Title: Cinderella is Dead

Author: Kalynn Bayron

Publisher: Bloomsbury 2020

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pages: 389

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Summer TBR

It's 200 years after Cinderella found her prince, but the fairy tale is over. Teen girls are now required to appear at the Annual Ball, where the men of the kingdom select wives based on a girl's display of finery. If a suitable match is not found, the girls not chosen are never heard from again.

Sixteen-year-old Sophia would much rather marry Erin, her childhood best friend, than parade in front of suitors. At the ball, Sophia makes the desperate decision to flee, and finds herself hiding in Cinderella's mausoleum. There, she meets Constance, the last known descendant of Cinderella and her step sisters. Together they vow to bring down the king once and for all--and in the process, they learn that there's more to Cinderella's story than they ever knew . . .

This was a recommendation from some of my friends at the retreat. I randomly picked it up as there was no wait at the library. And it was a lovely retelling of the Cinderella story. We get a plucky heroine that sets out on a dangerous path to find the truth. I liked that the author made Sophia queer, but the “romance” with her childhood best friend and then Constance just fell a little flat for me. It was more like that first crush. The overall romance aspect of the book didn’t land with me, but that might be because I am not a young adult. I did enjoy the twisting of the fairy tale story and the overall mystery of the kingdom. Those parts were really fun to read even if I did predict most of the big reveals. A fun retelling that’s a little different from the norm.

Next up on the TBR pile: