The most recommended Cinderella books

This is by far my favourite "evil stepsister" retelling, and definitely in the top three of my favourite Cinderella retellings.

The sass! The romance! The magic and fae lore! There were just so many different parts that I loved that it's almost impossible to narrow it down. So often, villain retellings try to redeem the villain without having them acknowledge the harm they caused, but Moke made Aralyn's redemption believable – I was rooting for her from the beginning!

No, this is not a throwaway or a joke. Cinderella is the ultimate template for modern romance. It was the first bedtime story I remember being read to me, and it immediately sparked my curiosity about romantic love. 

The protagonist is a young girl living in service to her wicked stepfamily. She must wait on them hand and foot just to have a roof over her head - talk about abandonment, rejection, and betrayal! But with it all, our girl stays sweet, charming, open, and optimistic.

I wanted to be Cinderella. I wanted to wear that ball gown, have all these little critters become my loyal friends, and eventually end up with a dashing prince. Admittedly, my dress shoes hurt my feet when I was little, but I would’ve been willing to endure a cramped sole to find my soulmate. And eventually, with my soles intact, I did.

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Fairy tale retellings are another favorite of mine and I enjoyed this one as a light, frothy fun read. Part of the reason it worked well was Arnessa. She makes a great Cinderella by working hard and dreaming of more. Yes, there are definitely some family issues and a cute guy too. It doesn’t hurt that you can order a shot of luck at the magical coffee shop! If you need a pick-me-up during darker times, give this sweet read a chance!

This fairytale retelling is set in a land recovering from war. Cinderella is a landowner, but due to her late father’s poor management of funds, her estate owes significant debts. When she meets Friedrich, an intriguing noble who belongs to the enemy who won the war, everything becomes much more complicated. This fairytale retelling is clever and interesting, with a very different feel than most Cinderella retellings. It is engaging and definitely worth a read.

The great Chinese British powerhouse writes about her childhood in a poor coastal village in post-Mao’s China where she’s made to live with her grandparents and life is rough and hard, especially for a girl. It’s a very atmospheric tale, that paints a vivid picture of this incredible society. It’s also a Cinderella story, about a suffering child that, thanks to incredible stubbornness and stamina, rises up to become one of the twelve (out of a million or so) applicants that are accepted into the Chinese Film School in Beijing each year. She later moves to England and her descriptions of the west are super fresh and priceless.

This book surprised me, and I do love a pleasant surprise.

I originally wasn’t that interested in This Poison Heart because I knew it had something to do with plants, and I don’t care much about plants. But I picked it up because Bayron’s first book had a twist I enjoyed, and it turned out that Briseis — the teenage star of this book— was awesome and engaging, and the story was full of twists, with a feminist twist on classical mythology, a healthy spattering of diverse characters, and LGBTQ+ relationships.

This is my kind of book because Briseis learns a lot about herself and discovers an inner strength she never knew was there. I love to read and write stories like this.

I wasn’t sure how Cornwell could possibly make a Cinderella retelling fresh and unique, but she did. She roots Nicolette—who her evil stepsisters call Mechanica—deep enough in the classic fairytale that we get all the satisfying beats, but then Cornwell turns them on their head. I love steampunk stories, and Cornwell replaces the Disney-fied animal helpers with mechanical insects and a metal horse fueled by coal and outlawed faery magic. She also addresses some outdated ideas in earlier renditions for a modern twist set in a Victorian-ish time period. Though Nicolette is not the first mechanical Cinderella on the YA bookshelf, Mechanica is not a rip-off of Marissa Meyer’s Cinder. I enjoyed both of them. 

I first read this book pre-publication in 2016, and I still think about it at least once a week.

The story is a haunting portrayal of a girl lost in a blended family with a stepmother who treats her worse than Cinderella and a father who only wants to see the shiny surface of his shiny new family. It’s told in a then/now timeline which slowly reveals not only what June did to land her on death row but the abuse she endured that got her there. This one is heavy, but oh so worth the read.

I am a great fan of 20th-century fiction and family sagas, so I was immediately drawn to this book. I love a story in which the author masters the art of what drives characters—success, failure, determination, and resignation.

This book is the most perfect example of a story that digs deep into the attributes as well as the flaws of the Jordache siblings and their parents. It has a Cinderella story, rags to riches, and fall-from-grace elements that never feel formulaic.

I love a book that draws the reader so far into the mindset of the characters that you have no choice but to root for them. And when an author wraps a story in such beautiful prose, I never want it to end. 

When I first started reading this fantasy book club selection, I thought it would be a simple sort-of-like Cinderella tale and didn’t expect to be sucked into Leah’s story. My heart went out to her for all the ways she was unfairly treated and misunderstood, for I have known that pain. She was trying to save the royal family, and the queen exiled her!

The best part about this story is how brave and loyal Leah is, and how she doesn’t complain, even when she has good reason. I remember how difficult it was not to complain when I was a teen, so I especially appreciate the encouragement Leah gives without realizing it.