Things are feeling more like what it once used to be, which means my weekends are packed with social activities and I hardly have time to do everything I want to with reading and blogging.
I still had a great month of reading, but I’m feeling like I need to cut back sometimes with blogging and the number of cool posts I planned on bringing each month. It’s just all a bit much to keep up with, you know? If you feel the same way, know that you’re not alone in it. I took a blogging hiatus for a while and I remember why I did so when life just got so overwhelming.
That being said, I read a good amount this month and managed to review a number of them. Let’s dig into those, shall we?
For this princess, winning the crown is no fairytale.
1682. The king sends out an invitation to all the maidens in France: their presence is requested at a number of balls and events that will be held in honor of the dashing Prince Louis, who must choose a bride.
Cendrillon de Louvois has more grace, beauty, and charm than anyone else in France. While she was once the darling child of the king’s favorite adviser, her father’s death has turned her into the servant of her stepmother and cruel stepsisters–and at her own chateau, too!
Cendrillon–now called Cinder–manages to evade her stepmother and attend the ball, where she catches the eye of the handsome Prince Louis and his younger brother Auguste.
Even though Cendrillon has an immediate aversion to Louis, and a connection with Auguste, the only way to escape her stepmother is to compete with the other women at court for the Prince’s hand.
Soon, as Cendrillon glows closer to Auguste and dislikes the prince more and more, she will have to decide if she can bear losing the boy she loves in order to leave a life she hates.
Melissa de la Cruz takes a lush, romantic hand to this retold fairy tale classic.
I’m a hugeeee sucker for all things Cinderella. It’s my favorite fairy tale and obviously my favourite one for retellings. So you can imagine my disappointment with how Cinder & Glass turned out, especially with such a gorgeous cover.
This story is set in 1600s France in the court of King Louis XIV. I loved the inspiration to set this fairytale in a historical period instead of some completely reimagined land. The plotline was also intriguing with a competition for the prince’s hand (very reminiscent of The Selection) while secretly falling for the younger prince instead.
With all these elements that just SCREAM at me to like it, it begs the question why I didn’t end up loving this book.
It really all comes down to execution. The set up for a Cinderella tale is quite simple. The protagonist lived a happy life with her family even as her mother died when she was young as her father more than made up for it. The loss of her father and the marriage to her stepmother are the turning points in the story that truly leads to the problems she has to face.
This takes a whole section of the book to even reach, a good quarter of the book setting up the beginning of the Cinderella plot. While I appreciate getting to know a bit about the inner workings of the French court when Cendrillon moved to Versailles, was it really necessary to drag it out that long? Her stepsisters are still fairly horrid and her new stepmother just screams evil in disguise.
Then there’s the pacing. Maybe it’s not my favoured format of reading but it felt very…narrated and detached? As if the author is simply moving through time telling us of what is happening to Cendrillon instead of diving into the depths of emotion she must be facing. I wanted to FEEL and instead it was all rather clinical in execution.
My favourite part of any Cinderella tale is the romance. Yes, I’m a modern day woman who can occasionally swoon at a princely figure coming to help and believe a woman who is being oppressed by someone in power over her. But even that held its own problems here.
First, the competition wasn’t really all that big in this story? It was present but we knew from the start that Cendrillon wasn’t going into it for love as she had met Auguste a year ago and already formed a bit of an attraction to him. Her motivation led to, well, a lack of ambition and focus to win so it wasn’t really that interesting reading about her dates or the other girls she competed with.
The attraction she felt for Auguste wasn’t even consolation as the chemistry was barely there. It felt like they had developed a good friendship in the scary world of court politics but it suddenly blew into the realm of “more-than-friendship” in the blink of an eye, with only the angst that she couldn’t be with him. I wanted to believe in this romance but I really wasn’t feeling it. And that just sucks big time because what’s a Cinderella tale without the love that conquers all?
While I have many complaints about this book, I did enjoy the setting and managed to read this in a day as it’s not too long of a book. The lush descriptions of Versailles made me wish I could go back there again and explore it a little less rushed. It also helped that it’s still a story based on my favourite fairytale. If it was any other, I probably would’ve been tempted to DNF at any time.
I can’t say I recommend this book – something my heart hurts to say because Cinderella! – but it could’ve been worse in some ways. There’s still the fight against the evil stepmother and satisfaction gained when good triumphs over those who oppress and abuse. The idea was there, but perhaps the execution could’ve used some tweaking.
And that cover is to die for so I could just sit here all day staring at it, which would be enough.
Overall Recommendation:
Cinder & Glass fell flat as a Cinderella retelling due to its lack of emotional depth and unhurried pace through the key points we all recognize from the tale. I wanted to love this so bad because I love Cinderella but I couldn’t emotionally connect with any of the characters, even the pain Cendrillon was going through. It’s not a Cinderella story if you don’t even sympathize for her. Or fall in love with her love story.
Aria @ Book Nook Bits will be the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!
May 27: Tracking reading (Aria)
Prompts: Do you keep track of the books you read? If so, do you use Goodreads? Storygraph? Another platform? Has the way you keep track of your reading changed since you started blogging? What are the pros and cons of tracking your reading?
Welcome back to another week of LTB here at DTRH! Today’s topic is suggested by our very own host, Aria. I have been wondering lately how people keep track of their reading, so this is the perfect time for this topic. Can’t wait to hear what you all do!
Personally, I use Goodreads and Storygraph. But I only minimally use it. I use them both to merely mark off what I have read, but not in particular to share with anyone or to provide a review. Goodreads because it is such a major platform, and I started doing Storygraph last year too because my friend and I thought that the little infographic they have was quite interesting to look at.
Do any of you know a different platform? I’d love to hear what else is out there. Though between the ones I already do and the blog, I do not really have time for another site, unless it is particularly convenient. Still, I think goodreads basically covers the gamut of what I need with my tracking so I haven’t been on the hunt for a new site.
I really only started keeping track because of blogging. For the most part I can just remember what book I’ve read, but with the start of blogging, so many more books have been floating around my periphery that it can definitely start to get confusing. Have you ever thought you read a book but actually hadn’t? Or the other way around? I definitely remember reading a book and then being like …oh I’ve read this before. Such an odd deja-vu moment.
Not sure if there are any cons to keeping track of your reading. It seems either like a pro to stay organized if you’re a blogger or like to look back through your reading list to suggest one to a friend. Or it’s possible that having this list doesn’t affect you at all. But I for one cannot think of why it might be bad to have a reading list. Perhaps it takes up too much of your time to keep track? If you have one, let me know!
Down the Rabbit Hole 