Glass Slippers, Ever After, and Me

by Julie Wright

Publication Date: 10/21/19

Page Count: 336

Fiction / Romance / Contemporary

Cover Design: © Shadow Mountain

Art Direction: Richard Erickson

Design: Kimberly Kay

Synopsis

Can the fairy tale bring Charlotte the happiness she’s looking for or was he always there to begin with?

A modern reimagined Cinderella story.

When aspiring author Charlotte Kingsley finally gets published, she thinks all her dreams have come true. But the trouble begins when her publicity firm reinvents her quirky online presence into a perfectly curated dream life. Gone are the days of sweatpant posts and ice cream binges with her best friend, Anders, replaced instead with beautiful clothes, orchestrated selfies, and no boyfriend. Only, that carefully curated fairy tale life is ruining her self-esteem and making her feel like a fraud.

When a bestselling author takes Charlotte under her wing—almost like a fairy godmother—she helps Charlotte see the beautiful person she already is and the worth of being authentic. But is it too late to save her relationship with Anders? The clock is quickly ticking towards midnight, and Charlotte must decide between her fairy tale life and the man she loves before he’s gone forever.

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Praise

“This sweet, heartfelt tale of authentic characters facing intriguing challenges is at once very romantic and charmingly chaste.” -Booklist, starred review

“Wright spins a modern-day and very meta Cinderella tale. This fast-paced, lighthearted romance also carries a moral lesson about falsehoods getting in the way of the quest for true happiness.” -Publishers Weekly

“Aspiring author Charlotte ‘Lettie’ Kingsley writes fairy tales and hopes to be published. When she gets one more rejection, her feelings of pique lead her to an inspired idea: She’ll write a self-help book called The Cinderella Fiction that will encourage readers to live their best lives. Lettie’s agent has big plans for the book and has created a team to make it a bestseller, including a PR firm that demands a complete makeover for Lettie. From wardrobe to apartment to a new nickname, ‘Char,’ every detail is changed to create an image that inspires admiration and a legion of followers. However, it also means that her real-life relationships are affected, and the new Char is so different from the old Lettie that she’ll have to sift through what she wanted, and what she’s gained, so she can live her own best life, authentically. Wright updates ‘Cinderella’ with a modern twist and smart, satisfying details.” -Kirkus

Review

This book will make you laugh but also give you pause to look at your own life and if you are living behind a mask.

After years of rejection, Lettie has had a book accepted to be published and her life is about to turn upside down on all fronts.  She has a tenuous relationship with her mother, she has a stepsister that she adores, and a hunky paramedic neighbor that is about to become more than just friends.

Lettie is probably like most of us, comfortable in her skin but has yet to have her dream of being a published author of fairy tales come true.  It is only when she writes a self-help book called The Cinderella Fiction, that her dream comes true.  But the sacrifices she will have to make nearly ruin her life.  You probably have read stories about people that seem to have a “perfect” life via social media but have learned it is all staged.  That is what happens to Lettie but not by choice, it is forced onto her by her publicist.  I get that the publicist is trying to help improve her image so that when her book is published she seems authentic.  But what she has Lettie doing going against her normal nature and this causes rifts with her stepsister, Kat, and her now boyfriend (and neighbor) Anders.  Lettie has to go on her own journey to find herself and thankfully she does in the end.

I admired Lettie for pursuing her dreams but I don’t think she was very confident which is why she found herself in the situations she was in throughout the book.  But a book without some angst wouldn’t be as much fun to read.  The witty banter between Lettie and Anders had me laughing.  The book was about soul searching, not only for Lettie, but for Anders too.  I think even Lettie’s mother learned a few things by the end, not only about her daughter but about her stepdaughter too.

There are so many great lines in this book and here are just a few of my favorites (and I have quite a few!):

“What? You think every time I say I don’t believe in marriage, a married couple drops down dead?”

“What happened?  I have a shovel and a pretty decent knowledge of the surrounding woods  If she broke your heart, all you have to do is say the word.”

“I don’t know.  Maybe if a member of the Mafia murdered someone on a couch, they’d need a quick replacement.”

“You know, when I was a kid and we’d first moved to the States, my parents told me that the ice cream truck music only ever played when the truck had run out of ice cream.”  “You have nothing to say to that?”  “I’m paying my respects to your stolen childhood with a moment of silence.”

 

This was a fun book and we give it 4 1/2 paws.

About the Author

Julie Wright started her first book when she was fifteen. She’s written over a dozen books since then, is a Whitney Award winner, and feels she’s finally getting the hang of this writing gig. She enjoys speaking to writing groups, youth groups, and schools. She loves reading, eating writing, hiking, playing on the beach with her kids, and snuggling with her husband to watch movies. Julie’s favorite thing to do is watch her husband make dinner. She hates mayonnaise but has a healthy respect for ice cream.

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