Reviews with content warning for Deadnaming - Cinder Ella

I absolutely love the idea of a trans Cinderella! It just seems like a perfect way to retell this rather problematic fairy tale. I was really hoping to see this story transformed and filled with trans joy, but that isn’t quite what I got. I knew going into this that it was obviously not going to be all sunshine and rainbows. I mean…it’s Cinderella. Evil stepmother and stepsisters are kind of part of the deal. But I felt like more of the focus was on the transphobia from her step family than on her trans joy which is what I was wanting. And then in the midst of all the hardship and turmoil, some parts felt a little too easy and at times even contradicting. The other issue was that I couldn’t tell what time period the story was taking place in. At times it felt like it was supposed to be more historical and at other times contemporary, which made it difficult to fully immerse myself in the world. I did enjoy the story. It was a quick read with a unique twist on the Cinderella story. It just didn’t wow me and fell a little short of what I was hoping for from a trans Cinderella retelling.

🏳️‍🌈Rep: Black Trans FMC, Sapphic LI (note: author is not black)

📝Tropes/Themes: Young Adult, Fantasy, Sapphic Romance, Fairy Tale Retelling

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uvglopanda's review

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emotional hopeful lighthearted sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Cute short and fast. Felt more like reading a synopsis of a much bigger story and could have been far more fleshed out to become a longer read.

Very little description of the world just...suddenly MAGIC!

Read for the Trans Rights Read-a-thon and probably won't check out the other titles simply because not my length/detail/pace style.

Finishing it in 2 days is a record for me.

Heads up for some triggering behavior!

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mar's review

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emotional hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

could've used some more fleshing out+editing, but still - short but sweet for the most part :)

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penandpages's review

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inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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jennifervenia's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

“For the first time she could introduce herself how she wanted. She got to define her own self. And no one was going to stop her.”

A very enjoyable retelling of Cinderella.

I really liked Ella, Lily, Lizabetta and Heather. They were lovely characters, and I was cheering for them.

There are some of the classic elements from Cinderella that had been changed, but it did not bother me.

Warning: deadnaming, outing, misgendering, fatphobia, body shaming, abuse, transphobia, homophobia, racism, bullying.

Advarsel: Brug af det forkerte navn og køn, afsløring af persons kønsidentitet (outing), transfobi, homofobi, racisme, mobning, vold i hjemmet, tykfobi, nedgørelse af persons krop.

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poisoned_icecream's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

This is a sweet retelling of Cinderella, with a black trans girl named Ella as the protagonist. She lives with an abusive family who misgenders and deadnames her, but then she goes to a ball and after one dance with the princess Lizabetta, the two girls fall in love. I'm really not into instalove romances but this is an instance in which I thought it was cute. I am definitely going to read the rest of these fairytale retellings by S.T. Lynn.

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myblackbookish_life's review

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emotional hopeful lighthearted sad fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

Even though I enjoy Cinderella retellings, and I did enjoyed this short read, I won't be rating this book. For once, I forget how dark the source material is and the mental, emotional, and physical abuse Cinderella suffers. So to see that story featuring a Black trans woman (even though I'm stoked for the happy ending Ella has in this book with a new town, new friends, and the Princess) it took until the 70% mark for us to get to the more 'joyous' part of the story and THEN it was over.

....we could have at least got an epilogue or sum.

That being said, I do plan to read the other books in this series!

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maya_b's review

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hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This was really adorable and made me very happy while I read. Especially the first half. Yes, the family is horrible, but Ella is just so cure, and the tailor is amazing, and the princess and Lily are really great, and I was grinning the whole time because it was such a cute and happy little story and I could have read a lot more of it just like that.

Sadly, at the beginning of the second half, I wasn’t as convinced. I think it was still a good story, but it went by too fast. If it would have had a hundred more pages, or maybe even more, I feel like it would have worked amazing, like this it was going by so fast, that I felt like it wasn’t really necessary. There was so much going on just to be immediately fixed again, that I personally would have preferred to just have all of it be as happy as the beginning.

But it was quite the cute ending again, and I think with a few 100 more pages to let the story fully unfold it would have been amazing. Also then maybe there would have been time to develop a few other things as well, because while it didn’t bother me (since it made for a nice story for Ella and she deserved it), it was a little strange that the stepmom didn’t believe her that she was a woman, but also made her dress like one? Or maybe she didn’t know? But the father knew, so why wouldn’t she? There was just some stuff that felt like it wasn’t fully planned through.

Also I felt like the description of Heather about what a woman is was a little too simple

(“Your name is Ella, you wear skirts and plant flowers. Sounds like a woman to me.”)

, but I don’t think it was meant that way. I think my problem is that I immediately turn this sentence around

(woman = wears skirts and plants flowers)

, but of course that’s not what this book is trying to say, and I’m aware of that. It just made me stumble a little and I felt like there would have been another way of phrasing it, that would have made it clear also but not tried to describe what a woman is.

But I still enjoyed the story a lot, and it did make me happy (most of the time). Just some stuff wasn’t that good in my opinion, and could have used a bigger book to actually get into it, because then it would have been good, I think.

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Reviews tagging 'Deadnaming'

Cinder Ella by S.T. Lynn

jasmins_reads's review

nerdatlas5's review

queerafictionado's review

uvglopanda's review

mar's review

penandpages's review

jennifervenia's review

poisoned_icecream's review

myblackbookish_life's review

maya_b's review