Rate this book

The Cinderella Curse (2000)

by J.L. Penn(Favorite Author)

3.14 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

review 1: Short novella spun off the classic fairy tale, Cinderella. Only in this case you have a shallow, obnoxious (author's description: popular, happenin') girl who drops a bushel of apples on a witch's head and is cursed. Of course because her name is Cindy, the curse is that every night at the stroke of midnight, she turns into a pumpkin until dawn. How in the world will she ever find true love in modern society's 'gotta sleep around' mentality if she spends her nights literally vegging?I wanted to like this. The premise is cute and fresh. Had she been a little less one-dimensional and self-absorbed, it might have worked for me. But the whole tone of the story was just cheap. No rich descriptions, no character development, no *flesh*. If you'd like to kill forty-five m... moreinutes, this is your book(let).
review 2: This was better than I thought it was going to be, but still not a fantastic page turner. It is really what it is advertised as: fun chick-lit based on the Cinderella story.This book had some really great elements. One of my favorite moments was when Cindy met James's family. They grilled her to no end and treated her... well not rudely but not exactly spectacularly. They were polite enough to her but polite in that way that you could tell they were tearing her apart and making sure that she was good enough for THEIR brother. It was really endearing because through it all, James kind of tried to stop them but at the same time couldn't because it was ten against one. Also, you figured out that his family was the reason he never really brought women over, in fact he almost never did, so you realized how much he really cared about her. He may have subjected her to the misery that was his family but only because he was so important to her that he wanted her to be a part of them, even if it meant living out the misery that was his family.I also liked how hesitant James was. He liked this girl so much that he didn't want to mess it up; including kiss her and subject his own curse upon her. I really like how the author did that. It was natural and the relationship didn't seem forced. I like how they met (however ridiculous, it fit within the premise of the story), I like how they dated, I liked their whole "are we, aren't we" phase.The bad points? I really didn't like Cindy that much. She was kind of insipid. The writing was very basic and a lot of simple sentences that made it choppy and a little elementary in the writing. You could tell the writer's style and writing was very underdeveloped. Maybe with more experience or training, or both, she could be a lot better.I also wasn't sure about the plot line. Unknown witch hexes her and she turns into a pumpkin every night. Ok, it was humorous but... I don't know. There were so many questions unanswered. We never found out who the witch was and the only reason we ever really go for why she hexed Cindy was because Cindy accidentally dropped an apple on her head. I just don't think that people go around hexing because of such minor incidents. Even in the fairy tales, the witches always had a very deep seeded REASON for hexing, cursing and generally hating the princess they did. This completely nonchalant reason bothered me. If you're going to redo a fairy tale, you either have to totally redo it or really stick to the original tale. This... didn't really do either.Overall, it was a fun read. The ending is definitely better than the beginning. Not Shakespeare, but a good, easy, fast read for my vacation. :) less

Download links for: The Cinderella Curse

Advertising