Title: Cinder and Ella
Author: Melissa Lemon
Rating: 4/5 Glass Slippers
Spoilers: None

Synposis: After their father’s disappearance, Cinder leaves home for a servant job at the castle. But it isn’t long before her sister Ella is brought to the castle herself—the most dangerous place in all the kingdom for both her and Cinder. Cinder and Ella is a Cinderella story like no other and one you’ll never forget.

Review: We’ve all heard the story a million, billion times. Girl leads hard life, girl has crappy family, girl goes to ball, girl meets boy, girl lives happily ever after. Cinderella. We all know it. Or do we? Melissa Lemon has written a wonderfully creative new take on one of our favorite classics.  She’s left the bare bones of the story and has done something really wonderful with what she had to work with, and as someone who is a sucker for rewritten classics, I loved it.

In Cinder and Ella there isn’t one girl but two. Sisters. They try to make the best of a bad family situation (sisters don’t have to be of the step variety to be jerks) and from there… adventures ensue! I won’t give anything away, but the story is a lot of fun. It has all the makings of a fairytale and yet you never know what little twist is coming next.

Most of the characters aren’t taken from the classic version (okay, for me that means Disney) of the story and for me that was a big part of what kept this fresh. I didn’t go into this book with any preconceptions about who these people were supposed to be (prince charming, evil step sisters etc) so I never got pulled out of the story because something wasn’t going how I thought it should. My favorite was definitely Ella, but I thought her sister Beatrice was pretty hilarious to read as well.

One issue I did have with it is that sometimes this book read a little awkwardly, and I couldn’t always tell which age group this story was meant for. Granted, usually I know going into a story who it was meant for, so that might have helped but I do think no matter which book shelf this story ends up on, it will be a welcome edition. Anyways! The solution to the story reading awkwardly problem…

This story was meant to be read out loud! I noticed it a few chapters in, and while I didn’t actually read the whole thing out loud to myself, it was so clear that the language used in this book is perfect for reading to someone. I even found myself thinking about the different voices I would use for each character. It made the whole thing really come to life. THAT is the making of a true fairytale.

It’s awhile still before this one comes out but it is definitely a title to watch for!

Provided by the publisher via NetGalley