I love retellings of traditional fairy tales – some of my favourites are To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo and Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge – so I was delighted to receive this from Readers First and Netgalley in exchange for a review. Stepsister is a retelling of the Cinderella story which focuses mainly on one of the so-called ugly stepsisters – Isabelle. In most versions of the tale the ugly stepsisters are one-dimensional caricatures full of hatred and jealousy but in Stepsister Isabelle is an interesting and multi layered character – the story follows what happens after Cinderella marries the prince and leaves to live with him as well as flashing back to the past and the sisters lives together.
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. 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. 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.