From the moment Cindra is born, misshapen and ill-formed in face and body, her beautiful mother hides her away, allowing the world to see only her other three perfect children. Cindra, raised by an aged nurse and assigned humble duties in the kitchen, receives little affection and plenty of abuse from both her mother and sisters. Starved for beauty, she longs most of all for love.Prince Rupert, … Rupert, newly returned from an education outside the kingdom and forced to take over duties as king, sees the beauty of Cindra’s spirit. In her sister-in-law’s garden, he courts her with rare flowers and nearly makes her forget her mother’s hate. But when war tears them apart, will Cindra have the courage to stand on her own? And when faced with the challenge of leading Rupert’s subjects through a siege, will the strength of her compassion be enough to sustain a kingdom?
more
A beautifully emotional tale I listened to on audio. Brilliant!
This is a fairytale like none you’ve read before. It takes the Cinderella story and changes it into a full-length book an adult could actually imagine happening so long ago.
This author displays extraordinary talent in characters, setting, plotting, voice, and just wild imagination. She may become one of my release-day-have-to-have-it favorites. Congratulations, Laura Strickland, on an awesome book!
As is true with all of Laura Strickland’s books I’ve read, Cinder-Ugly captured me from the beginning and kept my attention to the end. A fairy tale retold with a sharp but beautiful edge, we feel and see all Cindra suffers along with her, and climb from dark to light with a heroine who isn’t just plucked up and saved by the hero, but draws herself to her feet in success as well. Laura has a knack of putting the reader into her characters’ shoes, and this book is no exception to her skill. That alongside lovely prose, turns Cinder-Ugly into a beautiful story.
We have all heard the tales about Cinderella. None of it is true. Here lies the real story. Cindra was born weak, ugly and deformed. Her mother despised her and wished her dead. Cindra was kept hidden away from people as her mother said she was so ugly no one would ever want to be near her. Her mother only boasted about her other three perfect children. In this story, Cinder has 2 beautiful sisters, but she also has a brother, Robin. Cinder’s father was always kind to her, but he bowed under the pressure of his wife who took every opportunity available to make Cindra feel worthless and unloved. Robin, her brother was the only saving grace for Cinder whose mother and sisters renamed her Cinder Ugly. Battered, bullied, and broken life for Cinder was depressing and lonely. She often contemplated if she would be better off dead. Things start to look up for Cinder when she meets the Prince of their Kingdom. Rupert takes a liking to Cinder and sees her for what she is – a beautiful woman deserving of love. But, with the threat of war imminent, will their newfound love end just as fast as it was blossoming?
When I was a young girl and even until today, Cinderella was always one of my favorite fairy tales. I have often read retellings of this tale hoping to get the same feelings I got with the original version. Cinder-Ugly gave me all those feelings and more. I can not express just how much this story affected me. There is not one single thing I would change about this story at all.
My favorite character of course is Cindra. She was very much broken by her mother and sisters, practically locked away and humiliated time and time again. She thought of herself as worthless not fit to be around people because they only saw her deformities, not seeing the child and later the woman she had become. Her spirit was gone until she met the Prince. She felt as if she did not deserve him and why would he want to give her attention when he could have any woman he wanted – beautiful women she would never be able to compare herself too. Their love story was just epic as Rupert saw Cindra for who she truly was, a beautiful spirited girl deserving of love and acceptance.
Prince Rupert was honestly such a sweet caring soul who looked past Cindra’s outward appearance and found her heart, wooing her every chance he got sending her flowers, telling her how beautiful she was. With his love and guidance, he opened up Cindra to a life she never had in her own home, being treated as the lowest of the low. Rupert was a special kind of hero and a real and honest man. How I wish there were more men like him out in the world.
I love how Cindra finally finds the courage and the strength to come into her own, fighting for her family and the life that was opened to her. I can really see through the course of the story how she grew into a woman loved by many who came to know her.
There are so many aspects to the story as it kept up with the original. I especially love the shoe reference and how it was not a glass slipper. I also loved how the author changed the story a bit from having a stepmother do this to a child, but her own actual mother which was so frightening how a mother can treat her own child with all of the hate and animosity one could ever have.
With war on the horizon, Cindra became a leader amongst her people, helping them and listening to them. She gained so much respect and honor from the people in the Kingdom. It was so refreshing to see all the love and support Cindra received and how she was able to finally have a friend whom she could talk to about her fears.
One thing that I hope everyone takes away from this story is that everyone is beautiful in their own way. Beauty runs more than just a pretty face, it is what is in the inside that really counts. You may see yourself as undesirable, but sometimes it is not what other people see. Other people can see you for what you truly are. They can see feel your strength and see what is in your heart. Everyone can be loved and show love, it only takes a special person to see what lies in the inside. Never let anyone beat you down and make you feel any less than the beautiful loving person that you are. Their opinions will never matter.
Cinder-Ugly is an emotionally and beautifully told story filled with heart. It shows how people are different, but it makes them no less deserving of love and a family. The story is powerful and uplifting, but the message it sends forth is something we should all sit back and listen to, soak it in, and learn from. I highly recommend you pick up this wonderful retelling as it made such a strong and lasting impression on me. This story highly deserves more than 5 stars. I hope you enjoy it just as much as I have.
It’s obvious from the title that this book not only has the classic Cinderella ‘rags to riches’ trope but is indeed a retelling of the Cinderella story.
The story is not written the way I have come to expect from modern stories, even those set in historical eras, but I was quickly absorbed by the story and the characters, and that sense of narrative, of the story being told to the reader rather than the story playing out in front of us, gave it a real sense of fairy tale that it wouldn’t have had otherwise.
I was concerned that the ‘telling’ instead of ‘showing’ would lead to the reader being bored and feeling apart from the action, but it wasn’t like that. There was plenty of present-time action to catch the reader’s interest.
Cindra was a great character, and I felt she was realistic. I think her reactions are what we would expect from someone with her upbringing. The prince was… different. I was able to buy in to him as a reader, and accept that his behaviour made sense, but I can’t say that I would call it realistic. Still, this is a fairy tale and a romance novel. The mother was pretty heinous, and I am really struggling to find any redeeming features about her, which isn’t good. You want your ‘evil’ characters, your bad guys, to have just enough redeeming features to make them realistic. I’m not even sure I can say that the mother loved her two beautiful daughters, her handsome son or her husband. Only herself. I think if she’d had more of those redeeming features – true love for someone other than herself – that would have improved the book.
I loved Robin and the father, and thought their reactions to the behaviour of the mother gave the book a much-needed sense of realism.
I expected this to be a quick, predictable holiday read (not that it’s the holidays here, but you know what I mean!). Something sweet and fluffy. But actually, I really enjoyed it, and while it has the requisite happy ending, I didn’t find it to be predictable. That’s impressive when you’re retelling an oft-told fairy tale!
Cindra Bulgar has been cast out and hidden from her mother from the time she was born as she was not “perfect”. She has lived her life in the shadows of her older brother Robin and two older sisters Nelissa and Bethessa. Her sisters and mother are cruel and call her Cinder-Ugly and they treat her as a member of their staff and not their family.
When Cindra drops a tray of food which splashes the Prince and the Queen she knows she is going to be punished severely. Her brother promises that once he is married she can come live with him and his bride to be Donella.
Will Cinder experience such hatred from the outside world? When she begins a friendship with Prince Rupert will she understand his intentions and will she have the courage to stand by his side?
This was a great story about inner beauty and overcoming all of the negativity to still have the courage to live on.
My heart broke for Cinder and how she was treated from the moment she was born as she was not perfect. I hated that her mom kept her locked away from everyone and I was also mad at her dad for not doing enough to protect her. I loved that Robin took her away when he was able to and the friendship that developed between Cinder and Donella was incredible.
Prince Rupert was a smart man and easily could see the beauty and knowledge within Cider. I loved that the two started off with such a good friendship that slowly grew into more as he knew the type of woman he wanted by his side. He was so supportive of Cinder but it broke my heart how fast war broke out and he had to leave.
Cinder’s mom was just pure evil and I loved that once Cinder married Prince Rupert she had the courage to stand up to her. I was shocked at how many times she demanded more and I was definitely angry at what happened at the end with what her mom did to her.
I was definitely worried about the war and the siege on the castle. I knew that certain things would be used but I was not sure at all how things were going to come about but I was freaking a little. I was super sad about what happened with Donella and I wish that did not occur.
The end was great and I was happy everything worked out the way it did although I was definitely sad that a couple of characters were not there.