The protagonist of this book is Tirza, a third and much younger stepsister whom Cinderella takes to the castle with her when she gets married to the prince, after banishing the two elder stepsisters.

Writing style is straightforward. Unfortunately, a promising fractured fairy tale premise (Cinderella is evil! Stepsisters are good!) gets unnecessarily arduous in the second half, ping-ponging back and forth and ultimately disappointing the reader by being confusing and anticlimactic. Most of the relationships between characters are negative and emotionally manipulative – between Tirza and Cinderella, between Cinderella and her stepfamily (okay, that one sticks to the original) and, later, between Tirza and her sisters as well as the fairy godmother figure. Tirza herself is not particularly likeable, which doesn’t help – in the end she has not grown, changed, or learned much at all, just had a really confusing few weeks not knowing who to trust – which has pretty much been her life up to that point anyway.

There are lots of readers (including myself) who enjoy reading revamped fairy tales – there’s so much opportunity for fun, good humor, and reinventing strong female characters, but this book falls short. If your library has a large budget and reader base eager for every retooled fairy tale that comes along, or if there was great enthusiasm for the first book, then you could consider a purchase. It’s fine as a stand-alone as well.

Reviewed by Jenny Martinez Nocito, Maine State Library