Review: Swan Song by Katy Regnery
★★★★★
Series: A Modern Fairytale, Book 9
Review:
This review was written for Reedsy Discovery
Beautifully damaging, a romantic fairy tale retelling of the beauty within, second chances, and healing
Vaughn has lost the will to live after a life of abuse and cruelty. Kidnapped and sold at four years old, only to be rejected by his adopted family and subjected to torment in the foster care system, he plans his death. The kindness of Sasha, a talented ballerina, sparks hope, and soon, their cautious friendship blossoms into something more. But when Vaughn discovers the identity of his birth parents, solving a lifelong mystery and filling a gaping hole in his heart, he knows he must reconnect with the family he lost, even if it means he must leave the love of his life behind.
When I started reading Swan Song, I never expected to find such a beautiful and emotional story in a retelling of The Ugly Duckling. Sasha can see beyond Vaughn’s coarse exterior to the beauty within long before he becomes conventionally attractive. However, his inner beauty diminishes the higher his star power grows, and he begins to push her away. Unable to reconcile “Ivan” with the man she loves, Sasha cuts contact. Their chance reunion many years later is heartbreaking. So much broken trust and mutual feelings of abandonment prove to be almost insurmountable. In my opinion, the best love stories are those that threaten to break the reader’s heart, and Swan Song held me on the precipice.
Anyone who loves emotional romance novels and creative reimaginings of fairy tales will love Katy Regnery’s writing. As the standalone ninth installment in her A Modern Fairytale series, I am eager to start at the beginning to discover what magic she has woven into the other retellings.
With some explicit scenes and triggering topics, Swan Song is best-suited for new adult and adult audiences. Through excellent storytelling and a wealth of feeling in her prose, I cannot recommend Katy Regnery’s Swan Song highly enough.
Audience: adult
Trigger warnings: kidnapping, bullying, drug use, abandonment
Recommended for fans offairy tale retellings, contemporary romance, second-chance romance, billionaire romance
Trigger warnings: kidnapping, bullying, drug use, abandonment
Recommended for fans offairy tale retellings, contemporary romance, second-chance romance, billionaire romance
Publisher's Synopsis:
Once upon a time, a swan egg rolled into a duck nest...
While visiting Washington, D.C., with his billionaire parents, four-year-old Ivan Stepanov is kidnapped from the National Zoo, vanishing without a trace.
Sold, abandoned, neglected and abused, "Vaughn" matures out of the American foster care system with little-to-no memory of who he is or where he came from. Eventually finding work as a janitor at the Kennedy Center, he starts to question if a life void of love, family and friendship is even worth living.
Ballerina Sasha Collins worked hard her entire life to earn a position in the esteemed corps of the Washington D.C. Ballet, which rehearses and performs at the Kennedy Center. Intrigued by the scruffy janitor who's often reading Russian poetry, she offers him kindness on one of the darkest days of his life, giving him a reason to live.
As they fall desperately in love with one another, Vaughn and Sasha have no idea that their days together are finite. His birth family is growing closer and closer to finding him, a circumstance that will eventually tear them apart.
From the cherry blossomed avenues of Washington, D.C., to the snowy streets of Moscow, to the breathtaking beauty of London in the fall, these separated, star-crossed lovers will have to crisscross the globe to find each other again.
Source:
Reedsy Discovery
©Katharine Gilliam Regnery: April 22, 2025
Edition: digital ARC, read on KU
404 pages
Start reading the A Modern Fairytale series
on Kindle Unlimited, or purchase your copies today!
1. The Vixen and the Vet (Beauty and the Beast): https://amzn.to/3SDyZDr
2. Never Let You Go (Hansel and Gretel): https://amzn.to/4kGRovl
3. Ginger's Heart (Little Red Riding Hood): https://amzn.to/3HxD5un
4. Dark Sexy Knight (Camelot): https://amzn.to/3Zlj2FA
5. Don't Speak (The Little Mermaid): https://amzn.to/43T0fmy
6. Shear Heaven (Rapunzel): https://amzn.to/3HxDhd5
7. At First Sight (Aladdin): https://amzn.to/4mTm1iz
8. Love Is Never Lost (Rip Van Winkle): https://amzn.to/4mTl3mC
9. Swan Song (The Ugly Duckling): https://amzn.to/3S5GVx2
Disclaimer: By clicking the links above, you will be directed to Amazon.com through my affiliate links. Should you decide to make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This commission helps to cover costs associated with running this blog.
Once upon a time, a swan egg rolled into a duck nest...
While visiting Washington, D.C., with his billionaire parents, four-year-old Ivan Stepanov is kidnapped from the National Zoo, vanishing without a trace.
Sold, abandoned, neglected and abused, "Vaughn" matures out of the American foster care system with little-to-no memory of who he is or where he came from. Eventually finding work as a janitor at the Kennedy Center, he starts to question if a life void of love, family and friendship is even worth living.
Ballerina Sasha Collins worked hard her entire life to earn a position in the esteemed corps of the Washington D.C. Ballet, which rehearses and performs at the Kennedy Center. Intrigued by the scruffy janitor who's often reading Russian poetry, she offers him kindness on one of the darkest days of his life, giving him a reason to live.
As they fall desperately in love with one another, Vaughn and Sasha have no idea that their days together are finite. His birth family is growing closer and closer to finding him, a circumstance that will eventually tear them apart.
From the cherry blossomed avenues of Washington, D.C., to the snowy streets of Moscow, to the breathtaking beauty of London in the fall, these separated, star-crossed lovers will have to crisscross the globe to find each other again.
Source:
Reedsy Discovery
©Katharine Gilliam Regnery: April 22, 2025
Edition: digital ARC, read on KU
404 pages
Start reading the A Modern Fairytale series
on Kindle Unlimited, or purchase your copies today!
1. The Vixen and the Vet (Beauty and the Beast): https://amzn.to/3SDyZDr
2. Never Let You Go (Hansel and Gretel): https://amzn.to/4kGRovl
3. Ginger's Heart (Little Red Riding Hood): https://amzn.to/3HxD5un
4. Dark Sexy Knight (Camelot): https://amzn.to/3Zlj2FA
5. Don't Speak (The Little Mermaid): https://amzn.to/43T0fmy
6. Shear Heaven (Rapunzel): https://amzn.to/3HxDhd5
7. At First Sight (Aladdin): https://amzn.to/4mTm1iz
8. Love Is Never Lost (Rip Van Winkle): https://amzn.to/4mTl3mC
9. Swan Song (The Ugly Duckling): https://amzn.to/3S5GVx2
Disclaimer: By clicking the links above, you will be directed to Amazon.com through my affiliate links. Should you decide to make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This commission helps to cover costs associated with running this blog.
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