Scan barcode
sumayyaha's review against another edition
5.0
I haven't read anything for weeks and this book certainly picked me up. This was the first time I read anything by Haddix and I have to say even though her writing isn't anything special I quite enjoyed it. And I still found it to be unique, she really pulls out the personality of the character instead of just making it seem like retold story of Cinderella. Besides the fact that I despise the Disney telling of it, I loved this version. I found it hilarious and uplifting, and easy to read. If only I'd read it at the beginning of the year, I feel like I wasted so much time having this reading slump. Ah well, I've been interested in Haddix's books for a while now, I'm certainly going to give the rest a try.
mariahistryingtoread's review against another edition
3.0
I am just having the worst luck with retellings lately. This book has been on my bookshelf for the longest time, and after reading this really intense memoir I needed something lighter to cleanse my palette. While this book wasn't awful by any means, it failed to live up to its potential.
Everyone knows the story, Cinderella defies her evil Step-Family, goes to the ball, meets the Prince, and lives happily ever after. However, as Cynthiana Eleanora, just Ella for short, soon finds out happily ever after is not as easy as it sounds. Ella has become a Princess practically overnight and should be happy with her lot in life. She has finally escaped the evil clutches of her horrible Step-Mother and has nabbed herself a Prince in the process. But, Ella quickly becomes disillusioned with her new life; the strict regulations for being a lady, the tedium of her lessons, and the lack of companionship begin to take a toll on her. Not to mention how incompatible she seems to be with Prince-Not-So-Charming. However, breaking her engagement will prove to be easier said than done.
The issue is that despite the hype the book cultivates with its synopsis, nothing much happens. Ella spends her time getting lessons from her tutor and eventual friend, Jed, and that’s it. It’s obvious immediately to the reader that she doesn’t care for the Prince, yet she barely does anything one way or the other in regards to this. She doesn’t try to connect with the Prince more in an effort to delude herself which would have been frustrating, but at least interesting to read. The outcome of the book has no build-up to it because there is so little that actually goes on. Her revelation with the Prince is also practically out of nowhere, which is part of a larger issue; no other character as any real depth or significance.
Jed is supposed to be her closest friend in a sea of fakers, however, their dialogue is basic and shallow. You never get the sense that they are really that close because of how utterly inconsequential their conversations are. Their whole relationship is a major case of telling instead of showing. And they barely have any conversations before he disappears entirely. Ella's other friend, Mary, is not really a friend at all. Ella constantly compares her past circumstances with that of Mary's without really talking to Mary about it. She sympathizes with Mary, but the two never truly connect. Mary has hero worship on her side while Ella has an underlying superior attitude towards her. She often treats Mary in a very condescending manner. The worst part is that despite her minor arc across the novel she does not have enough self awareness to realize this weird bias she has.
That brings me to the character of Ella. She is not unlikeable, but she certainly is not likeable either. She borders on annoying a lot of the time purely because there is nothing else to examine outside of her actions or introspection. A review for the book says (and I'm paraphrasing here) this is Cinderella with a feminist twist; which is simply not true. Ella is independent in only the most basic of ways. She chafes under the heavy regulation of the castle, however, she also does not speak her mind much or actively try to change anything. She comes across as passive and resigned when it hasn't even been that long since she became a Princess. This is especially irritating when she is supposed to be such a strong willed individual due to surviving in her previous household. Long story short, she is a boring character doing boring things.
Overall, this wasn't that bad. What little plot it had was decent and it was a breezy read like I wanted so I was not super disappointed. I consider it better than Beastly (the last retelling I read) because despite how drab it is, I give it points for having a little more originality and being better written from a technical standpoint.
Everyone knows the story, Cinderella defies her evil Step-Family, goes to the ball, meets the Prince, and lives happily ever after. However, as Cynthiana Eleanora, just Ella for short, soon finds out happily ever after is not as easy as it sounds. Ella has become a Princess practically overnight and should be happy with her lot in life. She has finally escaped the evil clutches of her horrible Step-Mother and has nabbed herself a Prince in the process. But, Ella quickly becomes disillusioned with her new life; the strict regulations for being a lady, the tedium of her lessons, and the lack of companionship begin to take a toll on her. Not to mention how incompatible she seems to be with Prince-Not-So-Charming. However, breaking her engagement will prove to be easier said than done.
The issue is that despite the hype the book cultivates with its synopsis, nothing much happens. Ella spends her time getting lessons from her tutor and eventual friend, Jed, and that’s it. It’s obvious immediately to the reader that she doesn’t care for the Prince, yet she barely does anything one way or the other in regards to this. She doesn’t try to connect with the Prince more in an effort to delude herself which would have been frustrating, but at least interesting to read. The outcome of the book has no build-up to it because there is so little that actually goes on. Her revelation with the Prince is also practically out of nowhere, which is part of a larger issue; no other character as any real depth or significance.
Jed is supposed to be her closest friend in a sea of fakers, however, their dialogue is basic and shallow. You never get the sense that they are really that close because of how utterly inconsequential their conversations are. Their whole relationship is a major case of telling instead of showing. And they barely have any conversations before he disappears entirely. Ella's other friend, Mary, is not really a friend at all. Ella constantly compares her past circumstances with that of Mary's without really talking to Mary about it. She sympathizes with Mary, but the two never truly connect. Mary has hero worship on her side while Ella has an underlying superior attitude towards her. She often treats Mary in a very condescending manner. The worst part is that despite her minor arc across the novel she does not have enough self awareness to realize this weird bias she has.
That brings me to the character of Ella. She is not unlikeable, but she certainly is not likeable either. She borders on annoying a lot of the time purely because there is nothing else to examine outside of her actions or introspection. A review for the book says (and I'm paraphrasing here) this is Cinderella with a feminist twist; which is simply not true. Ella is independent in only the most basic of ways. She chafes under the heavy regulation of the castle, however, she also does not speak her mind much or actively try to change anything. She comes across as passive and resigned when it hasn't even been that long since she became a Princess. This is especially irritating when she is supposed to be such a strong willed individual due to surviving in her previous household. Long story short, she is a boring character doing boring things.
Overall, this wasn't that bad. What little plot it had was decent and it was a breezy read like I wanted so I was not super disappointed. I consider it better than Beastly (the last retelling I read) because despite how drab it is, I give it points for having a little more originality and being better written from a technical standpoint.
dellasbookshelf's review against another edition
5.0
I love this book so much! I read it first at a very young age and reread it many times over the years. I'm rereading it as an adult for the first time, and it's still as good, if not better, than I remember. Knowing how that it is just book 1 in a trilogy has me so excited to read the rest of the books! My only issue with this book is that Ella is 15 and that the love interest is around 20. However, Ella is hardly written as a 15 year old girl, and her age is only mentioned once, so I just pretend she's older than the book states.
mimsey's review against another edition
4.0
I would like to give Just Ella 3 1/2 stars but alas no fractions are permitted. A very quick read, I was not overly enamored with the writing style. It is age appropriate but lacks the carefully crafted quality that sets apart the children's books I really love.
Just Ella presents the classic story of Cinderella and is set in the "happily ever after". Only it turns out not to be so happy; and unlike traditional fairy-tale heroines Ella does not play the damsel in distress card and hope for a prince or fairy god-mother to save her. This princess has learned to take her fate into her own hands and won't let domineering tutors, an idiot prince or even being locked in the dungeon stop her.
The book explores Ella's transition from passively (if not quietly) slaving away for her step-mother to deciding and acting on making her own decisions and, eventually, facing the consequences.
On a slightly deeper level "Just Ella" explores the differences between infatuation and love and presents the novel (for children's books) idea that the two do not always go hand-in-hand.
The most relevant and satisfying "message" I took from the book is that happiness is not always found where everyone thinks and says it should be. Ella learns that a life of hard work and immense challenges can be more satisfying than one of leisure which is a lesson I would love for more people to understand.
I did not like that the prince (along with pretty much all of the characters other than Ella) was so extremely one dimensional. This is consistent with traditional fairy tale telling but really limited my engagement in the story.
Just Ella presents the classic story of Cinderella and is set in the "happily ever after". Only it turns out not to be so happy; and unlike traditional fairy-tale heroines Ella does not play the damsel in distress card and hope for a prince or fairy god-mother to save her. This princess has learned to take her fate into her own hands and won't let domineering tutors, an idiot prince or even being locked in the dungeon stop her.
The book explores Ella's transition from passively (if not quietly) slaving away for her step-mother to deciding and acting on making her own decisions and, eventually, facing the consequences.
On a slightly deeper level "Just Ella" explores the differences between infatuation and love and presents the novel (for children's books) idea that the two do not always go hand-in-hand.
The most relevant and satisfying "message" I took from the book is that happiness is not always found where everyone thinks and says it should be. Ella learns that a life of hard work and immense challenges can be more satisfying than one of leisure which is a lesson I would love for more people to understand.
I did not like that the prince (along with pretty much all of the characters other than Ella) was so extremely one dimensional. This is consistent with traditional fairy tale telling but really limited my engagement in the story.
chrystalo's review against another edition
3.0
This is a book I've been itching to read for so long that I finally gave up and bought it on Amazon. And it was nice. I mean, it's certainly a quick and easy read designed for pretty young young adults, but the feel of the book is much more mature. As another review I glanced at mentioned, "It's a fairy tale retelling with a healthy dose of reality". The main reason why I didn't actually rate this book higher is that it was almost too short and too simplistic. It felt a little more like a novella, with little depth provided to the actual plot. I did appreciate that the ending was a more ambiguous than you typically see with fairy tale retellings, and that Ella, the protagonist, was very introspective and thoughtful. But it was noticeably missing the "more". Regardless, it was a very quick and enjoyable read, and I'm glad I finally cracked down and picked it up!
thehatfam's review against another edition
4.0
I really like this book. A lot more than I thought I would actually. It's a fun twist but I would say that if you were to read this out loud to younger children, I would change a couple words and maybe leave a few sentences out. There are some parts that I thought were a little more crude (crude might be too harsh a word) than other fairytales or even the retelling of them. But I really did love it.
lee_hillshire's review against another edition
I forgot how much I adore this book. Sure it's got flaws, but it's sweet, and its wholesome, and the ending is actual goals. I love it a lot.
sallyavena's review against another edition
3.0
The book kind of thumbs it's nose at the idea of 'happily ever after' and then you realize the point is that we are in charge of making our own happily ever afters.