Before Midnight

Once Upon A Time - Cameron Dokey

by Cameron Dokey

Etienne de Brabant is brokenhearted. His wife has died in childbirth, leaving him alone with an infant daughter he cannot bear to name. But before he abandons her for king and court, he brings a second child to be raised alongside her, a boy whose identity he does not reveal.

The girl, La Cendrillon, and the boy, Raoul, pass sixteen years in the servants' care until one day a very fine lady arrives with her two daughters. The lady has married La Cendrillon's father, and her arrival changes their lives.

When an invitation to a great ball reaches the family, La Cendrillon's new stepmother will make a decision with far-reaching effects. Her choice will lead La Cendrillon and Raoul toward their destiny -- a choice that will challenge their understanding of family, test their loyalty and courage, and, ultimately, teach them who they are.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fairy Tales, Romance, Retellings, Fiction, Fairy Tale Retellings

193 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

Cameron Dokey is an American author living in Seattle, Washington. She has a collection of over 50 old sci-fi and horror films. Cameron was born in the Central Valley of California. Cameron grew up reading classical literature and mythology, perhaps due to her father, Richard, being a teacher of Philosophy, Creative Writing, and Western Literature.

Cameron has one husband and three cats, and is the author of over a dozen young adult novels. Her favorite read is J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy, "The Lord of the Rings." Her favorite TV show is "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

When she's not writing, Cameron likes to work in the garden and is learning to quilt.

Reviews

[Valerie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe I should have read this book earlier; when I was 13 and a fresh book lover. I've read a few more Cinderella retellings since then so it's hard to give it any new twists or magic. Its got the basic framework of all the Cinderella retellings: mother dies (check), stepmother and sisters(check), and a happily-ever-after with the prince (check).

There is always something different about each retelling that I've read. In Ella Enchanted it was the curse, in Just Ella the prince isn't charming but stupid, and I could go on but that would take a while. This book goes for the dad and a war. Which sounds interesting in theory but you hardly get to see the dad and the war part isn't used as much as I would've liked. The relationship Cendrillon (Cinderella) has with her step family is different.

However, what bothered me the most was that it takes forever to get anything started. I know that Dokey writes about half the book before she gets the ball rolling but this one took so much longer. The stepmother and stepsisters don't ever appear until a quarter of the book is over and the ball takes even longer to even come up. The ball actually happens after page 150 and it lasts 2 pages, if that (the book is less than 200 pages by the way). The ball is what I looked forward to and was disappointed that it was basically nonexistent. Everything before that is basically to get everyone else to pair off (the stepsisters) and that just wasn't interesting to me. Also the words "true love" is on every other page. I'm usually okay with it and expect it from Dokey but it was a bit much for me.

This book was all right but I think there are better Cinderella retellings. I feel that I may be a bit harsh because it's such a well known story but after I finished I just thought it was...okay.

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely wary was I of this one. There have been tons of Cinderella retellings and begs you to ask the question what could this little book have to offer? A substantial amount as it turns out.

Cendrillion is blamed for the death of her mother. Not by everyone mind you but by her father. He wishes to never to see her again until he can receive peace. When he comes to visit his dead wife's grave he brings another life with him. A little baby boy to be exact. His name would be Raoul and he and Cendrillion would grow up together. This was totally refreshing because Cinderella never grows up with a brother or any other siblings really. This book felt like a long novel which I was surprised by since it is fairly short. A feat I'm assuming is hard to achieve.

The stepmother and sisters are way more interesting in this story and aren't depicted as being dumb as most other retellings make them out to be. There are a lot more characters that make an appearance to add layers to the story as well. Everything from why she is named Cendrillion, to how the lost slipper comes to play was original. Wishes and love at first sight played big roles in the story. How we what wish may not always be what we thought it would be.

A couple of complaints though:

-How things worked out for her father. It felt like the easy way out. I wasn't expecting perfection but something more than what we are left with.

- Why? Why? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! must the love of their lives come at the end of the story? They can make an appearance sooner! I do love the background work Dokey puts into it but I don't think it's too much to ask to put the guys earlier into the story.

Other than that though I'm totally happy and not regretful of giving this retelling a chance.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

2022 Review
I'm glad my 2009 self had the sense to rate this book 3 stars because good gosh. I can't imagine what made me return to this one again and again in high school.

Okay, maybe I can imagine. I liked the kissing scene and the gown on the front cover. So, I was a teenage girl. Sue me.

The rest of this book, though, is like being repeatedly smashed on the head with a mallet. Nothing is subtle. Every plot point is heralded by wild storms and dead trees and heartfelt wishes. This Cinderella's father isn't just a grieving widower. Oh no. His sorrow made the soil so barren nothing will grow on it; his self-love poisons the very grass around him! But like, don't worry, once he decides to properly mourn he will just ride off into the night and never been seen again because why would we want him to have consequences for his actions?

Characters don't just meet. They lock eyes and fall MADLY IN LUVVVV. And when you are in love, even if you've exchanged exactly 0 words and known each other for like two minutes, everyone knows. It shows on your face.

But I don't know what the plot would do if there wasn't insta-love. There simply isn't time for Cinderella and her prince to get to know one another. Not when nothing happens for the first 70% of this book.

To give some credit, I liked the side characters. I thought the step-mom and step-sisters were refreshing. Raoul wasn't so bad. Though I don't understand why everyone expected him to KNOW within, like, an hour of meeting his mother for the first time which parent he would give his allegiance to. How about we let him sleep on it without turning it into World War 3, hmmm?

I feel like I might re-read this one for old time's sake but unlike Snow this childhood favorite wasn't a delightful surprise.

[Katherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

”And so the child of cinders went to the ball.”

A little pro-tip for authors: if you’re going to write a fairy tale retelling (and make it a good one at that), make sure it actually retells the tale you’re trying to retell. I know it seems like a ‘duh’ statement, but as observed by the atrocity that is this book, it’s a tip that needs to be gone over from time to time. Because while I was expecting a Cinderella retelling, and I got…

Something that had the barest inklings of Cinderella but for the most part wasn’t. And it was absolutely abysmal.

The story begins in France, where a nobleman by the name of Etienne de Brabant is devastated over the death of his wife after the birth of their daughter. He wants nothing to do with her, so he leaves her in the care of his estate and the various servants. But before he leaves, he brings a foundling boy to be raised alongside her, though he does not reveal the child’s identity. The girl and the boy, now named Cendrillon and Raoul, are raised mainly by the head housekeeper in the countryside, passing the days riding horses and taking care of the household. Every year they wish for the same thing; to have a mother and to know who they are, respectively.

”’You make it sound so simple when you know it’s not,’ I said, the words bitter in my mouth. ‘But since you request it, then this is what I wish. I wish for a mother to love me, a mother for me to love.”

But as the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for, because it just might come true.

Again, if you’re going to retell a story, make sure it actually resembles the original piece of work. And from the outside, this book does; a girl named Cendrillon, a stepmother, two stepsisters, and ball, a glass slipper and a prince. Except make Cinderella have a stepbrother, have the stepmother not even be remotely dislikable and the sisters change heart halfway through the book, a ball that’s not grand, the slipper doesn’t even make an appearance, and a prince who’s plot line resembles more The Man in the Iron Mask than Cinderella.

SEE WHAT I MEAN? DOES THAT SOUND LIKE CINDERELLA TO YOU? I WAS ABOUT TO BURST A BLOOD VESSEL AFTER I FINISHED READING IT.

Another thing I expect from retellings is for it to add more depth and character development to the original, and the book did the exact opposite. Of course that doesn’t really say a lot for me in that I wanted to see a stepmother and stepsister who were evil, but they were the driving source of Cinderella’s conflict. Here, I don’t think the author knew what conflict she wanted Cinderella to have, other than Abandoned Father Syndrome. And don’t even get me started on the stupid instalove that happened between Raoul and Anastasia.

”They had been there in the tight silences between Raoul and Anastasia whenever they met, the compressed lips, the quick glances from the corners of their eyes. Love at first sight, I thought. I wondered why I hadn’t recognized the signs for what they were before now.’”

I MEAN, REALLY?? Those two gave no hint whatsoever that they liked each other beforehand, so either I’m just really dumb at reading emotional signs, or nothing was there to begin with and the author made it up on a whim to please future readers.

But when the book really fell apart was the ball where she meets the prince and the ensuing aftermath. The story introduced a subplot that was so out there and absurd that it felt like it was supposed to be part of a different novel rather than this one. And while I won’t give it away because you should probably read it for yourself, I will say that for fans of the original, they won’t be pleased. At all.

That sentiment applies to the rest of the book. Instead of taking Cinderella and retelling it with the respect of the original, the author completely went YOLO on it and trampled the story so it becomes unrecognizable.

[Maria Bikaki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Αν αυτό ήταν retelling της Σταχτοπούτας τότε εγώ σίγουρα έγινα κολοκύθα που το διάβασα #waste_of_time

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sure, this has some cheesy moments. Sure, the pacing is off. Sure, the insta-love is irritating. Sure, the characterization is a little uneven.

But you know what? It also delivers one of the most wholesome takes on the Cinderella tale I've yet encountered. Yay for stepmothers who are actually amazing, for blended families that mainly just ✨get along✨, for a unique and satisfying setting, for a stronger emphasis on platonic guy/girl relationships than on romantic guy/girl relationships, and for a generally winsome, soothing fairytale retelling. I'll be coming back to this one, for sure.

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

There a millions of Cinderella retellings out there, most of them following the traditional Evil step mother and step sister's story. Usually with the dad having died or away somewhere. This story was not like that.

Cendrillion's (as she's called in this retelling) mother died giving birth to her, her father was away when she was born, and came back a few days later. He was devistated by his wife's death and blamed Cendrillion for the death of her mother. He went to where she'd been buried and to be blunt, threw a fit. He cried on her grave in the garden and (this is where it gets odd...) everything in the garden died off or acted weird (I'll expand on the weirdness later on.) He had with him another newborn, where he was from and who he was was a mystery. The father dropped of the boy and left, not returning for many years.

So Since the father (who was some duke, a favorite of the evil queen) didn't come back, the servants raised Cendrillion and the boy, Raoul as their equals. They helped out around the house and picked the crops in the garden. After the father's fit in the garden the crops grew weird, they would plant one type, and a diffrent kind all together would grow. They planted apples, and oranges grew. They planted watermelons and gigantic pumpkins grew. You get the picture. They didn't expect the father to come back, they didn't expect anyone to come. So it came as a suprise when they got news that the father had remarried, and that the wife and her two daughters where coming out to the house to live.

When they got there, they saw Cendrillion in her plain clothing, and since the father had never mentioned her, they thought she was a servant. And she didn't tell them any diffrent. Over time one of the step sisters broke into the father's office, which had been locked; in the office was a giant portrait of Cendrillion's mother, who as luck has it happened to look exactly like her. The step sister showed it to everyone and they all realized who she was. She became accepted into the family and everyone was relatively nice to her.

No that's not where the story ends, but that's where it starts to get more exciting. And I was a bit tired of typing.... Who was Raoul? Where did the father get him? What happens to Cendrillion? The father? The step sister and step mother? If you're wondering any of this, or if the story I discribed above appeals to you in any way, this is the book for you.

[Natasa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dokey in the author's afterword speaks about the origins of the story, from the Brothers Grimm to the older Charles Perrault that gives the true name of Cinderella. The novel isn't very long, just under two hundred pages, so there isn't much room for much development for the characters, but the writing and plotting are fairly tight, and the author doesn't forget to put in some descriptive passages that create some lovely imagery.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Apart from the magical stuff, which I don't care so much for, and one "d--", this book was very clean. And it's not like spell kinds of magic, but wishes coming true, so pretty innocent there too. I found it delightfully unpredictable despite knowing that it's a Cinderella tale...which should have made it predictable. There were some really enjoyable twists on the original story, and I loved how it kept me thinking.

What brought the rating down to three for me is that the ebook was badly edited...not the words, but the punctuation, which was a bad wreck. Very few apostrophes were in their places, and many commas and periods were missing, as well as random bits of italics in places that made no sense.

[Tirzah Eleora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel bad for this little book. I read it while I was horribly sick and needed a distraction. The writing wasn't half bad and I enjoyed reading it. I do have to admit that the three-star rating is a bit on the generous side however, for the faults of this book are many. The plot, an unoriginal retelling of Cinderella, was poorly executed, as was most of the character development. The first half of the book was pretty good in terms of pacing but towards the end of the book things felt rushed and forced. The author added a couple elements of the fairy tale, namely the glass slippers and pumpkin carriage, merely as props to reinforce the fact that it's a retelling, but both items were completely purposeless in terms of the plot and were superfluous.

Again, I liked it; mostly because of the writing style I think...it reminded me of something else, although I can't pinpoint what it is. But I wouldn't reread.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy all the various versions of Cinderella, and this version was just as enjoyable to me. I first saw this book several years ago in a large bookstore. I loved the cover. It just had part of the dress on the cover, but it was beautiful. For some reason, I did not end up buying it, but I wanted to read it, just because I liked the cover!

I might have guessed it was a Cinderella story, by the title, but by the time I actually started reading it, I forgot.

It is significantly different than most Cinderella story retellings, but that is what I liked most. There are new characters, characters that are different from the original writings, and characters that might be a bit of a surprise.

I am really glad I finally read this book. It was well done.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a pleasant surprise for any lover of retellings of fairy tales!

I feared this small book, one of the "Once Upon A Time" series, would be a poorly written disappointment. Instead, it was a well written twist on the Cindrella story. It achieved two ends: 1. The writing style captures the magic that fairy-tale readers long for; and 2. The intriguing analysis of the father, the first wife, and the step-mother adds the new dimension to the old tale.

I plan to read more of the series now!

[Danae · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might just be my favorite retelling of Cinderella ever! So much to love about it. Mainly I love that the only reason she's treated as a servant by her stepmother and stepsisters is because they think she's a servant. Once they come to know who she truly is they wholeheartedly accept her and begin to love her. Then the prince being a twin a with his twin brother being the boy she has known since she was 2 weeks old?! Of course she would fall in love with the unknown prince instantly! It is all just perfect and a lovely heartwarming story.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am an absolute sucker for retold fairy tales, and even though the Once Upon a Time series is targets teen readers, I look forward to see what new spin each installment brings to old familiar stories. Cameron Dokey is the most prolific and - in my opinion - best author contributing to the series. In order to craft her own version of the Cinderella story, Dokey went back to the Grimm and Perrault versions of the tale. In a nod to the Grimms, there is a tree planted on the grave of Cendrillon's mother, a symbol of her mother's love and influence even after her death. Dokey also retains the French setting & names found in Perrault's tale. And, as found in both versions, Cinderella's father is alive, and plays a much bigger role in her life than modern readers are accustomed to seeing. Dokey then asks two questions - one, what if the father lives and is a negative influence on Cinderella's life, and two, what if her stepmother and stepsisters were not the wicked ones? Dokey's writing has a lyrical style and rhythm that immediately makes me feel like I'm reading an original fairy tale, and in a nod to modern audiences her Cendrillon is smart, assured, compassionate, and not afraid to speak her mind. Before Midnight doesn't take top honors as my favorite retelling, but it's a solid & enjoyable entry in the series.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, the storyline was actually quite interesting. If only Dokey had written it better. It had an awkward writing style with several typos and a lack of conflict resolution distorted the tale too much (it seemed to me her step family warmed up to her too fast and were saying how much they loved her before there was really any falling out between them). Similarly, the ending was highly predictable and there was never any depth in the relationship she had with the prince (which I suppose never really existed in the original, so I can't complain about that too much).

[Clare · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think that there was lots of padding in the first quarter of the novel, and I particularly struggled to get through the pages where the garden was described in intricate detail. It also took a quarter of the book for the wicked stepmother and stepsisters to be introduced, which was far too long in my opinion.

[Ruth Watkins · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars

Before Midnight is a poorly written retelling on Cinderella. The writing is often times awkward, longwinded, and riddled with grammatical errors.

The characters fall flat, as does the magical element of wishes.

This is a short, simple retelling of Cinderella that could be so much better.

[Jennifer (DigiWrit) · Rating 3 out of 5]

As far as retellings go, this one really sucks. It doesn't resemble the original Cinderella in the least. It would've been better if Dokey had penned an original tale of her own and said it was inspired by Cinderella. Here's a quick summary:

Cindrillon--Dokey's Cinderella MC--comes into the world on a stormy night, and her mother dies in childbirth. Cindi's father, a rich nobleman, returns from a journey, bringing a baby boy with him. He takes one look at Cindi and declares that he never wants to see her; he blames her for the loss of his wife. Regarding the boy he gives orders to bring him up as Cindi's equal, but he's forbidden to leave the estate. Then he goes off, leaving the children in the care of servants. Years roll by and finally Cindi's father remarries, sending his wife and two stepdaughters to the estate. Oddly, in time, they four females form a bond. The Prince makes a brief appearance, and voila! Love at first sight.

The story is less a retelling, and more of an inspired spin-off, practically voiding the entire premise. Dokey flirts with the idea of magic, but its presence is hardly consequential; almost nothing magical happens despite Cindi being named for her odd talent of keeping fires burning at will. Cindi is only treated like a servant because she doesn't reveal her identity. The prince plays less of a role here than in other versions of Cinderella. And if you hate insta-love, look out, Cindi and the prince fall in love and kiss all in the space of two pages. Talk about ludicrous.

So, what gives with the 3 stars? The one thing Dokey does right is tell a meaningful story about the power of real love--not just romantic love, but the love of family and friends. The story also impresses the importance of releasing grief and pain in order to move on with your life. So often we drown in our own sorrow, blocking out and hurting those around us as we waste precious life nursing the wounds of our souls as time slips through our fingers. I enjoyed the message and appreciated it, despite the fact the story itself was very lackluster.

I would recommend this book to readers looking for a decent journey through a profound theme. One thing I found contradictory, though was a line where Cindi's stepmother says that true love comes with seeing someone for who they truly are (paraphrasing)--which is true, but then how did Cindi fall in love with a man she met 30 seconds ago? You can't truly see who a person is in 30 seconds, so how does one fall in love with someone they don't even know the first thing about? I DON'T believe in love at first sight! Still, at just over 200 pages, I think this book is worth checking into.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first Cinderella retelling I've come across that dared to do the unthinkable: what if "Cinderella's" step family actually grew to love and care for her? Then, how, you may ask, does that relate to the famous tale? Well, a common motif in the fairytale that isn't often mentioned in popular media is that Cinderella's father is still alive. How can a neglectful father leave his daughter at the mercy of such blatant abuse? Some versions have him be perpetually absentee (Ella Enchanted) or present but enabling (Into the Woods). This version has his absence spur his newly married family to actually care for his neglected daughter, especially after they find out her identity.

This Cinderella story focuses on love, and how, when grieving a lost love, it cannot be mended until properly mourned. There's love at first sight, of course, in abundance, and familial love, and love that is freely given versus love that is shut away.

It is an unique retelling, to say the least, though perhaps a tad rushed.

[The Lazy Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's something about the Once Upon a Time anthology series that draws me to it. I don't know if it's my deep love for fairytale retellings or how beautifully lush the original covers are or the obvious love of the source material you can read between the lines, but something draws me to these books, and I've long planned on purchasing all of them to add to my permanent book collection. So it really pains me to say this, but Before Midnight is my least favorite of the three I've read so far.

The story starts with a lot of promise. I liked the setup: the general setting, the cast of characters, the prominence of pumpkins, Cendrillon's constant effort to get something to grow on her mother's grave, how she allows her step-family to think she's a servant because of her struggle with accepting her identity, the exploration of love and friendship and the difference between the two, the focus on what bitterness will do to you, how Dokey attempted to subvert all of the original tale's tropes. But Dokey could not seem to pull it all together at the end.

For starters, the romance is bad. All of three of them, in fact. The pairings are strange and confusing and not particularly romantic and all three are somewhat unnecessary on some level. Why should I believe that just because Raoul and Pascal look alike that that somehow makes Pascal a suitable love interest? The 'meet-cute' and subsequent 'romance' are not only rushed beyond belief but more than cheesy enough to make me want to gag. I'm not opposed to love at first sight stories, but this was certainly not the way to do it.

Raoul and Anastasia serve as nothing more than an uninspired pairing, and I had zero investment in their relationship, but out of three they do still have the most actual build-up and development, and perhaps if the rest of the book had been better I could have gotten behind their relationship. As for Niccolo and Amelie, Niccolo had no business being a love interest. In fact, I did not care about him at all. He did nothing useful, and the story would have been perfectly fine without him. Or he could have just been a fun side character without any attempt at developing him further. He definitely didn't need his own romance or to have more than an inconsequential part to play in the secret twins and warring countries plotline.

The one thing I actually liked about the romance of the book was how Dokey used it to explore Cendrillon and Raoul's friendship. There was a subtle, underlying current to their friendship throughout the book that presented some truly delicious possibility, like both knew things could go either way for them, love or friendship, and it would all come down to what they both decided in the end. I, personally, was fully willing to accept the idea of them remaining friends, but if the end goal was to stick Cendrillon with a secret twin she barely knew because poorly written 'insta-love', I would have preferred she end up with Raoul instead.

In terms of the warring countries/secret twins subplot, I was genuinely looking forward to finding out Raoul's part in the story, and I even would have liked the idea of him being a secret twin if it hadn't been thrown in so hastily at the last minute. The story did seem to be hinting at the idea of Raoul being a kidnapped prince, which was an element I was all in for, and he did turn out to be a prince, but he didn't come from where I expected him to or from where I think would have suited the story more. I could have dealt with this easily if the rest of the subplot had made sense to me and worked in the story, but I Still don't know what the secret twins/warring countries plotline was meant to be about, and I don't very much care at this point.

And for a story that relies on a subplot of overthrowing a kingdom, where the hell were all of the machinations?! I get keeping the secret twins/warring countries subplot in wraps for most of the book since Cendrillon wouldn't have any reason to know about any of it with her father being absent the majority of the story. But once things started to be revealed, I absolutely expected for there to be some time spent on Developing this subplot and actually giving it some Teeth. As it is, Brabant comes across as a completely useless mastermind of a completely directionless plot to overthrow a kingdom for completely non-existent reasons. And at the end of it all, there's not even any sort of conclusion to the subplot. For all we know, these two warring countries are still warring with each other to this day, and Raoul and Pascal have become locked in an intense emotional battle only to be ended once one or both of them have run out of the will to live.

Now That would be a story.

Sadly, by the end of this book, I found a lot of the characters behavior and the overall progression of story events unbearably annoying. The last 1/5 of the book definitely needed to be longer to make room for more character and story progression. And all three of the romances should have been scrapped and started over.

I'm not getting rid of this book, because I still plan on collecting the full series, and I'll probably re-read Before Midnight at some point to see if I like it any better, but I don't find that likely to happen. For now, this is a three star story at most.

[Charise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had so many ideas! So many! and unfortunately too many.
I enjoyed some parts of the book and the skewing of the original story, but most of the characters were two dimensional as there was just not enough time to develop them. Poor Cinderella ended up with the least developed romance and Prince Pascal, who even is he? We barely got to meet him.
Maybe if the book had 300 more pages to really nut out the story it could have been great.

[Abby Wheelwright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun story, but it's a little too obsessed with the idea of love at first sight. There's just no chemistry in those situations. The reader doesn't have time to care.

And that ending was too quick.

[Esmay · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5 stars!
this was such a cute and easy read!!

[LaNona · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars!

[Catherine Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Cinderella story where she’s not a slave & victim for most of the story, and yet there’s plenty of conflict and growth. I liked this version!

[Priscilla 2021 · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's an amazing book.I think it was indeed lovely. I had a problem with Cinderella's step sisters and the Prince

[mellohibench · Rating 3 out of 5]

reading stories for class is so boring but anyway i like it

[SM · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll be honest straight off the bat: There is absolutely no conceivable reason why I enjoyed this book as much as I did. It's a (or, as you might put it, ANOTHER) retelling of "Cinderella" - a story that has hardly been ignored in the pantheon of retold fairy tales. I don't think it adds much to the story that's been told time and time again. I truly loved some characters but absolutely detested at least one. And yet, when I put the book down, I was smiling and that counts for something, in my book.

Cendrillon (yes, I get where the name came from but that doesn't mean that I didn't cringe a bit when I first read it) is the heroine of the story, blamed by her father of killing her mother in childbirth. There's a cast of supporting characters, including Raoul, a boy with a mysterious past who was brought to the family's estate by Cendrillon's dad. I absolutely adored Raoul. If I could have gotten a story entirely about him and his story, I would be thrilled. Except that would mean more of another supporting character, and I'm not sure I'd be willing to make that sacrifice. More on that later.

Cendrillon as a character wasn't perfect for me. She keeps a secret from her new family for 1) far too long and, 2) stupid reasons. I don't even understand why she DOES keep it a secret, other than, "Well, I guess at this point, it would just be awkward to confess." Which makes sense after months and months have passed, but there's not really a logical reason why she didn't just speak up to begin with. That rather annoyed me. I get annoyed when characters do stupid things for illogical reasons that can only be explained away as "the author needed dramatic tension/to set up a later scene." It's the sort of plot device that normally irritates me to no end, but I was somehow able to get over it, here.

I love retellings that shine a new light on a familiar character. (I adored what "Ever After" did for the character of the stepmother for that reason, as it subtly gave her character a bit more depth.) In this book, I liked that the stepmother wasn't the wicked villain she is in other stories. It was actually rather nice. The stepsisters are...well, one is okay, but she's entirely overshadowed by the other. I HATED Anastasia. Absolutely loathed her. She was fine at the end of the book, but there wasn't really believable character progression to get there. In this, I felt the author really dropped the ball. She was detestable and spoiled and selfish and just plain mean, and then, all of a sudden, she's...okay, well, she's not NICE but she's just...okay with Cendrillon all of a sudden. We are supposed to like her at the end of the book because we're just told we should, rather than being shown why.

The Prince was fine. I do appreciate that the author tried to give you an impression of why you should like him, even before you could meet him. It's the main flaw with stories like this, that the hero doesn't come in until near the end so there simply isn't the time to get to know (and love) the hero as one should. All too often, I'm left recognizing that I should be happy Cinderella gets the prince, but I don't really get WHY I should be happy about it, other than...well...he's a prince. Does one really need more of a reason to be happy for her at the end? (Yes.) I did like the Prince, but there just wasn't time for me to love him like I wanted to. This was somewhat hard of a pill to swallow, as I really loved Raoul's character at that point, and I was almost disappointed in the ending working out the way it did.

At the end, everything is wrapped up a little too neatly. There's a war that doesn't seem to go anywhere. Some political intrigue that, I confess, I couldn't have cared two flying rats' carcasses about, and a big "They lived happily ever after" sticker slapped on the whole shebang.

Yes, there are issues with character, plots that don't seem to go anywhere, and the like. So why did I like it so much? Absolutely no idea, but I do know that, if I ever decide to re-read this series in future, this one will be the first on my list and I will likely enjoy every minute of the read, then, too.

[Meg (fairy.bookmother) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this reread more, but I still felt like it took too long for the story to develop.