I’m very into fairytale retellings, which originally drew me to this book along with the gorgeous cover. However this book is so much more than a simple retelling.
Description
It’s 200 years since Cinderella found her prince, but the fairytale is over.
Sophia knows the story though, off by heart. Because every girl has to recite it daily, from when she’s tiny until the night she’s sent to the royal ball for choosing. And every girl knows that she has only one chance. For the lives of those not chosen by a man at the ball . are forfeit.
But Sophia doesn’t want to be chosen – she’s in love with her best friend, Erin, and hates the idea of being traded like cattle. And when Sophia’s night at the ball goes horribly wrong, she must run for her life. Alone and terrified, she finds herself hiding in Cinderella’s tomb. And there she meets someone who will show her that she has the power to remake her world .
I was instantly taken in by Sophia’s struggles. She just wants to be herself but no one will let her because being herself could lead to death. This different take on the classic tale of Cinderella was fantastic and tackles the issues of gender, race and sexuality, breaking down the usual stereotypes in YA.
“It feels like another part of me is being changed to fit someone else’s vision of what is pretty.”
I related to this line so much. They wanted to straighten her hair because it is what the king likes. As someone with the same sort of curly hair Sophia is meant to have I know exactly how she felt in that moment.
“We’ve also rarely heard about people like us and yet here we are. Just because they deny us doesn’t mean we don’t exist.”
The rep in this book is fantastic and it brings up lots of issues with society that are present in real life. I loved this book and if you like a twist on a classic fairytale I think you will too.
W.R.L Morris-Author 