Personal Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.75 Stars Ella dreams of going to the royal ball and marrying Prince Charming, just like every commoner in the kingdom of Fridesia. But after she is chosen to marry the prince (no magic involved) life with the royal family is not the happily ever after that Ella imagined. Pitiless and cold, the royals try to mold her into their vision of a princess. Ella's life becomes a meaningless schedule of protocol, which she fears she will never grasp. And Prince Charming's beautiful face hides a vacant soul. Even as her life turns to misery, stories persist that Ella's fairy godmother sent her to the ball: How else could the poor girl wear a beautiful gown, arrive in a coach, and dance in those glass slippers? But Ella got herself into the castle on her own--and that's the only way she's going to get out. (goodreads.com) After I read this I went on to Goodreads to see what other people thought (something I’m learning to do after reading the book, rather than prior to so that my opinion won’t be tainted) and I was astonished at how many people disliked this book. To be fair, there were more people who liked it, but the amount of haters was alarming. The picked at things like the voice of narration, which I liked, the characters being empty shells, which I didn’t really notice except on one of the characters, and the improbability of it all, which I assumed had been because it is under the “fiction” section. I suppose these reviewers had some good points, but I really liked this book and it’s been the first book that I’ve read in awhile that I truly enjoyed and didn’t want to pick out all of its problems. I have missed just getting lost in a book and not caring about what the people on Goodreads think or what other book bloggers say. I felt like I connected with Ella more than I have with a lot of protagonists. She is in a situation that she isn’t used to and she isn’t sure if she wants to do things her way or to follow the rules and see how things turn out. I particularly like the opening scene in which her fireplace goes out and she reluctantly gets out of bed and starts it going herself. It is relatable to me that she is reluctant. She knows that it isn’t something the other people in the palace would want her to do, and she’s comfortable under the covers, but at the same time she knows it has to be done eventually and gets to it. I admire her willingness to get things done all throughout the book and her ethics. A character who I’m not sure that I like is Jed, the tutor. He seemed kind of flat and boring. He was very cliché in much of what he did and he didn’t really go through any development. There isn’t much I can say about him without giving away spoilers, but I will say he is a very nice character even if he’s boring. A lot of people didn’t like the plot because they thought it was bland and improbable. I liked it and I was surprised by some of the twists it took. The plot was moved forward by Ella and not some magical force, which was exciting to me and interesting. She took her life into her own hands and changed it, and though a man helped change her life, it was not in the way you would expect. Over all, I don’t really understand the negative reviews this book got. I guess, maybe, teenagers didn’t like it because it’s labeled as a teen book but it doesn’t feature a lot of the romance and violence that regular teen books have in them. That’s just a guess. Personally, I thought it was a good blend of middle grade and YA books. Perhaps a good segway for kids who want to start reading teen books but are ready for the full on force of some of them. Have you ever read this book? What did you think? Are you planning to read this book? Don’t want to ever read this book? Tell me what you think in the comments below, ‘cause I’d love to hear from you. Oh no! It’s midnight (not really), I’d better run! Dang it, lost my shoe. Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1536818.Just_Ella
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