At Random: Review: Cinderskella by Amie Borst and Bethanie Borst

Cinderskella
By Amie Borst and Bethanie Borst

Series: Scarily Ever Laughter #1

Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Fairy tale retelling

Goodreads Summary:

Cindy is just a normal eleven and three-quarter year-old. At least until she wakes up one night and finds out she’s dead. Well, she isn’t technically dead – she just doesn’t have any hair…or a nose…or skin. Yep – all bones, no body.

Human by day and skeleton by night, Cindy is definitely cursed. And because her mother recently died, Cindy has no one to turn to except a father who’s now scared of her and an evil stepmother who makes her do the housecleaning with a toothbrush. To make matters worse, the Spring Fling dance is approaching, and Ethan, the cutest boy in sixth grade, doesn’t seem to know Cindy exists.

While facing such perils as pickled pig’s feet, a wacky fortune teller, and a few quick trips to the Underworld, Cindy’s determined to break the curse – even for a single night.

Links:

Cinderskella on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble

Amie Borst and Bethanie Borst – Website, Facebook

My Review:

I impulse bought Cinderskella at a book signing this weekend. I very rarely read middle grade books but I fell in instalove with the title, the cover, the sketches scattered throughout the book, and the very creative spin on the Cinderella tale! And really, they would have had me at “Human by day and skeleton by night” alone. I also thought it was great that the writing team was a mother and her 13 year old daughter! Kudos to you, Bethanie, for being published at 13!

I briefly considered rating this book 4 stars because it’s a darker subject than I was expecting but then I realized that I shouldn’t have been so surprised because it is a fairy tale retelling and fairy tales are kind of dark. The characters are relatable and I really felt for Cindy aka Cinderskella as she went through the different experiences! Cinderskella was a little heavier but the characters and the refreshing doses of humor mixed throughout helped to balance it out. The last third of the book also made me love it all the more and by the end I was fully won over and wanting more!

I will happily buy other books as this mother and daughter duo write them which I’m thrilled to say will be sooner rather than later. I stumbled on this beauty while hunting links for my post.