cinderella is dead – r.bookish

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about cinderella is dead by Kalynn Baryon. i gave this book 4/5 stars. i honestly loved this book so much, but i do have a couple of issues with it, which i’ll explain more in the next couple paragraphs. but, thank you so much netgalley for giving me this arc. and this review is completely unbiased.

one of my biggest issues with this book, is the romance. i’m a big romance fan, and i pretty much only read books that deal with some sort of romance. but, in here the romance was kind of shitty. my biggest issue with the romance was how Sophia went on and on about how she is in love with Erin, but then Sophia just kind of gets with Constance. and honestly that just rubbed me the wrong way, since she was in love with this other girl for years and years and then she just says “oh who cares lets just get with someone else.” and this just honestly annoyed the hell out of me.

another thing about the romance was how it was insta love. i personally don’t really like insta love, but this was just kind of annoying in here. since, i mean Sophia just was so in love with Erin and then right when she just like met Constance and then she just moved on so quick. but i do think that this book wasn’t romance heavy, but still was pretty insta love.

and i do feel like a lot of YA fantasy’s that i hear about on Instagram and even booktube it is very insta love. and i honestly feel like that just needs to be changed in general for YA fantasy romances. they just need to pick another path besides insta love.

i do wish we did get more explanation on the world. i feel like we just got zero explanation besides a little bit here and there about what Cinderella was like and things about how this world lived dealt with Cinderella. but, i do wish we just got some more about the world and how everything works.

and i don’t read that much fantasy, but one thing i wanted was more meat about Sophia. like this whole book was about over throwing the government. i understand that she wants to over throw it since she hates how everything is ruled over, but i just wanted to know why? why would you want to do this? want drives you to do this? and i feel like she had drive, but i just wanted to know what pushed her.

but i also feel like the pace within this book was pretty decent. there was times that it was super predicable, but other then that i thought it was pretty decent. but, i feel like a lot of YA books are predicable, but that is kind of against the point. but, i just wanted to bring that up, since it had a nice pace, but also predicable.

i also really like the fairy godmother. and i feel like this character was kind was all over the place, but i do really like her and what she was doing for Constance and Sophia. and like she was super sweet, but i won’t get into to much about her since i don’t want to spoil anyone for the ending of this book.

the ban of characters in this book were super cool. i mean obviously our main character is a lesbian, and then Constance is probably bisexual (i don’t really remember if it was said but i saw people call her bisexual so that’s what i’m gonna say,) and then also Luke who was gay. and i honestly really liked all of them and they all worked together so well.

i’ve probably already talked about this like 100 times, but i did not really care for the ending of this book. i mean, i’ve of course read better endings, but it wasn’t like completely terrible like some endings. i feel like my biggest issue was how boring it was. i mean, i created this whole ending in my head, which i’ll do below in a spoiler warning. but, i did hope that it would pack a punch.

Sophia- i honestly really like how head strong she is. and i think that it was so cool to see how she would overthrow the government. and i mean it was even more amazing that she was lesbian and also Black. since most books are like white girls that are pissed. so this was honestly a nice surprise and since she was like so badass.

Constance- she was honestly my favorite character in this whole book. i mean she was just so bad ass and like i loved how she always stuck with Sophia no matter what. and she was just so fun and i loved the whole bomb parts. but, i do wish that we got more of her personality thoughout the story.

King Manford- i honestly really liked his character. i’m not sure why because he was kind of a dick, but i really liked that he was married to Cinderella 200 years ago. but, i also can see why Sophia hated him, and why he was such a dick.

Fairy Godmother- i really loved her throughout the book. i did find her a little odd throughout the novel, especially when she was just in the cabin, which overall was kind of odd. like as a introvert, but i don’t think i could ever live in the forest with literally nobody else.

SPOLIER WARNING-

so here is how i wanted the ending to go and how i image it. so, i completely want the whole godmother turned into King Manford’s mother, but when Sophia goes to kill Manford he like starts talking about Constance, but then we learn that King Manford and Constance are the same person. So, Sophia has to kill both of them and does. but, in the end Erin leaves her husband and then Sophia and Erin get together.

so, obviously this ending doesn’t quite work, and i didn’t really explain it that well. but, this is how i would have wanted it to go, if i wrote this book, or even like a movie script. but i would really like Constance and Manford being the same person.

anyway, that is all for today! thank you so much Netgalley for this arc! i highly recommend this book to everyone, especially if you like the original disney movie, but like years and years in the future after the happily ever after.

Halloween Creatures book tag | freak week day 6

hello everyone! today i am going to be doing the halloween creatures book tag! this honestly seems like such a fun tag, and i cannot wait to do this, since i’m all about spooky stuff and also those creatures that are all around Halloween.

WITCH- A MAGICAL CHARACTER OR BOOK

Cinderella is dead by Kalynn Bayron. i’m not really sure if this would count as magical or not, but let’s just count it as for the purpose of this tag. but, this book is such an amazing book. since it is a more ‘modern’ version, and that deals with LGBTQ+ characters and also a lot more feminist then the other Disney version.

WEREWOLF- THE PERFECT BOOK TO READ AT NIGHT

a good girls guide to murder by Holly Jackson. you’ll probably see this book 20 more times in this list. but, everyone knows how much i love this book, and how much i tell all my friends to read this book and scream about it on twitter. but, this book is so spooky, and i just think this is such an amazing book and it just makes it so much more spooky at night.

FRANKENSTEIN- A BOOK THAT TRULY SHOCKED YOU

my lovely wife by Samantha Downing. this book honestly shocked me so much, and the whole ending of this book. and honestly the whole ending just made everything so much more shocking. it honestly was so amazing, but i jut loved how shocking so much.

THE DEVIL- A DARK, EVIL CHARACTER

there’s someone inside your house by Stephanie Perkins. i’m going to go with the murder in this book. i’m not going to say who it is, for spoiler reasons. but, i mean the killer had all of this really bad killings, so honestly this character is so much like a devil character.

GRIM REAPER- A CHARACTER THAT SHOULD HAVE DIED

*this is going to be a very spoliery answer for good girl, bad blood*

but, for this one i’m going to go with Stanley Forbes in good girl, bad blood by Holly Jackson. look, i understand what Charlie was getting at, with him kidnapping his sister, but like Stanley was 9 years old so he really couldn’t have killed Charlie’s sister. but, i still think that Stanley didn’t deserve to die.

ZOMBIE- A BOOK THAT MADE YOU HUNGRY FOR MORE

good girl, bad blood by Holly Jackson. i know i’ve used this series for multiple other answers, but the ending of this book just made me want so many other books. especially since i love Ravi so freaking much, so just cannot wait to get into more books in this series. especially after the ending of this book, i just need so much more.

GARGOYLE- A CHARACTER THAT YOU WOULD PROTECT AT ALL COST

Charlie Turner in the kingdom keepers series by Ridley Pearson. she is probably one of my favorite book characters, so i would 100% protect her at all cost. and she is literally one of my favorite book characters in the world, so obviously protect her at all cost.

VAMPIRE- A BOOK SUCKED THE LIFE OUT OF YOU

good girl, bad blood by Holly Jackson. sorry that i’m using this book so freaking much, but i need to keep talking about it, since it was just so amazing. but, the whole ending just sucked the life out of me so much, and the one character i really liked just turned to be a dick, so it honestly sucked the life out of me.

GHOST- A BOOK THAT STILL HAUNTS YOU

after by Anna Todd. this book doesn’t haunt me in a good way at all. more of a one that is just so bad i cannot get over how much it sucks. and i honestly feel like it just is so toxic and crappy, so this book just haunts me so freaking much.

DEMON- A BOOK THAT REALLY SCARED YOU

sadie by Courtney Summers. i honestly don’t read to many spooky books, but this book was just so creepy, that i had to bring it up. and i honestly think that this was just kind of crazy, and that this whole book was just so crazy and honestly made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

SKELETON- A CHARACTER YOU HAVE A BONE TO PICK WITH

Grey from a heart so fierce and broken by Brigid Kemmerer. i honestly hated him so much, and i just could not get with him, and with him in this book. and i mean, i feel like he was such a dick in this book, so i mean he just completely hated him, which makes the book so much more terrible.

MUMMY- A BOOK YOU WOULD PRESEVE THOUGHOUT TIME

Felix ever after by Kacen Callender. i just love this book so much, and i love it so freaking much. and this book is so important, and i think so many people can really see themselves in this story. so, i mean i think this should just be preserve throughout time for all these teens to read.

CREEPY DOLL- A COVER TOO SCARY TO LOOK AT

i honestly don’t think i’ve ever seen a book cover that was so scary for me to look at. i mean, there isn’t one on my TBR or whatever. so, i’m just going to skip it.

anyway, that’s it for today! i honestly really enjoyed doing this book tag, and talking about some of these spooky things and relating them to books. but, happy freak week day 6 and i’ll see you all tomorrow!