Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

41 reviews

boekentrol's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Slavery, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Outing

michellemaas's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing sad tense medium-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? Yes

2.0

This book only deserved 2 stars (meaning it was okay), but the romance between Sophia and Constance was so good that it almost deserved a star all on its own.

In terms of this being a fairytale retelling, I will give props to Kalynn Bayron in saying that the premise was quite creative, but the execution ended up lacking. My biggest caveat is that I found the story dragging along often, especially in the beginning (keep in mind that this is a relatively short book, with my version having only been 299 pages). When your short book isn't fast-faced it is a recipe for disaster. 

Another problem I had was with the foreshadowing being so heavy-handed. I can appreciate the author focusing on certain aspects so that big developments don't seem to come out of anywhere, especially when you are setting up a big plot twist at the end, but I feel that it was written so obviously that the ending lacked some of the impact it was aiming for.

The last thing I want to mention is the representation. I haven't seen many fantasy books with LGBTQ+ characters as the leads and that aspect was beautifully done. Sophia and Constance were just so perfect and had me fangirling since their first encounter. I also enjoyed the parallels of Erin and Constance since it is a parallel a lot of queer people have to deal with. Some more representation comes from our lead, Sophia, being a person of color. Again, I don't find that many books come out and say: My lead is a POC and I'm proud of that (it's always "olive-skinned") so I thought that was cool.

Ultimately I would recommend you read this because the representation is something else and it's important to support stories/authors with representation, but if you're just reading it for the plot you might be disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

bedtimesandbooks's review

adventurous medium-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

martereadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Sexism, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

sandy_21's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexism, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Kidnapping

vici24kl's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Death, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, and Death of parent

Minor: Torture, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

bennythefup's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexism

Moderate: Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

luna_is_superior's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-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

5.0

Amazing book that explores hard hitting current issues like misogyny and domestic abuse, it showcases tyranny, injustice and oppression and how they're overcome. Beautiful feminist literature which sets a great example for young girls/women.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

adhdpixie's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

Lesbians taking down the patriarchy! I absolutely loved this book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

valereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury