A review by maya_b
Cinder Ella by S.T. Lynn

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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