I'll admit, that when I first read this was a Cinderella retelling I was thinking along the lines of this:



But then, when I looked at the character names (Benjamin Grimm) I thought that this could be a retelling melding several fairy tales together.



Alas, I was wrong.

What was involved in the retelling was a steampunk-esque version that mixed stories like The Illusionist with its orange tree trick, and other magician movies like The prestige with the birdcage tricks...



The Evil Queen from Snow White...



And the original, well known Cinderella we know. There were aspects that worked really well with the steampunk feel, the coach was one of them. I had visions of something like the below, but a little less pumpkin-ish.



There were parts that were steeped in history, and in the end of the book there's a little spiel that goes over exactly which parts of the history are true. This added a nice touch of realism to an otherwise completely fantastical story.

While the world building and ideas were quite strong, sometimes leaning on the traditional, and at others on the added elements, themes and genres, the characters were left a little lacking.

I started to see a real character in Ben and Harry, Ben's younger brother, but these were left behind to further the Cinderella aspects of the story. The balls and dresses and dancing took over and the characterisation that had formed around Ben and Harry was lost.

I will be honest, I didn't like Ellie much after the first 10% of the book. I really didn't like her at all once she got to be an adult. I didn't like Olivia, but then you're not meant to. The stepsister, Rebecca, was one of the more interesting characters. I quite liked the way her character arc went.

Anyway, overall the story was pretty good, the characters were ok and the twisted story elements from other stories was mostly well done.

**Note: I was provided an electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

Based on the cover I assumed it would be a steampunk novel, however, I didn't realise that it was a Cinderella retelling until I was halfway the book.

Benjamin Grimm reunites with his childhood friend Eleanor and find out she's been living under a spell for years, forcing her to live like a servant in her own house.

I didn't like the book, it wasn't for me. I didn't think it was steampunk, so maybe I was just disappointed and didn't like it for that reason. Also, I thought the story was very slow and even as far as retellings go not very original. The main characters acted very stupid at times and the love triangle (did I mention I hate those) felt extremely forced.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Paint My Body Red - 5 stars

Harry Potter und die Kammer des Schreckens - 5 stars

The Art of Christmas - 4 stars

Welche Farbe hat die Wahrheit - 3 stars

Heir to the Crown - 5 stars

Fancy & Adriaan - 4 stars

A Curse of Ash and Iron - 4 1/2 stars

Kiss Kill Love Him Still - 3 stars

Into the Light: A collection of short stories - 4 stars

Favorite book(s) of the month: Paint My Body Red, Harry Potter (duh!!!), Heir to the Crown, Fancy & Adriaan, A Curse of Ash and Iron

Books started this month but haven't finished yet: The City Center (I'm gonna finish this in the next few days cause I really love it, I just have the problem that I read it on my laptop and I get super distracted.), Scintillate (will I ever finish this book??)

9 books!!!!! I'm so happy with myself this month. I only had like two books that I didn't really enjoy as much as I wanted to but oh well, I'm okay with that.

First things first: I received a review copy for this book over at YA Bound Book Tours.

The book is out for a while now and you should totally check it out.

This is a Cinderella retelling with a few Steampunk elements.

Even though Cinderella isn't exactly one of my favorite fairytales, I still loved the story in the book very much. I loved the magic in the book. I loved the Steampunk elements. And just all the little details that the author put in this story.

The characters. Ellie is such a wonderful character. I love her relationship with Rebecca, her stepsister, who is not evil at all and I'm so very grateful for that. Cause it's just a wonderful element in this story. I also loved her relationship with Ben, the childhood friends who haven't seen each other in such a long time but still have that great bond years later when they meet again. Ben is such a great character with such a great mind. His little brother Harry, was such a great character too. Olivia. Ugh. I mean, she is like the typical stepmother. I hate her with a passion. It's crazy to what lengths she went to reach her goals.

I had to take half a star away because I am not as happy with the ending as I wanted to be. I didn't hate it. Cause about halfway through the story, it's the ending that I suspected. But still. I was a bit disappointed.

It's still an amazing story and I seriously recommend it to everyone.

I felt like things would be better now but it took a turn for the worst. I still love the book and the story a lot tho.