A great book. If you were a fan of “Pretty in Pink”, “Sixteen Candles” or “Cinderella” you will love this book. To be young and have rich parents. Cute book. Nice to know there are clean books that teen girls can read and come out feeling good with hope. Different can be good.

I stayed up way passed my bed time consuming this book last night! At first I thought this may be a corny spin on Cinderella, but was I wrong! I loved the add in/reference of one of my favorite 80s movies! I look forward to reading more by this author.

In a way, The Ugly Stepsister Strikes Back reminded me very strongly of the glorious times past, when I was a teenager, and the heroine Mattie to my 15-year-old self (OK, I never stood out and wasn't quirky or artistically talented, but I loved manga & Jane Austen, was supershy and had this huge, unrequited crush on one of the senior high school guys).

I also like Cinderella-goes-to-the-ball stories, so I found this book appealed to me on several levels. It was with no little satisfaction, my Real-Time-self read this book, while my retarded-romantic-teenage self alternatively shed a tear or did a happy dance.

Although the title & blurb suggests differently, it is basically a Cinderella-story and a funny, delightful one at that.
I thought I'd get sister rivalry and that stuff, but no: things have taken a better turn, for actually the sisters turned out to love each other despite grievances and gave support to one another when needed. I loved how Mattie's and Ella's relationship developed and how Mattie is learning to accept herself and growing stronger in the process.
The meanies were a bit one-sided to be sure, but all in all I was satisfied when finishing the book. And there is a lovely bonus at the end: we are offered some of the high points of the story from Jake's POV, which was very much appreciated.

WOW. This is not just a simple retelling of the fairy tale you read as a kid. This is a mind-blowing, girl-power, totally relatable story told from the stepsister POV. Take all your expectations about where the story is going, toss them out the window, and enjoy the ride!

THE UGLY STEPSISTER STRIKES BACK is pretty...formulaic, but in a good way. It's a YA RomCom about Mattie Lowe, who considers herself the "ugly stepsister" sort of finding herself and being strong in who she is. It's also about the nerdy/artsy/"weird" girl crushing on the hot jock/"Mr. Popular", who, of course, is dating "the prettiest girl in school". For Mattie, the prettiest girl in school happens to also be her stepsister.

I really didn't like Amazon's description of the book. It paints Ella to be a mean girl. She's not.

I liked how all the main characters sort of came into their own, even if it was in ways that weren't "expected". In a rather John Hughes's way, one might say. Actually, there are several trope characters from Hughes's work that show up among the characters of the book. It's nice to see some classics never die.

I have come to the conclusion that Sariah Wilson cannot write a bad story- time after time I read one of her books and find myself laughing out loud (literally!) at her character's witty dialogue, holding my breath with anticipation, and sighing in contentment at each conclusion.

The characters in this story had an unexpected depth, which added nicely to this change in a modern day fairytale. There was so much more to the story than first meets the eye, with some fantastic plot twists. Definitely a must-read, and one I will be recommending to my family and friends!!!!

This is a book that will make you laugh and feel the depth of emotions at the same time. The main character Matilda is a teenager who is hopelessly in love with Jake, whom she thinks is in love with her step-sister and way out of her league. But love does not see reasons, so she continues to be jealous of her stepsister Ella and sulks privately. However, some turn of events makes her realize that Jake is not unattainable and that he is as aware of her as she is of him. However, there are many competitions to be won and many projects to be finished before she can be fully confident of herself. The characters are well developed. Matilda has a very funny and sarcastic wit and likable. Other side characters are also likable and make an impact on the reader. Jake seems to surprise people with his depth of character. Overall, a very enjoyable read, different and fully entertaining.

Maybe I was just too old for this book. Mattie is an artist but not exactly like her dad's art work. Her stepsister is beautiful and everything seems to come natural for her. Mattie decides she will run for class president against the boy she is totally infatuated with and can't seem to let it go no matter how he treats her. Life is hard at that age anyway but for her extra hard.

Everyone wants to find their prince charming and this book is a modern Cinderella story which was really nice read.

Matilda or Mattie as she is known, lives in the shadow of her step sister Ella. Ella is totally different to Matilda . Mattie falls in love with Ella’s boyfriend but does he feel the same way. When Mattie and Jake end up working on a project together, do they end up together?

I am not going to spoil the book but it's a really nice read with lots of one liners and a nice modern day book, a great read.

This is a great book with a wonderful story and well developed characters. The story flowed very well and was very enjoyable. This book will keep you reading long into the night and you will not want to put this book down until you finish. This was such a great read and full of surprises. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader’s copy of this book. The free book held no determination on my personal review.

As a Cinderella retelling, viewed from the perspective of an ugly stepsister, this book had the potential to be all too predictable and sickly sweet. However, the delightfully cynical nature of Mattie, the eponymous ugly stepsister, stops this from being the case. Constantly belittled via Skype by her absent mother, Mattie has cast herself in the role of ugly stepsister and misfit, viewing the beautiful, outgoing Ella as the perfect fairy tale princess, complete with handsome prince in the form of Jake, Mattie’s crush since she was a child. But, as this book shows, what people see on the outside is not always what is true of the person on the inside, and princesses don’t always want to wear their crowns.
The inclusion of chapters showing the story from Jake’s point of view is a lovely touch, and adds a depth to a character who might otherwise appear unworthy of our heroine’s devotion.
With touches of John Hughes and The Princess Diaries, this book is a must read for fairy tale lovers of all ages.

This review contains mild spoilers for the book.

This story is a twist on the Cinderella fairytale with the stepsister being the protagonist. I am a sucker for fairytale retellings - whether they are a fantasy version or modern day - so I was very excited to read this book for that reason. And I enjoyed the book overall, but there were just a few things that prevented me from liking it more than I did.

First, it really bothered me in the beginning of the book how Jake would constantly try to use Mattie to do his bidding (to get out of detention and to do the whole school project) and even though she wouldn't let him use her, she basically didn't care that he treated her that way and still went on loving him anyway.

I also felt that the book was almost too short. I am all for short books. Unless it's one of my all time favorite series, I start to get wary when books get over 400 pages. However, I feel that this book at a little over 200 pages could have benefited from being a little longer. I think there was a lack of development with the characters and the plot that while the story kept going, I didn't really find any of the characters to act in a believable way due to a lack of development. We do get some backstory on the characters (like how their parents treat them) but I didn't feel like it really helped them develop to be the characters they were by the end of the book.

That being said, there were things I liked. I thought Mattie was really funny and a good protagonist. I also loved that she and Ella actually teamed up (I never expected that based on the book summary but it was really awesome how they really became friends). I think the story was cute, but it just needed a little more something to make it better. I will also say, this was my second book by this author, and I have to say that I enjoyed this one a whole lot more than the other one. Enough that I would be interested in checking out some of her other stories as well.

I recommend this to anyone looking for a light/fun read that isn't too deep and for people who don't mind a little cheesiness.

What would you do if Life cast you in the role of the ugly stepsister? If your stepsister was a sweet, beautiful, delicate blonde who happens to be nice and universally adored? And to add insult to injury, she’s dating the boy you’ve been in love with since you were five years old?

The Ugly Stepsister Strikes Back tells the story of Matilda (Mattie), whose stepsister Ella is all of the above and more. It reminds me of a charming cross between Clueless (rich kids with First World Problems) and The Duff (the ugly one in a group of friends finds out she’s a swan after all). Honestly, it was adorable, and I could totally see it as a movie, probably with Jamie Chung as Mattie. If you like those sort of movies, you’ll probably adore this book.

Bonus; while the book is told in first person from Mattie’s point of view, there are a couple of bonus chapters at the end from the PoV of Jake (her love interest) which were really good, because Jake did behave pretty badly at a couple of points in the story and it was nice to read about his remorse for it and his resolve to do better.

All in all, a charming and light-hearted teenage romantic comedy. Five stars.

This is a really clever twist on Cinderella were the so-called ugly sister gets to be the heroine of her own story. Set in high school Mattie has always has a crush on prince charming - Jake, but the only problem is he is dating her perfect stepsister (read Cinderella) Ella.
Some of it was a little cringy, but it was well written and entertaining. I managed to read it in one sitting. This edition has been re-edited and contains chapters at the end from Jake's POV, it also contains the first chapter of the next book in the series tentatively called promposal, I will certainly looking out for this

My first @NetGalleyRead. Adored this book. Have read it so quickly. If you love fairy tales, happy endings and romance you ABSOLUTELY MUST read this book. Cinderella retold. Funny, romantic, cute .... just adorable. A big thanks to Sariah Wilson and to NetGalley.

Fantastic read! The other side of a Cinderella story. Absolutely loved the flow of the story, the characters and setting were spot on. One of the best YA's I have read in a long time.

This was such a delight! The best way I could describe this is something Rainbow Rowell would write, but snarkier and with more self deprecation. The high school drama moments were tense enough to drive the story, but never dragged too long. The main character was relateable and sweet. Overall I had a great time and would love to read another one of Ms. Wilson's books.

Even though I am not in the target readergroup I sometimes like reading YA. I enjoyed the book about young Mattie, envious of her beautiful and nice step sister Ella. At first I thought she complained too much but then I realized teenagers are mostly exactly like her! So even when it may not be my taste right now, I can imagine it being a popular teenage book.

Even if I am older than the intended audience this retelling of Cinderella was fun to read, engaging and moving at time.
Many thanks to Kindle Press and Netgalley

I would like to first thank Netgalley for allowing me to read this book for an honest review.

With that being said, I tried to get into this story and at first I kind of did. The main character is Mattie and the beginning of the book is about her complaint of Ella, her stepsister. The complains were quite funny although at times it seemed like a little too much for me. What truly just uninterested me in the story is Mattie's infatuation with Jake. Jake is her high school crush who also by the way is dating her step sister and through the chapters I read seemed like a total jerk! But anyway she is totally in love with him and has her issues with him because of things he does.

I'm pretty sure this book is going to be liked by some people, it just was not my cup of tea.