I loved this unique and dark spin on Cinderella! Stepsister focuses on the story of Cinderella's step sister, Isabelle, and picks up from the traditional fairytale at the point where they are trying on the shoe to see who it fits. The focus on the step sisters was much appreciated, as I never really liked the one dimensional villains of the original story so this was a welcome change! They had interesting and fleshed-out interests which was great.
Donnelly has an interesting and unusual way of writing with very short sentences and short chapters which took me a while to get used to but I do like her writing style. I loved the character of Isabelle but I didn’t really feel that I got to know any of the other characters very well, they could have done with some more development. The world building was good and I liked how fate and chance were personified as characters trying to influence Isabelle and alter the course of her life. If you like fairytale retellings then you will enjoy this!
Donnelly has an interesting and unusual way of writing with very short sentences and short chapters which took me a while to get used to but I do like her writing style. I loved the character of Isabelle but I didn’t really feel that I got to know any of the other characters very well, they could have done with some more development. The world building was good and I liked how fate and chance were personified as characters trying to influence Isabelle and alter the course of her life. If you like fairytale retellings then you will enjoy this!