Before Midnight: A Retelling of Cinderella
By: Cameron Dokey
Fairy Tale Retelling; Young Adult Fiction
La Cendrillon is the daughter of a wealthy merchant. Her mother dies soon after the premature birth, before her father can return home. When he does return home, he brings with him an infant boy, Raoul. The father then leaves, and forbids either Cendrillon or Raoul from leaving the house.
This book was pretty similar to other retellings of this story. The two main differences were that the father was alive in this book, and the stepmother wasn't a mean person. I wasn't a huge fan of the way this was retold. It seemed like all that was ever talked about was love. The characters eligible fell in love at first sight with their partners in extremely cliche ways. And, the climax really wasn't a climax at all. More like a resolution to a simple misunderstanding.
Anyway, I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. (For the record, I have reserved the 1 star rating for a special class of book. Want to know what it is? Ask me about it sometime)
