Review: Stealing Cinderella (Sinister Fairy Tales) by A. Zavarelli

When you hear a book is a retelling of a common fairy tale you absolutely create a check list in your head as to what needs to be in the book. 
Cinderella- Ella, Cinderella, She is in need of a champion a hero who will take care of her.  Someone who will show her her worth. Her character does not react typically once the story moves forward

Prince Charming- Thorsen, not so very charming, I liked his layers and multidimensional personality.  He wasn’t willing go to just marry for any reason

Fairy Godmother- Charlotte, Ella’s best friend and benefactor. 

Evil Stepmother and stepsister- Check, they are pure evil with mountains of nastiness. 

I am going to be completely honest with you when I started Stealing Cinderella, I thought it was going to be a very basic rewrite of the story.  I was about 4 chapters in and still questioning why I was reading this.  I liked the character of Ella.   You could see that Thorsen has a troubled soul and needed to be brought into the light. But I just felt that it was going to take the typical trajectory of the a Cinderella story, but….. BAM!  It was like all the sudden this was no longer your typical Cinderella.  I LOVED IT. 

I loved the dark and twisted nature of the story.  I loved the complexity of all the characters. Prince Thorsen is not going to be riding in a white horse to save anyone.  He really needs to be saved.  Ella’s caring and loving nature is either going to be to her detriment or it is going to save him.  Prince Thor is absolutely the antihero I have come expect from books written by Zavarelli.  She has a way of writing these strong silent types who teeter on the edge of destruction, and the love of a women is what pulls him back to the light.

The supporting characters in this book add another level of complexity.  It is really Prince Thor’s relationships and how he related to others.  These relationships are so important so that we can see both sides of Thor and what makes him be the man he is. 

I read this as a standalone but am now intrigued to go back and read the other books in the Sinister Fairytales.  This was a very steamy and sexy read.  I would give this a 4.5/5.  I took away a .5 because of how slow it started off.