Angeline Nguyen

Smashwords book reviews by Angeline Nguyen

  • The Other Slipper on Aug. 13, 2012

    This book was a headache waiting to happen. Obviously this book is a retelling of the Cinderella story. But instead of dear Cinderelli telling the story, we meet Jo. Jo is a peasant/worker at the castle who happens to find the other slipper that Cinderella dropped once the clock struck midnight on the day of the ball. Off the bat, I was annoyed with Jo. She was stubborn, spineless, and had no character depth. Her actions and "personality" were all over the place. Even by the end of the book, she keeps telling herself I don't want to be a part of this. I want nothing to do with this. Let me run away!!! Her character was unremarkably flat and her pessimistic attitude made it hard for me to continue reading the rest of the book. Her stubbornness in refusing to actually be the heroine of the story really turned me off. This light read was very bland. The characters (I almost actually liked Ron) were bland and the plot was bland. I was bored halfway through and actually pushed myself to finish the book. The plot seemed to focus on unnecessary turn of events or thoughts and neglected key issues. I would have liked to have seen more description about the Lady of Ould or what becomes of Verne. I admit that the idea is very creative. It's interesting to see this unexpected side of the story. I bet I'm not the only one who was suspicious of glass shoes that didn't break under a person's weight (I still don't understand why Jo can't just ignore the humming sound). I wish Udogu added some romance. Romance is the easiest way to spice up such a boring plot with very 2 dimensional characters. If Jo had someone she actually liked/crushed on, I would have been more compelled to actually read the rest of the book eargerly. Overall: This book is for those who don't mind reading clean, bland cookie cutter re-tellings. I would seriously suggest this book to more elementary or middle school grade children. What makes a young adult book truly for young adults is that the main characters has the mindset of an actual young adult. I felt that Jo acted like a petulant child for the majority of the story.