are guarded yet vulnerable, powerful yet lonely, each of them navigating a world where magic is both temptation and threat.
For anyone who enjoys fairy tale retellings with a darker pulse, morally gray characters, low spice romantic tension, and immersive settings shaped by myth, this series offers an experience that feels both familiar and new. It hints at danger, desire, and the possibility that even the most guarded heart can be won, though never easily.
If you step into these stories, expect curses that tangle with fate, secrets that reshape old tales, and romances built on fragile trust rather than perfect endings. The shadows do not swallow everything. Sometimes they reveal what the light never could.
#1 · 2026Falling For the Trickster 
#2 · 2026Falling for the Doomed Bride 
#3 · 2026Falling for the Winged Witch 
#4 · 2026Falling for the Crystal Fae 
#5 · 2026Falling For the Pirate 
#6 · 2026Falling for the Mad King 
#7 · 2026Falling for the Sorcerer 
#8 · 2026Falling for the Wolf 
#9 · 2026Falling for the Enchantress 
#10 · 2026Falling for the Pied Piper 
#11 · 2026Falling for the Dark Mage 
#12 · 2026Falling for the Huntsman Share your experience with other Risingshadow readers.
What Risingshadow readers think about this book
I really enjoyed this Retelling of Rumpelstiltskin & The Goose Girl and thought it blended the two stories together really well. Both Ottoline & Roderick were interesting characters and it was fun to see how their stories unfolded. I look forward to reading more from this author as well as from this multi author series.
I received a free advanced reader copy of this book from the author through the To Win a Dark Heart ARC Team and am voluntarily leaving a review.
