Cover Image: Hello, Cruel Heart

Hello, Cruel Heart

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Member Reviews

This book was just so well written. I may have to check out some more books by this author. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I had started it thinking it would take me a couple days and was able to get through it in one. Loved how we learned a bit more about Stella. I am very excited to see how Stella and Cruella come to be one in the up coming movie. I will say that if you are looking for Cruella you won't see much of her in this book. But who doesn't love reading a villains origin story? I do feel like there may be a bit more to Stella's mothers death and would love to know more as to why or how she died.

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Hello, Cruel Heart
By Maureen Johnson
Actual Rating: 4.5/5 stars
I received an eARC via NetGalley from Disney Publishing Worldwide: Disney Press in exchange for an honest review.

***Warning: mild spoilers ahead***

In Hello, Cruel Heart, we get to meet a 16-year-old Estella before she becomes the Cruella we all know from Disney’s 101 Dalmatians. We follow Estella as she lives during the summer of 1967 in a swinging London, England. She lives with Horace and Jasper, young thieves and her found family, in the ruins of a building which was bombed during World War II. They have made a way for themselves by pickpocketing and stealing other items they need to survive. While in the process of stealing fabric for one of her clothing designs, Estella meets Magda and Richard Moresby-Plum, twins from London high society. Subsequently, Magda and Richard sweep Estella away into their lavish lifestyles. While Estella sees this as the perfect opportunity to finally have her clothing designs noticed by the rich and famous, she has to decide what she might be willing to lose to get there.

I absolutely enjoyed this origin story for Cruella de Vil. Throughout the story, Estella is fighting against her inner Cruella. This inner Cruella is constantly trying to tell Estella that she doesn’t belong with her new high society friends. Estella is already a creative and talented clothing designer who just wants to be noticed for her work. While Horace and Jasper don’t entirely understand Estella’s creative genius, they are supportive. In fact, Estella makes the disguises the three of them use when they go out to steal.

Hello, Cruel Heart is such a fun story, and Maureen Johnson’s writing is fantastic. Following Estella as she has a whirlwind summer in London’s high society was exciting. Of course, it was also satisfying to see Estella learn that her supposed friends, Magda and Richard, don’t necessarily have her best interests at heart. I couldn’t help but smile when Estella finally embraces her inner Cruella and is welcomed back by her real friends, Horace and Jasper, at the end of the story.

I recommend Hello, Cruel Heart to readers who are Disney fans and who enjoy coming-of-age stories for strong female characters.

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Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for providing me with a free ARC.

This book was a totally new take on the villain Cruella Devil. We see Cruella as a young teen, learn how to navigate life with her two friends Jasper and Horace. The three of them make a living by stealing until one day Cruella meets some posh new friends.

This story does a good job of portraying how the wealthy treat the poor. This book also had me empathizing with Cruella and Jasper and Horace. Overall I really enjoyed this book.

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Thank you NetGalley for giving me this book in exchange for an honest review.

Hello, Cruel Heart was, in all honesty, cute and entertaining. I always like to see back stories on villains or new takes on villains. This book certainly humanized Cruella. Estella was an orphan child that grew up on the streets of London with her friends, Horace and Jasper. She is smart, cunning, stylish and, a thief.

The book did a fantastic job of both showing the lighter, kinder and brighter sides of Cruella at the same time, paining a tragic backstory that leads to her villainess ending in 101 Dalmatians. It also seems to be a tie in to the upcoming movie and as a fan of fellow redhead emma stone, I cannot wait to see the movie!

Overall, I really enjoyed the book., It was a nice and easy read that was never boring and did a fantastic job of breathing new life into an old character.

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This book was a page turner from beginning to end. I literally couldn’t put this book down and finished in one reading. Ever wanted to know the true story of cruella de ville ? It will definitely surprise you. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

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Set in the swinging 60s, epic Cruella retelling from the author of the Truly Devious series! Hits just in time to read before the new Cruella movie hits theaters in May. The storytelling is on point and this is one character I delighted in knowing more about.

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The formatting was off on my copy which made it a little hard to read. But the overall story was a very modern take on Cruella. I can't wait for the new movie now it it's anything like this.

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Hello, Cruel Heart is the origin story you didn't know you needed! It's Cruella in a way you never thought you could know her. And the setting of London in the 60's creates such a fun backdrop. You aren't going to want to miss this!

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I received an e-arc of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3/5 stars

Overall I thought this was a very interesting look into how Cruella became Cruella. I'm not sure how much of this information was known about her prior to this book but seeing Estella grow and be shaped by her environment was very intriguing to me. Her out look sort of starts off as slightly hopeful for a grander world and in the end events happen and she realizes that the world itself can be cruel.

The story itself was nice but I think that it's something that's going to be easily forgotten. I think at times using more description could have grounded me in the story even more. I was so astonished when we finally learned more about the lair and loved the description from that but wished we had more like that throughout the book. I did enjoy the characterization of Estella, Jasper, and Horace was well as the new characters introduced in this story. They all seemed to be very fitting of their environment and the ways they had probably been raised.

While this is a villain origin story, I don't think it fully explains how Estella became Cruella. She definitely seems to accept that part of her more by the end but compared to the Cruella we know, there is still a long way to go. I think it would be really interesting to see more of her life after this book and how she becomes even more like the Cruella we know and what continued her down that path.

One thing I do want to mention is that if a word had 2 f's in a row (such as off) the word would always be missing those 2 letters and sometimes and additional letter or two from the word which made it difficult at times. There was also at least one instance where the chapter header actually made the wording appear out of order so the start of the chapter was actually on the second page instead of the first. I did not take these things into consideration when rating this arc copy as I assume they will be fixed by publication but wanted to make sure that these errors were known.

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Such a fun story, looking into the youth of Cruella and seeing her origins. It'll be even more interesting to see how this ties in with the movie coming out in May.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading this. It was super quick and a solid story all around. I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes villain origin stories. Or if you like stories set in the not-so-distant past.

I will say it was predictable all the way through and that's why I didn't enjoy the story 100%. But I think if you're able to look past that and just enjoy the story as it unfolds then you'll definitely have a good time reading this.

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An enjoyable tie-in/adjacent title for the Emma Stone film out soon, this will definitely appeal to those who watched the movie and there's definitely about a million displays you can do with this! I loved Maureen Johnson's early books for Alloy, but have found that her later self-created works have ranged in quality. I had fun reading Hello, Cruel Heart--great villain origin story, well plotted and great pacing--and aside from some layout issues, it is going to be a great "movie adjacent" title that will give readers a chance to explore Maureen Johnson's considerable backlist.

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I ended up DNFing this. The story was weird, and nothing felt realistic, and the writing was all over the place. And then, nothing against the book itself, there were no fs. The letter f was just a blank space and it annoyed me.

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***Netgalley ARC provided in exchange for a fair review ******

I want to start out by saying that I am a big fan of fairytale retellings ( or more of an origin story really) so I was excited to read this book. It also got my attention because of the movie coming out with Emma Stone, since this book and this Cruella *Estella was definitely giving me similar vibes.

I like that this book made Cruella, or in this case Estella more relatable as so often the villain is just that... the villain and very little else is said about them or explained.

This took the reader back to the origins of Cruella and tried to explain why she may be who she is. But it missed the mark for me. I would have liked this book better if it had not been marketed as a book about Cruella but rather an average girls story. I kept trying to find the connections to the classic story we all know and love and that fell a little flat for me.

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A fun read watching our character go bad. A definite good read, and gets me super excited to see what the movie does too.

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Origin stories are so much fun. I really liked seeing where Estella (Cruella is her cruel alter ego) came from. Her beginnings were so sad. She got kicked out of school and planned on going to London with her mom. But on the way there everything went wrong, she lost her mom (and blamed herself) and ended up in London by herself at a very young age. There, she was found by 2 familiar characters, Horace and Jasper and ends up living with them and stealing for a living.
As I believe we know from 101 Dalmatians, Cruella loves fashion. Estella loves making clothes. She finds a bigger life when she happens to meet rich siblings Magda and Richard, and they take her under their wing. Magda and Richard were enjoyable characters, Magda being more of a main character than Richard. Estella also meets an up and coming new band The Electric Teacup and falls for one of the band members. Their relationship was very sweet.
The atmosphere of the book was wonderful, it really felt like I was living in 1960's wealthy London. The description of the trio's hangouts, houses, friends, clubs. That was also really the entire plot. Estella navigating through this new lifestyle and following her dreams. I do wish there was a little bit more to it.
Since we know how Cruella ends up in 101 Dalmatians, I was thinking there was going to be this huge reason she turns out how she is, especially when we find out that Cruella is basically her other personality who comes out when she is angry or upset, not her entire personality at this point. But the ending, really a few things happen that aren't completely horrible and that's where it ends. I do understand that what happens is something that is really upsetting, but I thought the reason would be different than what happened. It was kind of predictable. And along with the bad things that happened, there is kind of a silver lining at the very end which doesn't really lend to Cruella being how she is. I don't know the actual plotline of the movie, but I'm hoping it takes place after this book and goes into more of how Cruella came to be, because at the end of this book it seemed more like she was still Estella and not as much Cruella.

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This was delightful and insightful and a wonderful way to see how Cruella evolved into her final villainess form. And all of the fashion stuff brought joy to my little "Project Runway" loving heart.

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For the British slang (I even learned some new words ❤) and the reminders of London, which I miss every week, this book was a lot of fun. If I thought of it as a book about a teenager obsessed and uberly talented with fashion, it was more enjoyable than remembering it's an origin story for a Disney villain. Because that part, the origin part (I *guess* one could say the humanizing part?) is very overused, and when combined with the other tropes, it just made me sigh in resignation. I wouldn't read it again, however I don't regret reading it at all. If people end up enjoying the Cruella movie, then they'll very likely enjoy this prequel to said prequel movie; it's a nice little tie-in segue. I felt the maturity was age appropriate. You know, upon further reflection, it almost read like a Lauren Weisberger novel, which may or may not be your cuppa.

So, 3.5ish stars, but on the lower end, because there were times when there was just *something* about the author's writing that irked be, and I never did quite figure that something out.

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Thank you to NetGalley, Maureen Johnson, and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is what I'd best call "an origin story" for the infamous Cruella DeVille of 101 Dalmatians fame.

We actually meet Cruella in her younger, teen years, when she is but a second persona/voice within 16 year old Estella's mind. So, in other words, Cruella wasn't always Cruella. She was actually a 16 year old orphan who survived by lifting wallets, and such, from tourists with her adopted family, fellow street con artists Horace and Jasper (yes, the same two we see in the Disney movies though the dynamic). But, Estella dreams of something bigger for herself. You see, Estella is a highly talented seamstress, fashion designer, and clothes maker. She knows that, one day, she's going to be the talk of town and live a lavish lifestyle.

So when a happenstance meeting occurs between Estella and posh twins Magda and Richard, Estella suddenly sees her dreams come to fruition: the twins give her a lavish place to stay, they shower her with food and new clothes, and they help make her clothing designs the talk of town.

But, under all this, Estella is still "visited" by Cruella. That tiny voice that whispers to Estella all the dark truths of the world. The things to which Estella turns a blind eye. And, as much as Estella wants to fight off and bury Cruella, she's going to learn that it just isn't that simple... Especially in that fickle, lavish world.

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The love I have for this book is for all the right reasons:

-I like Maureen Johnson's writing. Her "Truly Devious" series is one I ate up and, although this isn't a mystery series, Cruella, as a character, was a mystery, right? We never knew why Cruella acted the way she did in all those movies but this book... this gives you an origin.

-I really love origin stories. We mostly see them with superheroes (ask me how many hours I've spent reading about Wanda Maximoff after finishing Disney+'s Wandavision series) but sometimes we get a good villain origin story. And I love to explore the intricacies of characters and really explore how they may have become the way they are.

-You're going to have a soft spot for Cruella, especially if you haven't before.

-Maureen Johnson, though subtle, draws attention to the societal divide between the rich and the poor. You'll probably walk away from this one hating the lavish lifestyle because you'll witness how cruel the obscenely rich can be with a lower class.

This is appropriate for middle school and above. Although there are a few kissing scenes, they're very PG. I also think middle schoolers could relate to Estella.

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I got approved for this ARC shortly after the trailer for Cruella came out and I was over the moon with joy! Who does love a good villain story?! I love how Maureen was able to provide a Cruella with a backstory that makes her more humane less villain. It certainly builds up the hype for the Disney movie coming out! I think that anyone who is a Disney fan should read Hello, Cruel Heart before watching Cruella as it give an insight into Cruellas aka Estella’s teen years and how she ultimately became Cruella de Vil

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Hello, Cruel Heart by Maureen Johnson is a great story! I loved this retelling and maureen johnson's writing is fantastic as always.

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