Tag: Cinderella

Cinder Edna – REVIEW

Valerie @ Valerie's MusingsLeave a comment

5 out of 5 stars.

How many ways do you know of to cook a tuna casserole? If you’re Cinder Edna, you know 16 different ways!

Book cover with penny loafer sitting on a pillow

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Line of gold crowns with alternating green, red, and blue tips
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Synopsis

The famous Cinderella and her neighbor Cinder Edna each worked sunup to sundown for their wicked stepmother and stepsisters. But while Cinderella had the good fortune to be rescued by her fairy godmother, Edna was strong, self-reliant, spunky–and she lived happier ever after!

Line of gold crowns with alternating green, red, and blue tips
© Graphic Garden

Review

I absolutely adore this book! I picked it up at my local library many years ago and was enthralled by it. When I saw it in a small town country store in West Virginia, I bought a copy for my own. Cinder Edna is a wonderful counterweight for all the princess fairy tales that are out there. Now, I have nothing against fairy tales. I personally love reading them and love reading re-tellings of them, but I also believe that there needs to be something to balance them. Something that teaches young girls that they have the power to make their own destinies and they don’t have to rely on a Fairy Godmother or Prince Charming. Cinder Edna does this.

Cinder Edna lives next door to Cinderella. She’s treated just as badly by her stepmother and stepsisters, but she doesn’t just take her fate lying down. She doesn’t sit in the cinders thinking about all her troubles. She learns to cook tuna casserole 16 different ways. She does odd jobs around the neighborhood. She takes the bus to the various places she needs to get to. Maybe she’s not as conventionally pretty as Cinderella, but she’s spunky and fun-loving. She marries a prince too, but not one who’s conceited and vain like Prince Charming; a down-to-earth man who loves her just like she is.

I HIGHLY recommend this book to all parents, caregivers, children, teachers, etc. It’s one of the best “alternate” fairy tales out there.

Line of gold crowns with alternating green, red, and blue tips
© Graphic Garden

The Stepsister Scheme – REVIEW

Valerie @ Valerie's MusingsLeave a comment

4 out of 5 stars.

The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines book cover - Castle silhouette in background - three young adult women on front - two dark-haired and one blond

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Synopsis

You know how all those old fairy tales take you through lots of scary adventures till you finally reach that inevitable line: “And they lived happily ever after…” Guess what? It’s not true. Life in never-never land isn’t all sweetness and light. Cinderella – whose real name is Danielle Whiteshore (nee Danielle de Glas) – does marry Prince Armand. And (if you can ignore the pigeon incident) their wedding is a dream-come-true.

But not long after the “happily ever after,” Danielle is attacked by her stepsister Charlotte, who suddenly has all sorts of magic to call upon. And though Talia – otherwise known as Sleeping Beauty – comes to the rescue (she’s a martial arts master, and all those fairy blessings make her almost unbeatable), Charlotte gets away.

That’s when Danielle discovers a number of disturbing facts: Armand has been kidnapped and taken to the realm of the Fairies; Danielle is pregnant with his child; and the Queen has her very own Secret Service that consists of Talia and Snow (White, of course). Snow is an expert at mirror magic and heavy-duty flirting.

Can three princesses track down Armand and extract both the prince and themselves from the clutches of some of fantasyland’s most nefarious villains?

Line of gold crowns with alternating green, red, and blue tips
©Graphic Garden

Review

The Stepsister Scheme by Jim Hines is the first in his Princess series. He takes popular fairy tales beyond their supposedly “happily ever after” and creates a world full of intrigue, betrayal, and adventure. Goodreads is spot on in their description of it combining Disney Princesses, Charlie’s Angels, and the darker side of fairy tales.

This is another one of those books that I’d been meaning to read for a while and just hadn’t had a chance, so I was a little afraid that it wouldn’t live up to my expectations. It totally did and I wasn’t disappointed.

This book finds Danielle (Cinderella), Talia (Sleeping Beauty) and Snow (Snow White) working together to find Danielle’s husband, the prince. It was packed with great action scenes, twists and turns in the plot, and great characters.  This is a prime example of what an author can do when they take fairy tale characters and re-imagine them in different roles.

If you prefer fairy tales retold with only superficial detail changes, this book is not for you. But if you’re willing to stretch your imagination and re-imagine these princesses in totally different roles in their lives, you’ll enjoy this book.

Graphic line of 2 bluebirds holding a bunch of stars on a string between them.
©Graphic Garden