Welcome to A Week of Cinderella! Grab some promotional buttons for your blog HERE and stop back all week long for fun guest posts, exciting author visits (because, after all, Marissa isn't the ONLY author with a kick-ass Cinderella to celebrate!), giveaways, reviews, and a blog tour stop for CINDER!
Author: Michelle Davidson Argyle
Release Date: Out now, but will soon be taken down from until 2013!!
Publisher: Self-published BUT acquired by Rhemalda Publishing for a three-book bind-up entitled BONDED in May 2013.
Received: For review from author
SUMMARY:
Cinderella's happily-ever-after isn't turning out the way she expected. With her fairy godmother imprisoned in the castle and a mysterious stranger haunting her dreams, Cinderella is on her own to discover true love untainted by magic.
Michelle Davidson Argyle has also stopped by A Week of Cinderella with a Guest Post AND a Giveaway. Check out the link HERE and enter to win if my review interests you! ^_^
What intrigues me the most about CINDERS by Michelle Davidson Argyle is the fact that it takes place AFTER the story we all know and love. What happens after Cinderella marries her prince? Does she easily adjust to her new, pampered life? Does she fall in love with her prince? Argyle answers all these questions and more in a darker version of what comes AFTER Happily Ever After.
Cinderella--or in this case, Christina--is already married to her prince, Rowland, but she's not as happy as she thought she'd be. She misses the kitchen, misses sweeping up chicken feathers, misses the lightness of her old wardrobe. She doesn't miss the lice in her bed or her evil step-family, but she misses her family's land and old life. She's not in love with her prince because of an interaction with a mysterious creature a couple years prior, but she's grown used to him and misses him when he's gone. Plus, she's never sure if he really loves her or if it's simply the magical spell talking. Is her new world real or pretend? The political situation that she's now a part of isn't good; the King and Queen rule with too strong a fist that she doesn't always agree with. Eolande, the woman who helped Christina achieve her new status, is now locked away in the dungeons, but she's the only one with the power to make things right. The only thing is...is breaking the spell really the right choice for Christina? She only has one more chance, and doesn't know which path will result in her true Happily Ever After.
CINDERS is a much darker read than I initially thought it would be. I love the concept of deconstructing Happily Ever After and revealing the truth of what HEA really consists of. So few novels do this. Since CINDERS is a novella, it wraps up fast at the end in a direction that took me by surprise in more ways than one. Christina's journey to discover herself and what she wants in life will resonate with readers and have them invested in her plight. While the secondary characters aren't as strongly-developed due to the story's shorter length, Argyle uses words to create lasting impressions, such as the way grease runs down the queen's chin and reveals her greed. Even the novella's title is nuanced and goes deeper than what initially meets the eye. I really enjoyed following Cinderella's road toward self-discovery as she comes across startling revelations and really feel for the way she chooses to live her life with each rash decision she makes. I'm looking forward to the release of BONDED in 2013, which will also contain the short stories THIRDS (One-Eye, Two-Eyes, Three-Eyes) and SCALES (a prequel to Sleeping Beauty from the evil fairy's POV).
COVER DESIGN:
And that tag-line!
"Happily-ever-after isn't as long as you thought."
How can you NOT want to read this after seeing this cover?
Good and another post from you admin :)
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