This read was one recommended to me because the main character reminded them of my main character, Desiree. I also love fairy tale retellings, so I downloaded it, read it, and loved it. The book is Cinders by Aaron Finley.

This retelling starts with Ella in her youth and gives some great backstory to our heroine. It has all of the classic elements of Cinderella in the end, but the best part of this story is all the history given between the Prince and Ella. This wasn’t love at first sight, but a relationship built over a long period of time. Another unique aspect to this story is that it is told by the fairy godmother who has a hilarious voice and interesting view of the whole thing.

Of course I loved our main character. She is a girl who worked hard to be a talented fighter. She wasn’t just given abilities, she earned them and she suffers for her sport. I liked that she was part of the jousting and knight’s tournaments. But she was spunky, but smart and knew when to use her strength and would hold back when needed.

I like the Prince and how we got to know him through Ella’s eyes and see him grow into a leader in his kingdom, even standing up to his father and overpowering his cousin and uncle. I wish there had been a bit more of a battle at the end for him, some of the resolution came almost too quickly. But I did enjoy the political problems brought into the plot.

This book seemed longer than it actually was. I think it’s because the fairy godmother would sometimes go off on tangents. I liked this in some instances, but sometimes it was too much. The timeline was a little unclear in places and some of the character’s motivations didn’t make much sense to me. But people are fickle, right? Overall, I would give this book a 4.5 rating. I look forward to more fairy godmother lead fairy tales and more powerful, believable female characters from this author. Happy reading, my friends!