5.19.2022 | Thursday

Cinder & Glass

Item: Cinder & Glass
Rating: 3
Author: Kim

category: Book Reviews
tag(s): young adult
0 Comments

title: Cinder & Glass
author: Melissa de la Cruz
published: 8 March 2022
publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
genre(s): folklore
pages: 336
source: bought
format: eBook
buy/shelve it: Amazon | B&N | BookBub | StoryGraph | Goodreads

rating:

the blurb

For this princess, winning the crown is no fairytale.

1682. The king sends out an invitation to all the maidens in France: their presence is requested at a number of balls and events that will be held in honor of the dashing Prince Louis, who must choose a bride.

Cendrillon de Louvois has more grace, beauty, and charm than anyone else in France. While she was once the darling child of the king's favorite adviser, her father's death has turned her into the servant of her stepmother and cruel stepsisters--and at her own chateau, too!

Cendrillon--now called Cinder--manages to evade her stepmother and attend the ball, where she catches the eye of the handsome Prince Louis and his younger brother Auguste.

Even though Cendrillon has an immediate aversion to Louis, and a connection with Auguste, the only way to escape her stepmother is to compete with the other women at court for the Prince's hand.

Soon, as Cendrillon glows closer to Auguste and dislikes the prince more and more, she will have to decide if she can bear losing the boy she loves in order to leave a life she hates.

Melissa de la Cruz takes a lush, romantic hand to this retold fairy tale classic.

my review

When I got this, I read the synopsis, and it gave me Cinderella meets The Selection series vibes. I love fairy tale retellings, and I loved The Selection, but this just didn’t really hit me in the same way. It was great in some places, but there were some that just left me feeling a little meh. The characters just felt a little flat to me. And there were times that the MC was naive that it frustrated me. But to be fair, the book was set in 1700-era France, a time when that would be the norm for girls her age.

It was a fun read, but I think it was just one of those books that wasn’t for me. It felt very juvenile at times, and to be honest, Cinderella tales are among my least favorite of the retellings genre.

About Melissa de la Cruz

Melissa de la Cruz is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning novels for teens including The Au Pairs series, the Blue Bloods series, the Ashleys series, the Angels on Sunset Boulevard series and the semi-autobiographical novel Fresh off the Boat.

Her books for adults include the novel Cat’s Meow, the anthology Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys and the tongue-in-chic handbooks How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less and The Fashionista Files: Adventures in Four-inch heels and Faux-Pas.

She has worked as a fashion and beauty editor and has written for many publications including The New York Times, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Allure, The San Francisco Chronicle, McSweeney’s, Teen Vogue, CosmoGirl! and Seventeen. She has also appeared as an expert on fashion, trends and fame for CNN, E! and FoxNews.

Melissa grew up in Manila and moved to San Francisco with her family, where she graduated high school salutatorian from The Convent of the Sacred Heart. She majored in art history and English at Columbia University (and minored in nightclubs and shopping!).

Melissa lives in Los Angeles and Palm Springs with her family.