Happily- A Cinderella Re-Telling you Never Expected!

4 out of 5 Stars

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest opinion.
If the shoe fits, wear it.
If it doesn’t, make it.
Laure is a teenage street urchin just trying to get away. Where the rest of the world sees an enchanting love story, Laure sees royal incompetence and an opportunity to exploit it. She’ll have wealth and a way out of a life she detests, if she can only manage to hoodwink the royal family and survive to tell the tale.
“First, I don’t like questions. They get people off track, they almost always would have been answered if the person had just kept listening, and they’re usually stupid. Yes, stupid. Whoever says otherwise otherwise is an idiot.
Second, I’ve been told to tell you my story. Not my life story, so forget about learning of my childhood. Just the story of the glass slipper and my engagement to the prince—the whole story. I don’t want to do this twice; let’s get it right the first time, shall we? There are only a few hours left until the wedding ceremony, so sit down, get comfortable, and let’s get this over with—that way you can leave, which will be great for both of us.
Because the third, final, and perhaps most important thing for you to understand is this: I don’t like you.”
I loved this re-telling of Cinderella… actually, I don’t even know if I could call it that since Laure is NOT Cinderella! First of all she gave me more of an Aladdin vibe, a street urchin, down on her luck who has to steal to get by. She is feisty and likeable …o.k, maybe only to me!
“Ten days ago, the weather was nice. I suppose I’m obligated to tell you about the weather first, right? It seems that’s what they always do. Either that or that awful cliché of “once upon a time.” Only, this wasn’t once upon a time. It was just ten days ago.”
She definitely has an attitude, a mouth, and a HUGE chip on her shoulder… but, wouldn’t you after being alone on the streets for so long? You have to look out for yourself!

Secondly, she is LITERALLY not Cinderella! Laure is out to take Cinderella’s place as the wearer of the glass slipper, but she is definitely a different girl!

“Most people aren’t good. Maybe they’re not bad, but they’re not good, either. They’re just people—stupid, selfish, thoughtless people, going about their equally stupid lives. And if you put them in a position where they have to prove whether they’re good or not, nine times out of ten you’re going to be disappointed.”

Which brings me to Luc. In a stroke of bad luck/meets good luck Laure meets Luc, a boy just trying to support his mother and sisters in the wake of poverty and tragedy, with a morally sound view on life and the hard work that it takes to keep it livable.
“I squared up to him. “Fine, so what if I complain too much? You don’t know my life. You don’t know what I’ve been through. And I’ll bet everyone else would complain more if they weren’t so stupid.”
“Stupid?” Luc said. “Laure, they don’t complain because they’re too busy doing something about their problems.”
Enter Laure to swoop in and ruin his very livelihood (You’ll have to read to find out how!) Now the only way they can think to get it back, and to get her out of Eclatant is to pass her off as the mystery woman who ran out of the Ball and away from her Prince.
It shouldn’t be so hard as the Royal Family is as thick and crazy as they are wealthy.
“King Justin?” I said, shocked. “King Justin? That man is an idiot who is more fit to lead a parade of clowns than a kingdom. Haven’t you heard the latest show of royal ineptitude? They’re dragging a shoe around…”

The politics of the story were an unexpected addition and lent to the depth of the story. A people struggling to bring their lives and their land back to what it was before a war that shouldn’t have occurred, and the lengths that need to be traversed to get there.

There are many great morals and messages within this story about judging others. People may not be what you expect, or “Never Judge a Book by Its Cover”… I do that all the time, so I guess that is somethings I still haven’t learned! 😉

A wonderful story, and a breath of fresh air as the somewhat vapid, rodent commanding, singing Cinderella character’s place is taken by this hard headed, street savvy, angry, lonely girl.

There are so many facets to her and so much growth in her character as she begins to realize that things in her life can change. That maybe, just maybe, she can be the person that Luc thinks she can be.

If you’d like to pick up a copy of your very own follow the link below, you won’t regret it!!

Amazon

And if you’d like to check out more about this wonderful Author, Chauncey Rogers, more of his writing “Home to Roost” or “Cleaving Souls”, or more about this particular book:

Chauncey Roger’s Website

Goodreads Link to “Happily”

Happily is Best Served With

A Justice Cocktail

 “Listen: justice is just a dream. There isn’t any real justice in this world, so stop chasing it around. The sooner you swallow that, the happier you’ll be.”

This quote really stuck with me, and I knew that I wanted a drink to focus on it! So…. I made this one up! Lol! Justice can be hard to swallow sometimes.. But, justice can also be sweet! So, this drink is a little strong, a little sweet. It’s also just a dream…. hence the glitter! I also wanted it to be like a glittery glass slipper! Hope you all enjoy!

Ingredients

  • 2oz Goldschlager
  • 2oz apple vodka (I used Absolut Orient Apple, which was SO GOOD!)
  • 1oz Vodka
  • A pinch of *white sanding sugar sprinkles

Directions

  1. Fill shaker with ice
  2. Add alcohol
  3. Shake until chilled (about 20 secs)
  4. Pour into martini glass
  5. Add a pinch of the sprinkles
  6. Stir
  7. CHEERS!!

*The white sanding sugar are course sugar sprinkles that don’t dissolve easily, so they won’t make your drink too sweet. Here is a picture of them!

Published by The BookWorm Drinketh

I am Nicole and I am an avid reader and an alcohol connoisseur.. which it totally different from an alcoholic.. I swear. I am trying to get into the editing world and in doing so I learned that giving my opinions and networking in as many forms of media as I could is the way to get heard! I wanted to create an open forum to pair alcoholic drinks with books based on the theme, feel and/or content of the book. I will warn anyone who joins me here that you will get a very eclectic range of books as I will read anything from Rom Coms, sci-fi, and fantasy to Bizzaro, Steampunk and Biographies, whatever pairs with an interesting drink! I will also say that I am very honest and I will not pander to the popular or feel the need to give a good review just because I got an ARC read of a certain book. I believe that everyone deserves the truth no matter how much it hurts.. EVEN ME! I would love everyone’s opinions! AND LET THE DRINKS FLOW!! (Let’s just not have the drinks make the honesty get TOO out of hand!) ;p

Fairy Tale Twists, YA Reads

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43 thoughts on “Happily- A Cinderella Re-Telling you Never Expected!”

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  2. Well damn. An Aladdin pretending to be a Cinderella eh? I’m now curious about this girl.
    I’ve also been reading several retellings from different genres but I’ve yet to encounter one like this.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  3. Nicole this sounds amazing… What are you doing to me. I don’t have time to read all these books. Fairytale retellings are a soft spot.
    I’m a bit iffy on goldshlager and apple vodka but also curious.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

      1. I’m not saying it wont be good but Golschlager can be overpowering… I’ve decided to trust your jugement on all things (no pressure) so to the liquor store we go

        Liked by 1 person

  5. I am an avid reader of Cinderella re-tellings. My favorite so far has been Ella Enchanted and Cinder. I’m am going to check this one out! The drink looks fun, I haven’t had Goldschlager for years!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. I hadn’t had goldschlager in years either!! I had an unfortunate night with some fireball whiskey in my teenage years and couldn’t even stand the smell of spicy cinnamon like that for decades to come. Lol! It was nice to go back!
      The book is AMAZING and very unique! Not so much a re-telling as a story that runs along-side Cinderella’s it was a really interesting way of writing it and I LOVED it!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  7. 1. Loved the book.
    2. Loved your review.
    3. WTH is wrong with WordPress. None of your posts for the last 45 days have been in my Reader queue.
    4. I just read the last 30 days worth and liked them. I’m commenting on a few to catch up, but ARGH!
    5. Venting done. Sorry to take up your comments with this mess.
    6. Hi, how are you? 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. Ha ha!! Well, it’s nice to see you in my neck of the woods! 😄 I had that happen with WordPress all the time! I don’t know what the difference is to make some show up and some, not so much. Thanks for reading, and I’m glad you liked the review! It’s always easy to write a great review for great writing!! 💖
      P. S: I’m fine. How are you? Lol!
      P. P. S: you can use up my contact section anytime you want! Hope your birthday went well!!! 🍻🎉🎉

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  8. I’ve always wondered how these fairy tale retellings work, and I got a good sense of it from your review and the excerpts. Even though it doesn’t sound that much like Cinderella, it sounds like a good read. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. It’s definitely not Cinderella.. Not even a retelling, really, more of a ‘story adjacent to Cinderella’. If you want a story with fantasy and fairy tale elements and a great moral message this is a good one to read! Very well written! 💖

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      2. Lol! Hopefully that’s decent. (I never know other people’s rating scales.) I really enjoyed the secondary characters.. Not so much Marky. Lol! … And does ‘or similar’ mean, a similar book? Or that you listened to the audio book? Lol!

        Liked by 1 person

  10. Sounds like a very intriguing retelling of the Cinderella story.

    I remember several years ago I wrote a retelling of the Cinderella story- about the private eye that Prince Charming hires to find the girl with the glass slipper.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. This book sound good.
    I like or am searching for unknown good authors that no one has ever read before.
    In search of that I need some reviews from the other readers, fans or writers themselves.
    I read many different books in general just to better my self in mind, language and spiritually at the same time.
    I am a versatile reader and that helps me in many different levels of life so that I may reach for the some of the good or best parts that might be useful for my own use.

    I will check this one!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Definitely do check this one out! It was a great book and Chauncey is a great writer!! You’ll find a lot of lesser known authors on my blog, as I rarely have the time, or patience for big blockbusters.. Plus morals of them have been reviewed to death so, no one is going to care about my opinion at that point!!

      Like

      Reply

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