Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

14 reviews

meghansarmiento97's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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melsage1823's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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readtomea97's review

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adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

If I could give this book 10 ⭐️ I would!!

Ughh I have so much to say yet I don’t even know how to put it into words. All I will say is thank you Kalynn, for seeing us. The girls who aren’t afraid to ask questions, who aren’t afraid to say no I don’t want this/im not doing that, those of us who know we deserve better. This book is truly a testament to you always have a choice to make a better path for yourself, it just depends on what you’re willing to risk to get there. The journey may not be easy, fun, or even safe but it could very well be worth it if you’re willing to jump. Thank you for showing that sometimes no matter how badly you want something for someone you love, you sometimes have to let them go and love/choose yourself more. Sometimes closure isn’t needed, accept things at face value and continue on with what you want for yourself. 

Ugh.. this book brought up so many emotions and gave me so many gems to ponder one I’m surprised I made it through without crying. Thank you Kalynn. Thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU!🥹🥰❤️🏳️‍🌈

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wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0


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mirroaoror's review

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0


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16kneidels's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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maybeimali's review

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

If you love the story of Cinderella do not read this. Great feminist text that gripped me. 

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pkc's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I bought this on a bit of a whim in 2021 thinking “why not indulge in another subversion of the Cinderella fairytale?” but I guess…like there’s no other subversion worth consuming. This is it. 

Holy crap I LOVED this story.

The protagonist was so engaging, so strong but proudly showed her vulnerabilities. The villain made my skin crawl. The love interests were fully formed characters in their own right who didn’t just serve to enhance the protagonists story. Representation was incredible (a POC MC, very queer).

Around the tail end of last year, I saw someone do a list of reading icks that they’d hope might be left in 2022. One of them was adults reading young adult books, as if it was somehow a lower class of read that shouldn’t be indulged. It really rankled me when I saw it as a 33 year old lover of YA and books like this beautifully explain why. 

This a story, aimed at young adults, that is absolutely about using your voice to speak out against oppression. It’s not the manic pixie dreamgirl or feelingsy guy that you find in the stereotypes that the genre is wrongly thought to comprise of exclusively. 

Sophia is a strong, ferocious human being who is guided by and intently focused on the right thing to do.

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beestingbea's review

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I honestly didn't think this book would be worth all of the booktok hype, but oh my gosh it totally is worth the hype! 

I thought I was going to try to be more stingy with my 5 stars, but there's no world where I would put this under 5, it's just such an incredible, empowering book. And the diversity is a plus, of course.

Is it a lil predictable? Sure. But do I love a modern-day re-do (not really a retelling) of Cinderella with a dash of Smashing the f-ing Patriarchy. 

I also rate books solely on how they make me feel and if they solicit emotion from me and am not a super critical reader, and I just loved this. 

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lollyr's review

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adventurous hopeful relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I liked the concept if this book a lot and I think it had great potential. I do not think it hold up though.

<spoiler>
I felt like the target audience was unclear. From one hand, the dialog was often cringey and childish, the metaphor and moral of the story spoon fed to the reader and the characters flat and unchanging. On the other hand some topics handled in the story are very much intended for mathur readers.
At times it felt like the writing was trying to be shocking and edgy but it just looked out of place.

The love intrest was dull and cartoonish in her behavior and odd facial expressions. Ever since Liv's body was found by Sophia the king plot twist was extremely predictable.

Sophia is a mediocre but loveble protagonist. Her motivations are clear and understandable but she did not changed at all in the duration of the story.

Honesty, I shipped her with Erin till the end because I thing it would made more compelling story.

Prince charmin was a flat and exaggerated villan but he was also pretty menacing (at least in the first half of the book).

Amana was the best character in my opinion. She was compelling and intriguin until her very end 
<spoiler>

Over all, I did mostly enjoyed the read. I thing maybe the book was intended for younger readers and it have great messages over all. 

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