Cinderella — A Love Story is “a fanciful and absorbing rewrite of the classic faerie tale”. It is told here in a fascinating new version, set circa mid-16th century. Younger readers will love the borrowed magic that enables Ella to attend the ball, while older readers — including adults — will connect with the inseparable bond between mother and child; a bond that transcends time and space and … and even death itself. Ella’s parents are young and in love and the family is happy until Marie suddenly dies. Her father remarries, hoping to give his beloved child a mother’s love and care. But Charles’s new wife is a cruel, unaffectionate woman, who cares only for her own two very backward daughters, and turns her step-daughter into a servant. Ten years later, when the King throws a ball in honour of his son, Ella’s only chance at happiness comes from a most unexpected source.
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Cinderella – A Love Story is a simple and sweet retelling of the original timeless fairy tale with a special twist (hint: it has something to do with the fairy godmother in this version!).
I thought it was very cool how the author had the book illustrated and I really appreciated the larger font (there’s not enough books out there with an actual readable font size!) and this retelling of Cinderella is very suitable to middle grade readers as well as more advanced elementary school readers (and would make an okay read aloud / bedtime story to younger children as well). The little pictures (e.g. pocket watches, necklaces, glass slippers, music notes, etc.) at the beginning of the chapter were my favorite part of the illustrations. Each one of them kind of hinted at what was to come in that particular chapter. The full-color drawings themselves were also appreciated, sometimes they helped to bring the story to life but other times I felt like they took away from the story. For example, the drawing of Ella’s dress on page 47 was absolutely gorgeous but then Ella’s foot on page 91 was a bit horrifying. In general I think the artist is talented at depicting scenery and animals (the horses on page 49 were magnificent!) and she’s talented at designing clothes for each scene as well but she’s not as good at drawing the characters’ faces, which was a huge disappointment.
Here’s a bit of what I thought of each character:
Ella (yay, the main character!) – I actually don’t have much to say about Ella, she’s what you’d expect her to be as “Cinderella” and I actually liked some of the other characters more than I did her.
Charles (Ella’s papa) – Ugh I literally couldn’t stand Ella’s dad for nearly all the book. I just can’t believe he’d just stand by and watch his daughter be worked night and day for years and years and never take action and do something! Like yes, I get that divorce was very frowned upon in that era and sure, maybe you could just pass Charles off as weak and afraid of Vera but those aren’t excuses! Who told him to marry the woman in the first place? And how in the world could he go to bed each night in silk and wake up every morning to eat a delicious breakfast while his own daughter slaved herself away?! And he acts all sad and mournful about their situation but this is his sweet daughter we’re talking about! If he’s truly sad about the situation, he would’ve done something a long time ago to fix the problem (e.g. kicking Vera out!)
Marie (Ella’s mama) – Marie was so much better than her husband, she actually did something and took matters into her own hands to help Ella. Her righteous indignation at the way Vera treated Ella was amazing, I just wish she’d yelled a bit at her husband for sitting around for like a decade watching his daughter be treated like scum.
Vera (Ella’s stepmother) – I thought Vera wasn’t too bad at first, believe it or not, maybe jut because we were introduced to her from her POV and in fact, her daughters seemed worse than she was but apparently not. It’s funny how she set herself up for the ending she got lol. It’s like she fell into her own webs.
Marguerita / Meg and Ophelia / Phely (Ella’s two stepsisters) – I was very, very surprised that they became good and civil at the end of the story! I don’t know if that’s how the original story went but I’m glad they decided to go a different way than their mother did!
Prince Andrew (aka Prince Charming) – Andrew was kind of eh in my opinion, he wasn’t awful but he didn’t really stand out to me much. I felt like he was a bit of a prat at times like when he was dramatically complaining about not wanting to go to his own birthday party when Ella was literally scrubbing kitchen floors somewhere or when he sent Julian to go find Ella even though Andrew himself was apparently very distressed at Ella running off (since it was midnight). Like you were too lazy to go and run after her yourself or something?!
Julian (Andrew’s long time best friend) – Julian was my favorite character! I liked him better than Andrew! If I were Ella, I’d want to marry Julian instead He was humble and kind and never ever full of himself like Andrew could be at times. I also so loved how Julian knew who Ella truly was all along but Andrew didn’t! (I can’t believe he didn’t even recognize Ella when he came to their home! Like sure, she’s in different clothes but if you actually love her so much, shouldn’t you know what her face looks like? Or maybe you just never ever bother to pay any attention to the servants? (Sorry, I don’t even know why I’m so bent on ridiculing Mr. Prince Charming! He’s not as bad as I make him seem!))
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Many thanks to the author for the free review copy (and for your kindness and care in general)! I am beyond grateful. Please note that all opinions expressed are completely my own