Cinder and Ella by Melissa Lemon

Genre: Fairy Tales retold
Publisher: Bonneville Books
Buy the book: The Book Depository
Source: I received an ecopy from the publisher via NetGalley

After her father's disappearance, Cinder leaves home for a servant job at the castle. But it isn't long before her sister Ella is brought to the castle herself. What Ella finds there starts a quest that will change her life and the entire kingdom. Cinder and Ella is a Cinderella story like no other, and one you'll never forget. (Goodreads)

This is not your average fairy tale and to be honost besides the name it doesn't resemble Cinderella in any way. It's a totally different story, it's a little darker, no handsome prince, no fairy godmother and no happy ending. Well the latter isn't really true but it's not really a happy ending yet, let's keep it to that. No this is a story about a girl named Ella, a girl named Cinder and an evil prince.

To be honost I really love fairy tales, but this goes for the ones I grew up with. Cinderella may be one of them, but this one isn't. Fairy tales that you remember are very different from fairy tales you read now. I never reread the fairy tales I used to I just remember them as they were when I was little. I used to reread them but the more I read the more the whole magic from the story got lost. I'm sorry I'm just not impressed with the character development in fairy tales and that is fine as long as the story is good. besides I still remember them so no need to reread them.

But that is the thing with this story. I really enjoyed the story. And even more because of the darker setting and the lack of the 'and they lived happily ever after' but I just couldn't feel that connection with the characters. They just felt flat and didn't exacly stand out. I did however really love the idea of a life being connected to it's own tree. for a 'good' life, you should take care of your tree. The most enjoyable is the writing style. It's written in the style as I remember the fairy tales as I used to know them. Even though this is a new story the whole fairy tale vibe is there.

My rating: 3/5