This is such a fantastic book and I don't think any review could do it justice.

It's incredibly smart and incredibly feminist (I'm pretty sure that any book that's described that way is a book that I'll immediately want to read). And Sophie is wonderful. She's Black and queer and is determined to change the status quo in her city and its kingdom. Women are treated horribly; they're the property of their husbands. It's been that way since Cinderella's time, but Sophie knows that tradition is a horrible reason to do anything.

And it won't surprise you to learn that, while Cinderella's story is true, there are two different versions: the official, palace-approved one and the one that's actually true.

This is a phenomenal book and I love everything about it. Highly recommended.

In the land of Marsailles, Cinderella is dead, and has been for the past 200 years. Her story hasn’t just become canon - it’s become law. Every year all girls at the age of sixteen must attend the mandatory royal ball, where the men are allowed to oogle them and pick out which one they want as a wife. The girls don’t get a choice in who picks them - once you’re selected by a man, you’re his, and if no one picks you, well...you’re only allowed to attend the royal ball three times before your family has to surrender you as a “forfeit.” Forfeits are never seen or heard from again. Attending the ball more than once is considered an embarrassment. And if you don’t want to get picked? Too bad. The girls of Marsailles have no choice - non-attendance will get you thrown in prison, and likely executed, while their families have all their possessions stripped from them. So...have fun at the meat parade, girls! Fingers crossed you don’t get picked by an abusive prick!

Sophia Grimmins (I see what you did there, Kalynn Bayron) doesn’t want to go to the Ball. All Sophia wants is to marry her best friend, Erin, and be free to have a future with her. But in Marsailles, being gay is not OK. It’s straight relationships only, Cinderella married a prince, and therefore, women can only marry men. Men marrying men and women marrying women? Forbidden. No not pass go. Do not collect 200 dollars. Instead, go straight to forfeit town. Sophia pleads with Erin to try and escape their hometown of Lille and head off into Belgium the Forbidden Lands. But Erin doesn’t want to escape - she just wants to keep her head down, go through the whole disgusting selection process, and stay safe. Well, as safe as you can with a husband who is brought up to be an abusive, misogynist prick like many men in Marsailles. Seriously, with the exception of like, 3 characters, pretty much all the dudes in Marsailles are the worst.

Anyway, the day of the Ball has arrived, and with Erin refusing to escape, Sophia has no other choice - she has to go. Her parents have gone into debt to provide her with the best hair, makeup and dress in order to increase her chances at being chosen. Sophia’s parents know about her feelings for Erin, know that she’s always preferred to have a princess rather than a prince, but even though Sophia pleads with them to do something, anything to get her out of going to the Ball, they refuse.

So Sophia ends up going to the Ball and it’s much worse than she could have expected. The dudes are gross, the king is gross, the whole damned system is gross.

Unable to stand it, Sophia makes a split-second decision: she’s going to run. She takes off in the middle of the ball, jumps out a window and escapes onto the palace grounds. Running blindly, she finds herself in an overgrown mausoleum which turns out to be the final resting place of Cinderella herself. There, Sophia meets Constance, a descendant of Cinderella’s supposedly evil stepsister, Gabrielle. Constance has been on the run, resisting the king’s awful laws for years. She tells Sophia that everything she’s been taught about Cinderella’s story is a lie. Constance offers Sophia a choice - escape with her and rebel, or return to Lille and face the consequences of fleeing the ball.

At first, Sophia chooses home. But when her parents make it clear they won’t do much to protect their now outlaw daughter, Sophia meets up with Constance and together they head off into the White Wood in search of Cinderella’s fabled fairy godmother, who may or may not be a witch and who also may or may not be still alive.

Oh man, I do love me a good story in which badass young women fight against the patriarchy. Cinderella is Dead is such a fun story - well, fun in that the misogyny and injustice rampant in Marsailles is both familiar and super scary, but fun in that Sophia looks that system square in the eye and goes “nope.” Cinderella is Dead is all about the power of story - how something as simple as a fairy tale can be used as a weapon to subjugate not just women and girls, but men and boys as well. The fairy tale made law doesn’t just keep women stuck in the role as princess, but men stuck in the role as prince, even if they, too, would rather run off with a prince than marry the princess.

Cinderella is Dead starts strong, though it does start to meander in the middle, before speeding up toward the end. Since this is a standalone book (hurray!! No getting suckered into a series this time! More standalones, please!) character development and world building is somewhat lacking, as there’s only so much you can fit into one book and seriously thank God this isn’t the start of another trilogy I have to keep track of, I’ve got way too many trilogies, duologies, quartets and never-ending serieses I have to keep track of right now. Anyway: yes, worldbuilding and character development are a bit shallow, but such is the way with fairy tales, only this fairy tales features a queer young woman of color burning the patriarchy to the ground. And that’s absolutely something I need more of in my life. Now let us go forth and burn the patriarchy, everyone!

I really enjoyed the writing in this book. It was a completely different take on Cinderella, which was fun. Reading the synopsis, then the book, it was pretty predictable, but still enjoyable. I look forward to reading more from this author.

A Cinderella retelling that Grimm Brothers would approve of, Cinderella is Dead shares the story of a girl living in a post-Cinderella kingdom where girls are expected to meet Cinderella's high standards and find their 'true love' at the annual ball- or risk being forfeited. One of the most interesting uses of Cinderella's story, Bayron is able to completely make a fairytale her own in the world that feels both fantasy and dystopian.

The story features a diverse set of girls facing the patriarchy with our protagonist, Sophia, being a queer black girl. It is great to see this type of representation in fantasy, a genre that someone feels very Caucasian and heterosexual. The novel does a wonderful job of reimagining preexisting Cinderella characters and it makes me want more books that are retellings but in a world after the fairytale has ended.

The novel is a bit heavy-handed in its telling of themes as it does a lot of "telling" rather than showing. At times, the characters and these themes of toxic masculinity feel shallow as they don't have a level of subtlety. Sophia's character can be frustrating to read during the first half of the book as she too isn't very subtle in her rebellious features, which, as many characters point out, is dangerous for their strict and sexist kingdom. In the beginning, it can be slightly stressful to watch Sophia openly endanger everyone with her free-thinking, even though she is right in wanting to be rebellious. I also found Sophia's attraction to Constance to be sort of insta-lovey and wished there was more development first before Sophia even felt a certain way about her. The novel can feel a bit flat at times, but it is still a fun retelling.

If you are looking for a quick and refreshing retelling, Cinderella is Dead is worth trying. The ending part of the book is action-packed and the dark and rebellious feel to it somehow reminds me of dystopian fiction. I also appreciate that the author used the Grimm Brothers' Cinderella and not the Disney one.

Oh, I love a fresh retelling, and this one was cool.
It starts centuries after the Cinderella story we know, and then twists in a fresh way to backtrack and turn everything on its head. Get your hands on this one!

ℂ𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕒 𝕚𝕤 𝔻𝕖𝕒𝕕 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This story takes place 200 years after the famed story of Cinderella, but it is not the story that we all know. In this kingdom, the stories are not what they seem and there are no fairytale endings.

I really enjoyed reading this. It’s a fun, fast-paced fantasy featuring a lesbian black lead as our heroine. Sophia is stubborn and rebellious. She wants more for not only her life but the women around her. She doesn’t want to follow the misogynist laws set upon them by the king. The girls in the kingdom have no autonomy. From the age of 16, they must attend a ball where they are selected by men and married off. The fairytale of Cinderella is seen as almost a scripture that the whole kingdom must abide by.

I loved the world that Bayron created and it’s clear social commentary on homophobia and the misogynistic issues women face. I loved how she took the story of Cinderella and really made it something original in a world full of retellings. I absolutely adore Constance. She was my absolute favorite part. Is this because I am a sucker for a badass redhead character? Yes. But she truly is a great character from start to finish.
Another aspect I enjoyed and don’t see a lot in books is the challenging of the “not all men” argument. This book really nailed that.
I do wish that we had more time with the world-building and characterization. I do feel that it was kind of lacking and rushed in areas. I am not really fond of insta-love in most cases but honestly did not mind it here. I really just loved that they were unafraid of their feelings and wasn’t something that shameful to them. They were just too happy queer ladies.


*𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘦𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘮𝘴𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘺 𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 *

Loved this intriguing look at who gets to tell the stories of history (and fairy tales). Loving this new crop of reimagined fairy tales - and the purposes behind the lessons they propose to teach.

That being said, I was hooked from the beginning and finished it in a couple of days (which is pretty record time for me). It is definitely a little old for my professional target audience, but as a parent of a teen, I recommend books well out of the elementary grades I teach in. This is going on my list!

Kalynn Bayron’s Cinderella Is Dead is an amazing debut novel. There have been plenty of fairy tale retellings over the years, and I think that this is one of the best. Not only was the concept unique and intriguing, the writing was on-point and I genuinely enjoyed the characters. I was unsure in the beginning just how the story would play out and while it does have a few moments that could be seen as predictable as far as fantasy stories go, it did nothing to hinder my overall enjoyment of the book. For me, it was a page-turner and one of the things I liked the most about it. An area that I would have liked to be more detailed was the world-building; granted this is something that isn’t as easy when you’re working with a pre-existing story. That said, the additions and new parts of the tale were set up and explored brilliantly in Bayron’s writing.

Another aspect that many readers will enjoy is the relatability of the characters throughout. You have Sophia who is headstrong, stubborn and wants the best not only for herself but for the girls and women around her. She sees what is going on in their world, knows that it isn’t right and wants to stand up and do something. She wants to lead the change, even knowing that it will put her in harm’s way. Then you have her friends, Erin and Liv who both want to find a suitor for the betterment of the lives of themselves and their families. While Erin is attending her first ball and she does love Sophia, she also doesn’t want to bring shame to her family. Therefore, she makes the choice to put her feelings for Sophia to the side as to her, it is the right thing to do.

On the other hand, you have Liv who is at her second ball. Having missed her chance to find a suitor the first time around, Liv is hoping that she will be able to find someone this time. She cannot leave the ball with nothing to show for it. It would be an embarrassment and she doesn’t want to be considered forfeit by her family. So, you have this trio of girls who are childhood friends that are drastically different, but ultimately want to find happiness in whatever form that is. However, the difficult part of that is never truly knowing what happiness might be if they are only being forced to go along with centuries-old traditions that were put in place to silence and de-power the women of the kingdom.

This is what Sophia is fighting against and if you want to know if she succeeds or not? Well, you’ll just have to read the book to find out! Cinderella Is Dead is a fantastic retelling of an age-old fairy tale that begs to be read.

This is a debut fantasy with impressive ambition and scope. I knew I had to read it the moment I heard it was “black queer girls taking down the patriarchy.” And that pretty much describes it, with some delightful subversion of the Cinderella narrative. There’s a lot to love in this book, even if ultimately there are some weaknesses that are hard to ignore.

Let’s start with the positives though! The idea of a world in which the Cinderella story is revered to the point of being a kind of a creation myth is fascinating. The way this plays out in the book brings to mind some really interesting themes of how history is written - and twisted - by the victor. Sophia was a compelling main character and my stubborn Taurus self identified with her tenacity. I also loved the twist on the fairy godmother character and enjoyed her dynamic with Sophia. The book reads at a clip and I found myself not wanting to put it down.

However, I feel like this pacing was at the detriment of elements of world-building and secondary characters. The world-building didn’t develop much beyond the compelling initial premise and ultimately made it feel like the world was only what the plot needed it to be at any given time. I didn’t have a good sense of space, history, or atmosphere to engage with beyond the Cinderella-as-creation-myth element. While I’m always here for sapphic goodness, the relationship-building between Constance and Sophia left me wanting more. I didn’t quite feel the chemistry between them and I think a lot of that has to do with Constance feeling like a rather flat character. There was the beginning of a fascinating dynamic with Amina, but the rushed nature of the ending didn’t let the full potential of that be realized. I’d say the ending felt incredibly fast in general and due to the accelerated pacing lost some of the logical threads.

With all of that said, I think the mileage on my criticisms may vary. That is to say if you go into this book looking for a fun romp with queer ladies taking on the patriarchy you’ll get that. And I think there is an inherent, and enchanting, value to having a black lead fairytale where she fights the bad guys, wears a beautiful dress, and gets the girl. But considering the promise of the premise I was hoping for a bit more.

This is a 3.75/5 for me!

The strengths of this book for me are the sheer entertainment value of the story, the LGBT representation, the likeability of the main character, and the fast pacing.

My only complaints are that I think the message was a bit heavy-handed at times and the story was a bit predictable at parts.

Overall though, I really enjoyed this! Thank you to the publisher for sending me an arc :-)

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsburg YA for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

I literally sacrificed my sleep and my head to finish this book around 2am because I was so curious to know how it would end. And then the TWIST at the end literally killed me so here is my review that may or may not make any sense because I’m still trying to process what the heck just happened.


I don’t want to be saved by some knight in shining armor. I’d like to be the one in the armor, and I’d like to be the one doing the saving.


Who else was reminded about The Cheetah Girls song Cinderella? I know I was! Disclaimer: I totally performed this song with my cousin back in middle school for a talent show and we freaking KILLED this. Just saying.

So… this isn’t really a Cinderella story in the traditional sense, but it is based on the story of Cinderella. Like the title says, Cinderella is dead. She has been dead for 200 years by the time the events of this book take place. The story of Cinderella was recorded for posterity and the kingdom of Lille and Mersailles has their laws based on the story of Cinderella – the Palace Approved version mind you – and that is why there is an Annual Ball that allows the eligible girls in Lille to find a husband. But that’s only if they are selected by the suitors that are attending the Ball.

They have three chances to attend the Ball. Usually, if they don’t get selected during their first Ball, it’s very rare that they would get picked in their last two chances. And if they don’t get picked, or something else happens, they are considered “forfeit” and they are never seen again. Of course, only the girls have this fear although there have been some boys that have been forfeit for other reasons, but boys are not required to attend a Ball unless they want to.

In addition, a lot of the men in Lille treat women like property so there’s a lot of cases of spousal abuse and wives having some sort of “accident” so that the husband can find another wife… it’s just terrible to be a woman in Lille. And that’s why Sophia – our main character and the beautiful girl on the cover – wants that to change. Well, there’s another reason too and that’s because she loves her best friend Erin, who is a girl. Since Lille doesn’t allow anyone to really marry out of love, and they pretty much punish anyone who is in the LGBTQIA+ community, they have to hide themselves and conform to the rules, even if it means they are unhappy for the rest of their lives.

Is this really what Cinderella meant when she said she wanted every girl to have her happily ever after? I doubt it.

Luckily Sophia is able to escape the terror that is her first Ball, and ends up running into a mysterious teenage girl named Constance in Cinderella’s tomb, and things start to get really interesting from there.


First of all, I just have to say that I love the relationship that develops between Sophia and Constance. Even though Sophia had a totally different upbringing than Constance, and even though there are things that Constance couldn’t even dream about that Sophia had to go through, they are still able to understand one another and work well together. It’s hard to develop some sort of partnership with someone that you just met, and especially since they have this huge goal of bringing down the patriarchy by getting rid of the King. It’s not like that’s a super easy task or anything, ya feel?

Second of all, wow this book just really took the whole Cinderella story and flipped it on its head. Which I freaking loved so much because I loved seeing the Cinderella fairy tale being explored in a way that wasn’t thought of before. It also made me think about whether or not other fairy tales should be looked at in a different way. I was just so intrigued with this.

And ugh I’m just so freaking angry with Erin. I just have to say that. And if you read it, you’ll see why.


I am so glad that this book is coming out in the world, and I am so freaking glad that I had the opportunity to read this. Bayron said that she wanted to write this book to see Black girls in ball gowns being the heroes in their own stories, and that’s exactly what I felt in this novel. And I am so glad that this book is here because I know there are other Black girls like me that have been dying to see us portrayed as both soft and capable of saving ourselves. Sophia embodied both, and I loved it so much.

So thank you, Kalynn Bayron for not giving up on this story.

Sophia was strong willed and assertive. I loved that she didn’t want to get in line, know her place and live her life serving a man or anyone. The story touched on a lot of topics especially the treatment of young girls and women. The author created a world that was very detailed and I could see everything playing out in my head as I read. There is a twist that took me by surprise and I didn’t see that coming at all. I do wish the ending was longer. I would have liked more in that aspect. Overall this was a good book and I would read another book by this author.

What if Prince Charming was Evil?
Cinderella is Dead does away with the familiar rags to riches romance, reimagining Cinderella, her stepmother, and stepsisters as resistance fighters against an evil king, who uses magic to subdue his kingdom. Two hundred years after Cinderella’s death, the kingdom still follows the dark ways of Prince Charming, treating women as second class citizens, who must be married off by the age of eighteen or face the mysterious fate of the “forfeit.” According to the king, this is as Cinderella wished it, since she knew this was what was best for all young ladies. Against this backdrop, we meet feisty Sophia, who is much more interested in finding a way to marry her best friend Erin, than she is in attending the annual mandatory ball to find a husband. When she makes a split second decision to flee from the ball, she is saved by a member of resistance, and finds herself dedicating her own life to changing the kingdom so that women, and LGBTQ people, can live openly as themselves. This book is a definite win for those looking for a story with African American heroines, strong female characters, and an LGBTQ centered romance…but it falls short in a few frustrating places as well.

I always like to get the negative out of the way first, so I’ll start with what I didn’t like about this book. I See the source imagelove strong female characters, but more specifically, I love strong female characters who have depth. The characters in this book do not. Character development is a tricky business, and when an author is trying to make them all fit a certain mold (good/bad, strong/weak, etc.), its easy to end up with very one dimensional characters. Sophia, and the other heroine Constance, are both likable enough, and the villains are all malevolent enough, but because they lack subtlety, everything they do is predictable. I also found it a bit annoying that all the straight men in the story seemed to either be spineless, or deplorable, which just goes back to the fact that I would have liked to see more varied characterization throughout the story. This doesn’t make the book unworthy of a read, but it does make it lack any true element of surprise.

See the source imageHowever, the shortcomings of the book are more than made up for with what is done well. The themes of gender equality, of doing the right thing simply because it is the right thing, and that love is love, are authentic and poetically articulated. The core message that girls can do anything they put their minds to regardless of societal constraints, and of the power of knowing your own worth are universally appealing, but the fact that they are delivered through the lens of an LGBTQ romance makes it a great read for young people looking for characters that remind them of themselves, or their friends at school. Finally, I like the fact that the book makes some subtle commentary on the fact that sometimes it can be difficult for parents to do the right thing when it comes to helping their children who act differently than what society says is “normal” but that it doesn’t mean the parents don’t love their children and aren’t rooting for their success. Sophia serves as an example for why it is important to have the tough conversations in families, but to be true to your own nature regardless of the outcome. And don’t worry, there is a very sweet, and satisfying, fairy tale happily-ever-after ending for our leading ladies.

I would highly recommend this book to high school media specialists, and anyone looking for a fresh, modern update, to an old story.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in return for an honest review.

One the on hand there is no argument that this is one of, if not THE, most original adaption of Cinderella you'll ever come across.

On the other hand, the execution of these really original ideas left a lot to be desired. First was the world building. The whole of it is being told they live in a generic medieval town and then the first 20% of the book is Sophia having - in essence - the exact same conversation over and over and over again with the people around her. The plot was also (aside from one twist) so incredibly obvious that by the 75% mark I was simply frustrated that the characters still hadn't figured out what the king was doing.

Finally, the characters. Well I appreciated Sophia's headstrong attitude, there is little more than that to set her apart from the other characters. Most of the characters are defined, almost solely, by their response to the King's treatment of them. The romance was also hard to buy into when Sophia is ready to die for Erin, but then completely in love with Constance two weeks later. Constance and Sophia, both "change things" response types, felt like the same person for much of the book.

While I would not say that this is a bad book, and I was able to read it fairly quickly, all of these issues combined to make this a difficult read to become invested in.

"Do not be silent. Raise your voice. Be a light in the dark."

This story is to Cinderella what Wicked is to the Wizard of Oz. It has a lot of the original Grimm's fairytale darkness with a lot of 2020 bada** feminism and social justice vibes.

Cinderella has been dead for 200 years and her legacy lives on, but not in the way you would imagine. The fairy tale story of a girl raised from poverty to beloved queen has been used as a control mechanism for the French region of Lille. Women are basically the property of men, they are given three attempts to be chosen as a bride before they are exiled from society.

Sophia, a black, gay female is due for her first turn at the selection ball and is fighting it hard. (This girl is definitely an enneagram 8, a challenger to the hilt - like me!) She takes matters into her own hands, after 200 years of female oppression she is bound and determined to find a way free of the life that has been chosen for her.

This is YA so there is plenty of areas that needed fleshing out but the bones of a great storytelling are there. There definitely are the eye roll, fall in love too quickly YA moments and little character development throughout the story. But there is great magic and several twists that I didn't see coming. The last chapter was slightly rushed, I probably could have used 20 more pages but all in all this was a great fairytale retelling.

First of all, I love this book. It’s fun, it’s interesting, and it’s sapphic. What more can you ask for?

I want to get the not-so-great stuff out of the way now. The worldbuilding was lacking and the characters could have used more development. While I was totally here for Sophia and Constance’s romantic arc, I can see how it might come off as insta-love. The one-dimensional portrayal of men in this world may be off-putting to some (though I could see what the author was doing and I’m not that mad about it). So it lacked some depth, but in my opinion, the concept and relationship made up for it.

Now that that’s over with: Bayron did some really cool things with this story. Her observations about how girls and women are treated in our world serve as parallels in this semi-dystopian fairy tale society. I also loved how she put her own spin on classic fairy tale elements. The entire time I was reading, I was thinking about Propp’s 31 narratemes and how they function in the story. Also, spoiler alert: casting Cinderella and her step-family as badasses in training to take down an evil, misogynistic king? Iconic.

Sophia is steadfast in her principles. She won’t allow anyone to tell her how to live her life, especially when it’s not authentic to her true self. Her tenacity is what allows her to complete her personal mission, in the end. And we can’t forget our equally headstrong love interest, Constance. Constance is kind of amazing?? She has a dagger and knows how to use it. I need not say more.

Cinderella is Dead is bursting with important feminist messages, but it never feels like it’s trying to hit you over the head. It’s fast-paced (for the most part) and with everything going on, this is a hard book to set down. The characters and the story combine to make an enjoyable, quick read. Cinderella is Dead is a fun, feminist, subversive fairy tale retelling with a protagonist of color and a happy sapphic ending.

I loved every minute of this joy ride of a book! Enticing characters, plot twists galore, excellent pacing, all in a fractured fairy tale? I will be buying a copy of this book myself as well as recommending our children's selector buy it for the library collection!

When I requested this book, I was very intrigued by the premise. I’ve always loved to hear about fairytale retellings, but I haven’t gotten around to reading many of them due to my interest in other books. But there was something about Cinderella Is Dead that got me hooked.

The Good: 
Early on, I really enjoyed the details connecting this story to the original Cinderella. I enjoyed how Sophia’s kingdom took Cinderella’s story and dedicated events towards everything Cinderella would not have stood for. The irony of that was interesting, and I also liked that Sophia was probably more like Cinderella than everyone else who tried too hard to do so. 
Initially, Sophia’s friendship with Luke felt… a bit cliché. I don’t know what exactly made me feel this way, but I think it was just the rushed “reveal” from him. Although, this scene probably could not have happened at any other time in the story, so I’ll give it a pass. After their first few scenes together, their relationship started to make sense, and I was really rooting for their motives. 
I also really enjoyed all of the twists on the classic Cinderella story. I could tell the author put a lot of thought into how the original Cinderella was going to shape this world, and how to change it into something different surprise. (I can’t go into too much about this, since it would be a spoiler to tell you which parts are the twisted ones, but I really appreciated the twists.)
The middle of the story was a bit slow to read at times, but around the last 100 pages, everything really picked up again with the twists, and that made me happy.

The Other Stuff: 
Around Chapter 11 (30% in), the excitement and repetitiveness kicked in simultaneously. Things were starting to get more serious, but I could not help but feel like it was an obstacle that Sophia had been facing in most other chapters up until that point. I think I just wanted to slow down and get to know Sophia a bit more. 
By Chapter 15, I still felt the same way. Another main character had been introduced, and I still knew nothing about Sophia except that she (rightfully) hated the way women were treated in their kingdom, and had a few friends. Also, the contrast between descriptions of them and the descriptions of the other characters was distracting. I think I kind of lost interest at this point, mostly because I’m a very character-driven reader, and if I don’t connect with the character, nothing else will work for me, either. 
In short, I simply wanted more character development.

Minor Spoiler Section: 
I’m including the following “spoilers” because I feel like they can easily turn someone off from a book, but I’m trying my best not to be specific. 
Click here to view the spoilers (although I promise they’re not that spoilery).
* After a while, I got really tired of every single man being complete trash (with the exception of two particular men). The king in particular was ruthless, but as he is the villain, I’m not bothered by that – I’m bothered by the numerous other random men and their remarks. I get that this was done to show how harmful the patriarchy ideals were to the kingdom, but every man Sophia encountered had only one personality trait: thinking of women as objects. There was very little variety to the things these men said, and there was only one man who was bad, but not as bad as the others. (I don’t know, maybe I’m just too critical. Or maybe I just wanted some of the women to be mean, too. Or, for the men to at least have some variety to their terrible comments.
* In my opinion, this book contains some bits of insta-love, and I really felt no connection to it at all. Sometimes insta-love is okay, if done right, but I just wasn’t feeling it. 

In Conclusion: 
While there were definitely a lot of cool aspects to this story, I feel like I was way too harsh on other aspects (such as the things I mentioned in the minor spoiler section and the lack of further character development), and that really brought my mindset down. But, because I recognize I was being too picky about those things, I’m going to bring my rating up and just take this book for what it was originally intended to be. 
I really enjoyed the fact that the main character is Black, and that she was shamelessly in love with her best friend and really stuck to her beliefs. I also loved the twists that were included, based on the original Cinderella. 
In the end, this is a twisted story to about what could have happened 200 years after Cinderella’s death, and how one girl set out to overthrow the patriarchy. It was a fun take on an old fairytale, and I liked it. 

3.5 stars. 

On average, I rate books between 3 and 4 stars. I rarely ever go below 3 stars, and I also almost ever go above 4 stars. I rate books on how I feel about them, and if I rated it between 3 and 4 stars, that means I liked it!

This is the kind of re-telling I love. The story we knew was a farce and the real story is so much more inspiring. We get a strong black female character with a f/f romance. You've got to love a story where the main character is literally trying to bring down the patriarchy.

Why I liked it:
I appreciated that the original story was kept in tact, but that the author played with the interpretation of events. I think that Sophia is a well-developed character and the reader is invested in her personal growth throughout the story. There are some emotionally gutting moments in the story that the reader feels as viscerally as Sophia does. I also appreciated that Sophia's inner monologue directly addresses what might feel like inauthentic moments in the plot. In particular, I appreciate how Sophia's feelings about the witch are expressed in the story. Up until it was put on the page, I found her acceptance of Amina to be a little too convenient, but Bayron gives the inner monologue the authenticity that was lacking a little in the dialogue.

I really appreciate that we get a Cinderella (both in the character of Sophia and the original Cinderella) who is more of a warrior. I know Disney likes their happy, uncomplicated endings, but I like a Cinderella who has a little more depth to aspire to. The Cinderella that we get in this story suffered a terrible fate, but she was a fighter who was trying to do what was right for her people. Admirable.

What I would like to change:
We get thrown right into the story here, and that was pretty disorienting for me as the reader. We get a lot of information dumped on us at the very beginning, which feels a little awkward because the book is 400 pages long. I was left wondering what the rush was and it made the first part of the story feel clunky. Once that initial portion was over, we moved on to a little more action.

I also didn't love Erin's development in the story. I felt like the character was sacrificed but that her motivations didn't line up with what the reader was told about her. She's in a relationship with Sophia up until the ball and then she suddenly shuts it all down? Her first foray into marriage is with a highly abusive man and she doesn't take an opportunity to run? I can understand her staying if the pattern of abuse was more established, but by all accounts she had a good home life and a reason to believe in Sophia. I just didn't quite buy into that part as a reader.

3.50 Stars. I’m a huge fan of fairytale retellings so this was one of my more anticipated books of the year. I noticed that the early reviews seemed to be a bit mixed. People either loved the book or didn’t seem to like it much at all. I was wondering where I was going to fall and it looks like I came in right in the middle. I liked the read but I didn’t love it like I was hoping to.

I thought the premise was great and I liked this unique spin on Cinderella. The problem I had was that I was hoping for more world building. Maybe it’s the fantasy geek in me but that is always important to me. Because the world building was lacking, the world seemed so small. A Kingdom, and some woods and that were basically it. There is talk about a book that one of the character’s families made on their travels. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really lead to anything which is a shame because I loved the potential there.

I also thought that the characters could use some meat on them. I liked the main Sophia and I liked that she wanted to take down the evil patriarchy, but why? Just because she doesn’t like how crappy things are. I wanted to know what really drove her, where her inner strength came from and I wanted to see her character grow more. This was so very similar to the world building because what was there about the characters were nice, but I wanted and needed more.

I was very happy with the pace of the book. Even at times when I was a little frustrated or I thought something was too predictable, I was still flying through the pages. The story is very easy to read and it never bogged down anywhere. Any fantasy fan knows how fantasy can slow way down, so this pace was a pleasant surprise.

There is a WLW romance in this book. I don’t know why but every romance in a YA fantasy I have been reading lately has been too insta-love. This is a fairytale and I expected quick, but this was too fast. One look and our main is over her ex in a heartbeat. On the good side, if you can get past the insta-love, I found the romance to be sweet. If only it had more time for a connection to build I would have enjoyed it so much more.

My favorite part ended up being a person and that was the fairy godmother. I loved the twist from the story of what she actually was. I won’t go into much here since I don’t want to spoiler anything but she was the best part of this book for me. Finally, the book didn’t seem so predictable and she was by far the most interesting character. There was some good stuff in this book with tons of potential, but it just didn’t all come together.

This ended up being a slightly above average YA fantasy read for me. There are issues with this story but I think I would still recommend this to fans of fairytale retellings. It’s very readable with a nice fast pace, just be prepared for some bumps.