It’s 200 years since Cinderella found her prince, but the fairytale is over.
Sophia knows the story though, off by heart. Because every girl has to recite it daily, from when she’s tiny until the night she’s sent to the royal ball for choosing. And every girl knows that she has only one chance. For the lives of those not chosen by a man at the ball … are forfeit.
But Sophia doesn’t want to be chosen – she’s in love with her best friend, Erin, and hates the idea of being traded like cattle. And when Sophia’s night at the ball goes horribly wrong, she must run for her life. Alone and terrified, she finds herself hiding in Cinderella’s tomb. And there she meets someone who will show her that she has the power to remake her world …
An electrifying twist on the classic fairytale that will inspire girls to break out of limiting stereotypes and follow their dreams!
Genre: Fiction/ Fantasy/ YA
Number of Pages: 400 pages
Date of Publication: 06/08/2020
Author/Illustrator/Publisher:
The author of this book is Kalynn Bayron. The beautiful illustration on the cover was created by the very talented Fernanda Suarez.
The book was published by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
Rating: 4/5
Review:
A very interesting twist on the Cinderella fairy-tale where this time the main character doesn’t need a man to rescue her. This is a YA fantasy book with a queer black female character with a strong personality which won’t stop fighting for what she believes is right.
Honestly I have so many mixed feelings about the story. While the plot is interesting with great premise and well written characters I felt that the story has lots of ups and downs. There were chapters that I didn’t want to put down and just wanted to finish reading them but there were others that I felt needed more depth or more darkness to fit with the rest of the book. I really liked the characters and how they were portrayed but I wish there had been more development from all of them. I just really wanted to know more about them all, even the villains and maybe even from Cinderella herself although I know that the main focus was on Sophia. The romance part of the story had great potential but I just didn’t feel that this was well developed and just wanted a bit more chemistry. I felt the ending, despite having some great twists and turns, needed more explanation especially on why the villain decided to do what he did.
I enjoyed the book and I love the idea of giving a fairy tale a darker twist so please don’t take this review as being overly negative. I liked the idea and I am happy I read the book and will definitely be reading Kalynn’s next work which is coming out at the end of June but I just feel that this book had potential for more and I know that the author has great potential so can’t wait to read her next book.
Do I recommend this book? Yes, I do. It has an amazing premise but the plot didn’t quite live up to the potential it could have and it has great and imaginative characters but their development was lacking. In a single line: The premise and characters were so good that the plot and development couldn’t keep up.
The cover is absolutely stunning and Sophia just comes to life with the beautiful portrayal.
Availability: The book is available in all good bookshops.
Shelf Life 
Leave a Reply