I’m always a little bit scared to try something new, even when it comes to reading books. Giving a new genre a chance is something I always force myself to do but I decided to rebel a little when it came to my reading this year.
The chance to do this was one of the few pros that came with starting a little book club with my friends and taking a reading challenge the year. It was an amazing experience if you want to ignore how I had to beg most of them to have monthly reviews with me (I hope you all see this). I call this year my rebel year of reading because I strayed far from my usual re-reading of the twilight series, the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series as well as the heroes of Olympus series, and decided to venture into other genres and different authors to see what I would find there.
RED, WHITE AND ROYAL BLUE by Casey McQuiston
So, let’s take a look at 5 of my favorite reads from this year, in no particular order.
“History huh?”
Do you know how I know this year went by really fast? This was the first book I read this year and I can still remember quotes from it and every single emotion that I felt while reading it.
Red, white and royal blue is an LGBTQ romance novel that centers on the relationship between Alex Diaz, the first son of the president of the united states, and Henry, a British prince. Combining the enemies-to-lovers trope and well-written declarations of love, red, white, and royal blue took me as a reader on a journey that taught me about acceptance of oneself and what joy comes with celebrating our true identity.
My thought at the end of this story?
Sometimes, we plan to be one person and end up as another.
- Adraine
SNOW, GLASS, APPLES by Neil Gaiman
I wrote a review on this at the time when I read it because it was too good to shut up about it. I found this book because I was looking for something short to read in the smallest amount of time possible and not only did snow, glass, apples do that for me- it also left me wishing it were a longer novel.
Because i would have given time i did not have to it.
Snow, glass, apples is a horrific, intense retelling of the fairytale of snow-white that even inspired me to write my own retelling of cinderella, which was one of my favorite stories written by me this year.
My thought at the end of this story?
Not everyone who shows you their teeth is really smiling at you and thus not every thing is at it seems
Not long after I read snow, glass, apples and wrote As Dark As Cinder, a lovely human thought it would be nice to introduce me to “Cinderella is dead”- a retelling of the story, Cinderella that blew my mind away.
Cinderella is dead takes a much darker turn into the story of cinderella, ripping apart everything I thought I knew about the story and bringing in sicker, jaw-dropping plot twists with a sprinkle of romance.
We have black girls dressing up in ballgowns to take down the patriarchy. Of course, I’d fall in love.
My thought at the end of this story?
Honestly, who names their child, Charming?
- Adraine
WORDS ON BATHROOM WALLS by Julia Walton
Adam sees things. He also hears things. The only problem is most of the things he sees and hears are not always there. After an accident at his old school, Adam writes to his therapist about moving to a new, Christian school and falling in love with a brilliant student, all while struggling to keep his disorder a secret, understand life itself, and trying to be normal for once.
When I found this, I actually just looked up “books like All the bright places by Jennifer Niven” because I really wanted a main character that would make me cry the way Theodore Finch did. Adam didn’t make me cry though (sadly) but he did make me fall in love with his awesome personality. I’m not sure if Adam’s character is a 100% accurate representation of what a person with schizophrenia is like but I will say that the story really sheds light on how disorders like schizophrenia mess with the lives of people.
I read the book in about two days and decided right after that I needed to see someone play Adam so i thought, “why not watch the movie?”
We won’t be talking about how i felt when i did that.
My thought at the end of this story?
Just as we have a variety of people and things in the world, so also do we have a variety of problems that these people go through- none of which are bigger than the other.
- Adraine
GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn
Permission to scream?
Thank you.
You know how I said I delved into other genres this year? One thing about me is I absolutely hate thrillers. I have no logical reason why. I have no urge to explain either, I just do not like the tension that comes with me. I’m 20 years old. I should not be feeling hypertensive because of a book.
However, as I said at the beginning of this post, I took a reading challenge with my friends, and in October, we had to read a thriller. Gone Girl was the chosen book of the month and I thought “why not?”
Gone Girl is about a man named Nick and his wife, Amy- who disappears on their fifth anniversary. It follows the events that happen after Amy’s disappearance and the lies Nick tells in order to save his own skin, and keep his image of the perfect, good husband intact.
I don’t regret reading this book. It was different from my usual preference, but it was such an amazing story that I may be changing my mind about thrillers and picking more up next year. I still haven’t changed my opinion on the hypertensive part though, because if you’re into yelling at your book and typing out rants in your notepad because it’s not time to talk about it to the book club yet and you don’t want to spoil for anyone then please, for the love of God, read this book.
That covers five of my favorite books from my 2021 reading list. I set a goal to read 18 different books this year and ended with 21 books instead so I guess you could say I’m pretty proud of myself. Since I could only cover five of them in this blog post, I created a list for you, oh sweet and lovely reader of all the books so you have new recommendations which you should definitely consider adding to your TBR.
It’s time for Cinderella with a very very different twist.
Queer black girls in ballgowns teaming up to overthrow the patriarchy?
Sign me up!
Once upon a time, in the kingdom of Mersailles, with the assistance of a fairy godmother, Cinderella went to the ball, won the heart of prince charming and they lived happily ever after.
200 hundred years later, Cinderella’s story has become a sort of religion as young girls in the kingdom are mandated to study the fairytale, be models of Cinderella’s “grace and beauty”, attend an annual ball, be put on display and selected by the men to be their wives. However, this is no fairytale since nobody knows what happens to girls who are not chosen, as they are never heard from again.
“Cinderella is dead” by Kalynn Bayron tells the story of our protagonist, a sixteen-year-old girl named Sophia who would rather marry her best friend, Erin than attend the ball and be chosen by a man she does not know. At the ball, she makes a desperate decision to run away and find a way to fix all the things that are wrong in their society. On this journey, she meets new people and learns that there is so much more to the story of Cinderella than she (and i ) was ever told.
I thought this story was an astonishing approach to the fairytale, yet a very toxic one. From the very first chapter, I was introduced to a great sense of the abuse done to women and young girls by the misogynistic men in Mersailles and it has me wanting to go into those pages and slap some of them just to set their heads right. A few normalcies in your average fairytale are also revoked as well- fairy godmothers sometimes have their own intentions and honestly, who names their kid, “Charming”?
“When I sat down to draft Cinderella, I started with a few questions: What effect do the fairy tales we are told as children have on us? What happens to our view of the world when the characters in these stories don’t look like us or love like us? When do we get to be the heroes of our own stories?”, Kalynn Bayron says about her process in the writing of the book.
Coupled with the inclusion of LGBTQ and feminist characters, Bayron provides an experience that teaches about how a lot of people are often conditioned to believe that things are supposed to be a certain type of way, but not all ways are right so how do we carefully fix what is wrong?
While it is a story for young adults, I think it would be a fantastic read for older adults as well. My only criticism would be that there was not enough world-building to give support to the pace of the book itself. so I’m giving it an 8/10 stars.
All in all, this was an enjoyable story with twists and turns I didn’t see coming, brave heroes and some of their rash decisions as well as a villain so evil, they give Hitler a run for his money.
“A retelling of the popular fairytale. Tired of the treatment from her stepfamily that has driven her to contemplate suicide, a young girl will do anything to escape and live a better life.“
“Okay, Ella. It’s your turn”, Anastasia said, “you can’t pick truth because Drizella and I already did”
It had been the same pattern for hours- two truths and one dare. Unsurprisingly, the dare always fell on me and the particles of flour in my hair were evidence of the last one.
“Truth or dare, Ella?”, Drizella asked, a sly smile on her face.
“Dare”, I answered.
“Okay, I dare you to walk across the ledge on the roof. If you make it to the other house, we’ll let you pick truth next time. Anna can pick dare”
“But I don’t want to pick dare!”, Anastasia complained.
“I don’t care!”, Drizella frowned at her sister, “besides, she’s never going to make it across”, she whispered as though she didn’t want me to hear.
I stood quietly and headed for the stairway that led to the roof. Behind me, my stepsisters, Anastasia and Drizella scurried, their little feet hitting the wooden floor. Anastasia was much younger than Drizella and i, so she did everything she was asked.
The only difference between us was that she had a choice.
The ledge was wooden and narrow. It was built after my mother’s death and so it was not as sturdy as it used to be. I took one step on it and it creaked. Looking back, I saw Anastasia and Drizella, their eyes gleaming with wickedness.
I took my first two steps on the ledge, trying not to look down at the ground, for fear of temptation to jump. Thoughts like these had always made me feel like I was the dark child Lady Tremaine said I was and as I walked further, I smiled at how right she was.
The ledge creaked and shook under my feet and so I spread my arms apart to balance myself, but alas! It was not enough and before I could turn around to see why Anastasia gasped so loudly, I found myself falling down to the earth while broken bits of wood followed.
Lady Tremaine said I was a dangerous child, and that I was trying to paint her out to be an evil stepmother. Perhaps she was or perhaps she was only a mother who would pick their children over any other. To her, I was the daughter of the woman my father loved before her and maybe she too, had seen him staring at the picture of my mother on the bookshelf and realized she would never really win his love.
That night as I treated my wounds by the fireplace, I imagined what death by the beautiful fire would be like. I reached for it and let my fingers dance above, feeling the heat. It must be painful to be burned alive.
I slept by the fireplace and by the next morning, my skin was dark and covered in ashes. Drizella was the first to find me and her call to Anasatasia woke me up.
“Oh Ella, you are as dark as a cinder!”, Anastasia exclaimed.
“Cinder-ella”, Drizella snickered.
I felt nothing at my father’s funeral. I resented him for marrying Lady Tremaine and thinking she could ever replace my mother and I resented him for dying and leaving me behind when I was the one who wanted to die the most.
Cinderella.
Drizella and Anastasia called me that to make fun of me. They were like birds on my shoulders that wouldn’t stop chirping and go away. I heard their voices in my sleep and when I was awake.
Cinderella.
It was neither the name my mother gave me nor the name I was given by my father, but when Lady Tremaine started to call me that too, I realized I was no longer just Ella.
The kingdom was peaceful, ruled by a king and a queen. There were hardly any rumors so when the news of the royal ball started to spread, everyone knew it was true.
The king and queen had one son by the name of Charming. I had seen him once when he visited the town with his parents while I was on an errand for Lady Tremaine. He had slick black hair and wore a constant frown on his face. He was a weird boy.
The royal ball was to take place in the royal palace and all the young women in the town were invited. Prince Charming was looking for a wife and the ball was an idea created by his father, the king.
I found the invitation first and saw my chance to leave the life I had led until that point. If I could win over the Prince then I would become a princess and never see Drizella and Anastasia’s wicked faces again. My father had always said I was a pretty girl, even though I knew he must have been biased. I was nowhere as pretty as Drizella or Anastasia.
Lady Tremaine caught me reading the invitation and laughed scornfully in my face when I asked if I could go.
“You? Little Cinderella? A princess? Don’t make me laugh”, she spat, “you wouldn’t pass off as a Princess even if you tried!”
Her arms went around the shoulders of her daughters. “These are princesses. Look at how their skins glow and how their hairs shine”
“You look more like a maid Cinderella”, Anastasia crossed her arms.
“And maids don’t attend royal balls”, Drizella stuck her tongue out at me.
For days after, I watched Lady Tremaine spend the money left by my father on dresses, shoes and ornaments fit for queens. My step sisters looked amazing and on the evening of the ball, I watched from my window as they sped out in a carriage.
The picture of my mother lay in the few clothes I had left. Lady Tremaine had broken it’s glass frame when she tossed it out after my father’s death. I rubbed my thumb over her face. People always said I looked more like her. I didn’t see it.
I slept off next to the picture and was awoken by the sound of knocking at the door.
“Godmother”, i said when i opened the door
She raised one brow when she saw me.
“Ella darling, why are you here? Shouldn’t you be at the ball like the rest of these younglings?”, she asked.
“Lady Tremaine said I’m not allowed to go because I could never be a princess”, I answered soberly.
“That damn witch”, she sneered as she pushed past me and walked into the house, “she left you all alone?”
“Yes”, i answered, “why are you here Godmother?”
“Oh, i was going to steal a little something i gave your mother years ago”, she shrugged casually.
“Lady Tremaine threw all of my mother’s belongings out after my father died”, i said, “he held on to them for so long that they irritated her. I only have a picture left”
“Of course she did”, Godmother’s jaw clenched, “the damn witch”
I chuckled, “Godmother, you are the witch here”
“Don’t tell me you’re ashamed of me now like your father was, Ella”, she smirked, “so what if i’m a witch?”
“People don’t like witches”
“Well, people don’t like what they don’t know”
I blinked at her, “you’re right, because i know you and i like you Godmother”
She smiled at me and moved to sit on one of the chairs before patting the space next to her. I motioned to sit as well. She played with my hair slowly.
“What do you want to do, my dear Ella?”, she asked, “do you want to come live with me? Your father never let you come see me but he’s not here now. You don’t have to stay with the evil witch”
I frowned, “I don’t want to stay in this town anymore Godmother. I want to go to the ball”, i stood and faced her, “and when i go to the ball, i want to win over the Prince and become a princess so i can punish Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and stupid Drizella”
Godmother laughed loudly, slapping her lap as she did. “Oh my darling Ella”, she said, “that fire in your eyes, that darkness-”, she trailed, “-you remind me of your mother”
I smiled, “really?”
“Yes”, she nodded, “you’re just as beautiful as she was too”
Godmother stood. She was a tall woman and when she knelt, she was just below my neck. Her eyes were green and sometimes, it looked as though little golden wisps danced in them. Her hair was darker than Drizella’s with streaks of grey in them.
She smiled a crooked smile, “when you want to win over a man, looks and niceness are never enough. You have to be smart Ella and ready to fulfil all his needs”
I tilted my head, “what do you mean?”
She stood and walked towards the stairway. When Godmother walked, it looked as if she was dancing.
“At night when the curtains are drawn and the kingdom is asleep, everyone has worldly desires that they dream of”, she said, “and the prince is no different”
I followed her to the room.
Godmother was the best witch in the kingdom and she was living proof that people were hypocrites- for they sought after her powers for help in secret and spat in disgust when they saw her on the street. She didn’t mind it, as long as they paid her.
She had mastered the art of dark magic, for what other type of sorcery could mutate mice into horses, make a pumpkin into a chariot, turn a dog into a coachman and create a dazzling dress out of thin hair. As she tightened a white corset at my back, she told me the story of a rich boy with questionable desires who would send the maids out of his room for wearing shoes and allowed them in when they wore slippers or were barefoot. Once, he asked a young girl whom he had befriended to be his model for a painting and his mother caught him painting images of her feet only and not of her body or pretty face.
Godmother said the boy was mad with desire and at night would touch himself to the images he had painted. His parents worried about what the people would think and so, they called on her to heal him- but when Godmother walked into his room and met him, she saw nothing but a young boy with fantasies.
When she looked at me, she said she saw a young girl mad enough to fulfil such fantasies.
As I walked into the palace, my eyes moved to a large clock on the wall. At midnight, Godmother’s spell would vanish. It was not as much time as I would have liked, but I was grateful nonetheless. If I ever told my story to another, I would tell them that Godmother had granted one of my biggest wishes and so she was not a witch, for witches were often associated with evil. She was a fairy. My fairy godmother.
At the ball, Charming’s eyes rolled over the faces of the many women from the town. With a glass of wine in his hand and slick hair combed back, I thought he was handsome. At least if we were to marry, he would be a handsome husband.
As my godmother said it would happen, his eyes softened when they found the glass shoes on my feet and then they went to my face. He asked if I would dance with him, and I gladly said yes. Lady Tremaine and her daughters eyed me from the crowd, anger and disgust in their faces. They had not recognized me. They had seen me as nothing more than a maid for them, but that night, Charming looked at me like I was a Princess.
We danced and laughed. At times, I would catch him ogling at my feet through the glass shoes. I did not mind as long as he made me his wife. Perhaps, godmother was right when she said I was a mad child.
When the clock struck midnight and the towel bell chimed, I realized I had forgotten about the deadline. I told Charming goodbye in a hurry and headed straight for the chariot, ignoring his calls and questions about my name and where I was from.
I did not make it home as a princess. Everything disappeared except for one leg of the glass shoes. I wondered if I had left the second while I was running. It did not matter. My night as a princess had come to an end.
I wondered who Charming would pick to be his wife since he didn’t know who I was and for the next few days, I listened to Drizella and Anastasia complain about how he did not give attention to any of the women as soon as the mystery girl in blue appeared. Lady Tremaine thought loudly who the girl was, for she had never seen her and knew nothing about the family she came from.
I did my chores and kept my secret. During the day, I cleaned the house and scrubbed the floors. At night, I climbed up to the roof and imagined what it would be like to fall. I contemplated sneaking into godmother’s house and stealing one of her poisons. Lady Tremaine had wished I would join my father and mother in their graves once. She did not know that at night, while I stared at the only leg of the glass shoes I had with me, I too prayed for that.
“We do not have any more young ladies in this house”, I heard Lady Tremaine say one day. I walked down from the room i had been cleaning and watched from the stairway, “all we have is a maid and she did not attend the ball”
The men in the room looked like the guards from the palace, then there was a shorter man with a scroll tucked under his armpit. An attendant for the royal family perhaps.
He frowned at Lady Tremaine, “we have been asked to try the shoe on every lady in the kingdom”
The shoe. The glass shoe.
“Then perhaps Anastasia can try again. It almost fit the last time”, Lady Tremaine grinned, “wait right here”
She pushed her daughters towards the stairway and up to the rooms. I followed quietly.
“It has to fit”, Drizella whined, “mother…”
“Shut up!”, Lady Tremaine yelled at her.
I glanced at the shears sitting next to a dresser and grabbed it. “I have an idea”, i said and when they turned to me, i added with a smile, “if you would listen”
My mother once told me to forgive and forget but i thought that was a stupid ideology. Some things cannot be forgiven or forgotten so easily. Only revenge could quench the anger in my soul. As I cut parts of my stepsisters’ feet while their muffled cries filled the room, there was no anger- only pleasure.
“It did not fit the first five times. We will not try again”, the attendant argued when they got back down. I watched from the stairway as lady Tremaine begged in desperation. Of course it did not fit. The shoes were magic and I knew that. Drizella and Anastasia sat on the floor, crying and unable to stand on their bandaged legs.
“Where is the maid?”, a new voice asked. He had been standing in front of the door and so i did not see him but i gasped as soon as he walked into my view, “i want to be sure of everyone”, Charming said sternly.
“My Prince, it is only a waste of your time. The girl is a mad child, quite ordinary too”, As Lady Tremaine spoke, Charming took the glass shoe from the attendant, “then bring the ordinary girl”, he waved his hand mindlessly- and then he turned around.
Nobody else saw him, but I did. He brought the shoe to his nose and inhaled the insides deeply. I imagined it wasn’t his first time. He was looking for me.
“I’m here”, I walked down the stairway. They watched as I heard towards him. Drizella and Anastasia were still crying. Charming stared at my bare foot and then at my face. He did not recognize me. I wasn’t surprised.
The short attendant took the shoe from the Prince and placed it on the floor so I may wear it. My foot slipped in quickly. It was a perfect fit, but it felt uncomfortable to stand on one glass heel and so I took the second out from my apron and slipped it on.
“It’s you”, Charming said, a grin on his face. As he took my hand in his, his grin grew wider, like that of a child. Under his gaze, I was a princess again.
“Impossible”, i heard Lady Tremaine say, “Cinderella, you evil girl!”, she sneered.
I never heard from Lady Tremaine again, though when godmother visits the palace and I tell her of the nights when the prince kisses my feet and sucks on my toes, she tells me that my stepmother is now forced to do all her work and Anastasia and Drizella can no longer walk.
Did we live happily ever after as the story i told says? Even I can’t answer that question but at least Cinderella is now a Princess, even though her heart is still as dark as cinder.
You’ve heard the tale of snow-white. How her beauty turned her stepmother into a jealous, wicked queen who sought to murder her. This causes Snow-white to run and hide in a forest with seven little dwarfs, that is until the queen finds out she’s alive and disguises herself as an old hag to bring a poisoned apple holding the curse of the sleeping death within it, to beautiful snow-white.
But even curses can be undone with a kiss from a Prince in love. For is there a spell more potent than true love?
Neil Gaiman’s “Snow, Glass, Apples” was published in 1994. It is a short story that wanders around the popular Grimm’s tale of snow-white. Gaiman has once said that he enjoys playing with a reader’s expectations when it comes to writing and that is no different in the case of “Snow, Glass, Apples”.
Told from the perspective of the not so evil stepmother, this unique story follows a woman who marries a widowed king and meets his daughter, a monstrous child with a thirst for blood and power.
This short story brings out hidden elements in the original fairytale and answers questions I didn’t even know I had, such as: was the queen really evil? And what kind of attraction would a perfect prince have for a seemingly dead girl?
Before I go on, this retelling may tell the tale of snow white but here, she is not the pretty nice princess who sings to animals in the forest that you want your kids emulating at all. Please note that this story is 18+ and not suitable for children but older readers as it features erectile dysfunction, oral sex, nudity, violent scenes, lovemaking, and a lot of other themes you definitely don’t want your kids reading about.
Moving on.
There are several things that make this story work for me. Collen Doran’s art and detailed drawing style was expressed all through the book and brought life to the story. I personally loved how all the elements of the original fairytale were put into this retelling and well, let’s just say that for everything you’ve read before, there’s something that contradicts it.
As said before, this is a short story clocking in at less than 70 pages and it can be read very quickly. I don’t mean to brag but I read it in an hour and it was a perfect balance of beautiful and unsettling.
Gaiman entertains the readers while handling each part of snow white’s story with care to create a beautiful new take that may scare you but will also delight you. Therefore, i’m giving it a rating of 8.5 out of 10 stars.
ADRAINE 