3 out of 4 stars
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The Cautious Cinderella by Bethany Bliss was a unique twist on a timeless classic. The Cinderella tale was more of a theme than an outline.
Roselyn comes from a broken home. Her mother left her abusive husband and chose not to take her very young daughter with her. As expected, the abusive, alcoholic then turned to Roselyn to use as his next punching-bag, both physically and emotionally. While the beginning of the book involves her last few days in high school, our story really begins as she is headed away from that life and to college. I feel strongly that the beginning is Roselyn’s backstory so that we can better understand where her character is coming from. It’s easy to be told about certain things, but often more impactful to live through them as a reader. In this way, we can better empathize with her experiences.
Roselyn is shy, but her new roommate, Stevie, is not. The two girls get along beautifully and quickly form a sisterly bond. Stevie’s major is undecided and is taking whatever classes she feels like. Roselyn wants to write. Writing has been her outlet for as long as she can remember. She would love nothing more than to transition that hobby and passion into a career.
Chip is the figurative prince of this tale. While we occasionally glimpse his insecurities, he is the embodiment of acceptance. He’s a sophomore student at the same college, and the two immediately hit it off. It wasn’t love-at-first-sight, but it was a good boy-meets-girl romance. As things affect Roselyn personally, her immediate response is to shut down. Chip doesn’t always understand her reasons for her distance, but he gives her the space she needs before lending her the necessary support.
Most of the characters grew tremendously as the book moved along. Roselyn came out of her shell. She became her own person--one who wasn’t defined by her family history. Stevie started out as a bit judgemental. She had never been through a traumatic experience, so she couldn’t fathom why anyone would just accept that in his or her life. As she got to know and understand Roselyn, it was clear that she had a better understanding of how hard it is to “just walk away” from certain situations. Chip began as a character that questioned his own decisions a lot. If someone was acting strangely towards him, it must have been because of something he said or did. By the end of the book, he realized that not everything is his fault, and sometimes the best thing you can do for someone is to just listen and be there for them.
Since Roselyn is a writer, she often writes in her journals. Parts of these journal entries were seen throughout the book. The story would interrupt in order to add an excerpt from one of her journals, but it would do so by changing the format of the text. There was no confusion about which parts were part of the narrative and which were part of her journal. It added an extra layer to Roselyn’s character. We could understand her better by reading these small sections.
There were several sections of the book that explained human interaction, philosophical opinions, or existential ideals. I accepted these sections since this was a book largely taking place in college. I remember the times in college when I thought I had it all figured out. College is the time for learning and having these discussions. However, most of the time these weren’t discussions between characters. Sometimes they were the thoughts of the characters shared with the reader, but occasionally they were written out within the narrative. I didn’t mind it, but I can understand that certain readers would have a problem with information dumping like this.
I found several editing mistakes, leading me to believe this book was not professionally edited. A common mistake was the mixing up of certain homonyms, such as “smelt” and “smelled,” or “isle” and “aisle.” I loved the story, but because of these mistakes, I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. Lovers of romance will enjoy this tale. Despite the connection to Cinderella, it will have no appeal to fans of magic since there is no fairy godmother in this tale. There are no terribly scandalous scenes, but there are references to college “experiences.” Therefore, I would not suggest this to anyone younger than a high school junior.
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The Cautious Cinderella
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This sounds like a good book to read. It's good to be able to see both perspectives; the girl who can't understand why someone would take abuse, and the girl who took abuse because of her family history. I think it will help readers to empathize with people who came from these situations.
