Scan barcode
writer09's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
kristiacole's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
This story was so charming and beautiful with many quotable lines! It was such an interesting and beautiful take on the Cinderella story I have never heard before. It made love feel like poetry. It was just beautiful and really well done!
kebreads's review against another edition
4.0
I first read this years ago, soon after I purchased it. And I thought it was a pretty good book. This time I liked it even more. And because it had been awhile since I last read it, I’d forgotten much of what happens in the book, so it was almost like reading it for the first time.
The style of the writing has an old-time feel, which works well for the book. I liked the way magic was intertwined with the daily life and presented as matter-of-fact. I liked the way this book looks at love of various types and how different people react to having it and losing it.
The characters in this book were varied and interesting. And they felt like they could be real people to some extent. I think one of the things I liked most about this book was seeing the interactions between the characters. I definitely plan to read this book again someday.
Content: Clean, one mild swear word
See my review at http://www.iamareader.com/2014/08/book-review-midnight-cameron-dokey.html
The style of the writing has an old-time feel, which works well for the book. I liked the way magic was intertwined with the daily life and presented as matter-of-fact. I liked the way this book looks at love of various types and how different people react to having it and losing it.
The characters in this book were varied and interesting. And they felt like they could be real people to some extent. I think one of the things I liked most about this book was seeing the interactions between the characters. I definitely plan to read this book again someday.
Content: Clean, one mild swear word
See my review at http://www.iamareader.com/2014/08/book-review-midnight-cameron-dokey.html
elizabethtroup's review against another edition
4.0
I loved the elements in this novel which gave the step-mother and step-sisters good character development and in which these characters were good instead of being the typical Cinderella villains. I liked how it gave more attention to her mother and her death. One of my only criticisms is about the whole "love at first sight" thing I find cheesy and I think the romance could've been better and they could've gotten to know each other a bit more. It isn't surprising it was written that way though because fairy tales are well-known for love at first sight. Overall, this was an excellent book and I'd definitely recommend it.
toritoot's review against another edition
3.0
There's something about the Once Upon a Time anthology series that draws me to it. I don't know if it's my deep love for fairytale retellings or how beautifully lush the original covers are or the obvious love of the source material you can read between the lines, but something draws me to these books, and I've long planned on purchasing all of them to add to my permanent book collection. So it really pains me to say this, but Before Midnight is my least favorite of the three I've read so far.
The story starts with a lot of promise. I liked the setup: the general setting, the cast of characters, the prominence of pumpkins, Cendrillon's constant effort to get something to grow on her mother's grave, how she allows her step-family to think she's a servant because of her struggle with accepting her identity, the exploration of love and friendship and the difference between the two, the focus on what bitterness will do to you, how Dokey attempted to subvert all of the original tale's tropes. But Dokey could not seem to pull it all together at the end.
For starters, the romance is bad. All of three of them, in fact. The pairings are strange and confusing and not particularly romantic and all three are somewhat unnecessary on some level. Why should I believe that just because Raoul and Pascal look alike that that somehow makes Pascal a suitable love interest? The 'meet-cute' and subsequent 'romance' are not only rushed beyond belief but more than cheesy enough to make me want to gag. I'm not opposed to love at first sight stories, but this was certainly not the way to do it.
Raoul and Anastasia serve as nothing more than an uninspired pairing, and I had zero investment in their relationship, but out of three they do still have the most actual build-up and development, and perhaps if the rest of the book had been better I could have gotten behind their relationship. As for Niccolo and Amelie, Niccolo had no business being a love interest. In fact, I did not care about him at all. He did nothing useful, and the story would have been perfectly fine without him. Or he could have just been a fun side character without any attempt at developing him further. He definitely didn't need his own romance or to have more than an inconsequential part to play in the secret twins and warring countries plotline.
The one thing I actually liked about the romance of the book was how Dokey used it to explore Cendrillon and Raoul's friendship. There was a subtle, underlying current to their friendship throughout the book that presented some truly delicious possibility, like both knew things could go either way for them, love or friendship, and it would all come down to what they both decided in the end. I, personally, was fully willing to accept the idea of them remaining friends, but if the end goal was to stick Cendrillon with a secret twin she barely knew because poorly written 'insta-love', I would have preferred she end up with Raoul instead.
In terms of the warring countries/secret twins subplot, I was genuinely looking forward to finding out Raoul's part in the story, and I even would have liked the idea of him being a secret twin if it hadn't been thrown in so hastily at the last minute. The story did seem to be hinting at the idea of Raoul being a kidnapped prince, which was an element I was all in for, and he did turn out to be a prince, but he didn't come from where I expected him to or from where I think would have suited the story more. I could have dealt with this easily if the rest of the subplot had made sense to me and worked in the story, but I Still don't know what the secret twins/warring countries plotline was meant to be about, and I don't very much care at this point.
And for a story that relies on a subplot of overthrowing a kingdom, where the hell were all of the machinations?! I get keeping the secret twins/warring countries subplot in wraps for most of the book since Cendrillon wouldn't have any reason to know about any of it with her father being absent the majority of the story. But once things started to be revealed, I absolutely expected for there to be some time spent on Developing this subplot and actually giving it some Teeth. As it is, Brabant comes across as a completely useless mastermind of a completely directionless plot to overthrow a kingdom for completely non-existent reasons. And at the end of it all, there's not even any sort of conclusion to the subplot. For all we know, these two warring countries are still warring with each other to this day, and Raoul and Pascal have become locked in an intense emotional battle only to be ended once one or both of them have run out of the will to live.
Now That would be a story.
Sadly, by the end of this book, I found a lot of the characters behavior and the overall progression of story events unbearably annoying. The last 1/5 of the book definitely needed to be longer to make room for more character and story progression. And all three of the romances should have been scrapped and started over.
I'm not getting rid of this book, because I still plan on collecting the full series, and I'll probably re-read Before Midnight at some point to see if I like it any better, but I don't find that likely to happen. For now, this is a three star story at most.
The story starts with a lot of promise. I liked the setup: the general setting, the cast of characters, the prominence of pumpkins, Cendrillon's constant effort to get something to grow on her mother's grave, how she allows her step-family to think she's a servant because of her struggle with accepting her identity, the exploration of love and friendship and the difference between the two, the focus on what bitterness will do to you, how Dokey attempted to subvert all of the original tale's tropes. But Dokey could not seem to pull it all together at the end.
For starters, the romance is bad. All of three of them, in fact. The pairings are strange and confusing and not particularly romantic and all three are somewhat unnecessary on some level. Why should I believe that just because Raoul and Pascal look alike that that somehow makes Pascal a suitable love interest? The 'meet-cute' and subsequent 'romance' are not only rushed beyond belief but more than cheesy enough to make me want to gag. I'm not opposed to love at first sight stories, but this was certainly not the way to do it.
Raoul and Anastasia serve as nothing more than an uninspired pairing, and I had zero investment in their relationship, but out of three they do still have the most actual build-up and development, and perhaps if the rest of the book had been better I could have gotten behind their relationship. As for Niccolo and Amelie, Niccolo had no business being a love interest. In fact, I did not care about him at all. He did nothing useful, and the story would have been perfectly fine without him. Or he could have just been a fun side character without any attempt at developing him further. He definitely didn't need his own romance or to have more than an inconsequential part to play in the secret twins and warring countries plotline.
The one thing I actually liked about the romance of the book was how Dokey used it to explore Cendrillon and Raoul's friendship. There was a subtle, underlying current to their friendship throughout the book that presented some truly delicious possibility, like both knew things could go either way for them, love or friendship, and it would all come down to what they both decided in the end. I, personally, was fully willing to accept the idea of them remaining friends, but if the end goal was to stick Cendrillon with a secret twin she barely knew because poorly written 'insta-love', I would have preferred she end up with Raoul instead.
In terms of the warring countries/secret twins subplot, I was genuinely looking forward to finding out Raoul's part in the story, and I even would have liked the idea of him being a secret twin if it hadn't been thrown in so hastily at the last minute. The story did seem to be hinting at the idea of Raoul being a kidnapped prince, which was an element I was all in for, and he did turn out to be a prince, but he didn't come from where I expected him to or from where I think would have suited the story more. I could have dealt with this easily if the rest of the subplot had made sense to me and worked in the story, but I Still don't know what the secret twins/warring countries plotline was meant to be about, and I don't very much care at this point.
And for a story that relies on a subplot of overthrowing a kingdom, where the hell were all of the machinations?! I get keeping the secret twins/warring countries subplot in wraps for most of the book since Cendrillon wouldn't have any reason to know about any of it with her father being absent the majority of the story. But once things started to be revealed, I absolutely expected for there to be some time spent on Developing this subplot and actually giving it some Teeth. As it is, Brabant comes across as a completely useless mastermind of a completely directionless plot to overthrow a kingdom for completely non-existent reasons. And at the end of it all, there's not even any sort of conclusion to the subplot. For all we know, these two warring countries are still warring with each other to this day, and Raoul and Pascal have become locked in an intense emotional battle only to be ended once one or both of them have run out of the will to live.
Now That would be a story.
Sadly, by the end of this book, I found a lot of the characters behavior and the overall progression of story events unbearably annoying. The last 1/5 of the book definitely needed to be longer to make room for more character and story progression. And all three of the romances should have been scrapped and started over.
I'm not getting rid of this book, because I still plan on collecting the full series, and I'll probably re-read Before Midnight at some point to see if I like it any better, but I don't find that likely to happen. For now, this is a three star story at most.
spinch4's review against another edition
5.0
A really amazing Cinderella retelling. It had a perfect mix of the original story and new twists.
kaz_brekkerrr's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
sqeeker's review against another edition
2.0
I don't really know how to take this book. Some things were good others were weird or confusing.
Plot: The story was mix between Disney's Cinderella and Ever After. At least, that is what I felt like it was. It is a pretty classic tale, but I liked the little twists in the story. I especially liked how the father played a role, and how the stepmother wasn't evil. I didn't like how EVERYONE was falling in love at first sight though. I thought that was bit dumb.
Characters: I liked Cendrillon, and I thought her character was strong, but the other characters were a hit and miss. I was very confused about Anastasia's character. She played the nasty stepsister we were all supposed to hate right? Why do all the characters end up loving her then? The father's character was a love/hate relationship for me. I thought his brooding was a bit much and was an immature character, but then I kinda understood how the author made it want to be that way for the story to work. It's complicated.
This isn't my favorite in the Once Upon a Time Books, but I'm glad I read it.
Plot: The story was mix between Disney's Cinderella and Ever After. At least, that is what I felt like it was. It is a pretty classic tale, but I liked the little twists in the story. I especially liked how the father played a role, and how the stepmother wasn't evil. I didn't like how EVERYONE was falling in love at first sight though. I thought that was bit dumb.
Characters: I liked Cendrillon, and I thought her character was strong, but the other characters were a hit and miss. I was very confused about Anastasia's character. She played the nasty stepsister we were all supposed to hate right? Why do all the characters end up loving her then? The father's character was a love/hate relationship for me. I thought his brooding was a bit much and was an immature character, but then I kinda understood how the author made it want to be that way for the story to work. It's complicated.
This isn't my favorite in the Once Upon a Time Books, but I'm glad I read it.
maecar's review against another edition
4.0
These are fun twists and retelling on the old classic fairy tales. One of my sweet YW recommended them when I saw her at the library and I enjoyed it. Different enough and a quick read for me.
kortirion's review against another edition
3.0
I liked that the villain's identity has shifted from the stepmother to the father, but I was a little bored by how neatly everything was tied up in the end, especially by the way all the single people ended up madly in love. I suppose it is a YA book, though.