Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Cinder Ella by S.T. Lynn

13 reviews

nerdatlas5's review

emotional hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Transphobia

Moderate: Fatphobia and Deadnaming

Minor: Death of parent

queerafictionado's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I absolutely love the idea of a trans Cinderella! It just seems like a perfect way to retell this rather problematic fairy tale. I was really hoping to see this story transformed and filled with trans joy, but that isn’t quite what I got. I knew going into this that it was obviously not going to be all sunshine and rainbows. I mean…it’s Cinderella. Evil stepmother and stepsisters are kind of part of the deal. But I felt like more of the focus was on the transphobia from her step family than on her trans joy which is what I was wanting. And then in the midst of all the hardship and turmoil, some parts felt a little too easy and at times even contradicting. The other issue was that I couldn’t tell what time period the story was taking place in. At times it felt like it was supposed to be more historical and at other times contemporary, which made it difficult to fully immerse myself in the world. I did enjoy the story. It was a quick read with a unique twist on the Cinderella story. It just didn’t wow me and fell a little short of what I was hoping for from a trans Cinderella retelling.

🏳️‍🌈Rep: Black Trans FMC, Sapphic LI (note: author is not black)

📝Tropes/Themes: Young Adult, Fantasy, Sapphic Romance, Fairy Tale Retelling 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Deadnaming, and Transphobia

Moderate: Fatphobia, Child abuse, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent

uvglopanda's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Cute short and fast. Felt more like reading a synopsis of a much bigger story and could have been far more fleshed out to become a longer read. 

Very little description of the world just...suddenly MAGIC! 

Read for the Trans Rights Read-a-thon and probably won't check out the other titles simply because not my length/detail/pace style. 

Finishing it in 2 days is a record for me.

Heads up for some triggering behavior!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia, Transphobia, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Confinement, Death of parent, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Grief, Dysphoria, Domestic abuse, Slavery, and Bullying

Deadnaming/transphpbia is a MAJOR topic and unavoidable.

penandpages's review

inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Outing, Dysphoria, Bullying, Deadnaming, and Transphobia

Minor: Death of parent

poisoned_icecream's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is a sweet retelling of Cinderella, with a black trans girl named Ella as the protagonist. She lives with an abusive family who misgenders and deadnames her, but then she goes to a ball and after one dance with the princess Lizabetta, the two girls fall in love. I'm really not into instalove romances but this is an instance in which I thought it was cute. I am definitely going to read the rest of these fairytale retellings by S.T. Lynn.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Transphobia, and Death of parent

myblackbookish_life's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted sad fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

Even though I enjoy Cinderella retellings, and I did enjoyed this short read, I won't be rating this book. For once, I forget how dark the source material is and the mental, emotional, and physical abuse Cinderella suffers. So to see that story featuring a Black trans woman (even though I'm stoked for the happy ending Ella has in this book with a new town, new friends, and the Princess)  it took until the 70% mark for us to get to the more 'joyous' part of the story and THEN it was over. 

....we could have at least got an epilogue or sum.

That being said, I do plan to read the other books in this series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, and Deadnaming

Minor: Death of parent

abicaro17's review

lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was really sweet! A quick read about Ella and Liz, a servant and a princess falling in love. Very sweet and a great happy ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Transphobia, Violence, Homophobia, Classism, Body shaming, Grief, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Bullying, Death of parent, Fatphobia, and Outing

antidietleah's review

hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Deadnaming, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Death of parent

aelin_morgenstern's review

emotional hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Transphobia, and Body shaming

Moderate: Fatphobia and Emotional abuse

Minor: Death of parent and Homophobia

drastichopeful's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I really, really enjoyed this book!  This is much more than a simple rewrite with a trans Cinderella and a princess instead of a prince.  I really liked the new events added to the plot, and I loved Ella as a character.

My only (minor) complaint is that some sections moved too quickly for me to figure out how they followed from what had happened in the story before

The scene were Ella is tossed out of her home

in particular was hard for me to read.  Then again, Ella probably also found that part hard and unexpected in that moment, so that may be intentional.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Transphobia, Abandonment, Deadnaming, and Dysphoria

Minor: Death of parent

Most of the above content warnings are related to canon components of the Cinderella fairy tale. If you want some additional details about the transphobia and deadnaming,

Ella's stepmother and stepsisters are the only ones to deadname, bully, and misgender her.

No one else is transphobic, and multiple other characters are very accepting.