Review: A Great Cinderfella Love Story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 20, 2013
ARC was provided by Entangled Publishing, LLC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.The Cinderella Makeover romance is part of the Suddenly Cinderella series but can be read as a stand-alone. The book opens with Francesca St James, a photographer of British descent, on assignment for GQ. Her subject is reclusive and socially awkward social media billionaire Greg Knickerbocker. In an attempt to give insight to the man behind the billion dollar company, Francesca shows up at his office for an appointment. Greg's overwhelming shyness transforms into an outright refusal to allow himself to be photographed. Francesca storms out, without getting any pictures which tarnishes her professional reputation.Fast forward to months later and Greg's aloofness has landed him as a Class-A "dumpee" for the 100th time! To revamp his personal image and improve his love life, he agrees to be on a "swan transformation" makeover reality TV show. The TV show has 6 contestants, 3 Cinderellas and 3 Cinderfellas to be made over, and 6 judges, or Fairy Godmothers in different areas. Francesca signs on as a Fashion Stylist/Photographer and once on set realizes that Greg is a participant. As the TV show progresses Francesca and Greg cease to be enemies, and actually work together so that Greg has the best shot at winning the competition. Greg becomes more physically attractive and opens up emotionally. Like a moth to a flame, Francesca falls for him. Just one catch: fraternization and/or romantic entanglements between a judge and a contestant is not allowed. Hiding their budding romance, the couple realizes that they have more in common than they first thought.Tarr penned a winner with Cinderella Makeover! There were various elements of the classic Cinderella worked into the romance in a modern-day way, including the special "slippers." Most Cinderella spin-offs are cheesy and unoriginal. However, Tarr included elements of the fable: the slipper, evil stepmother, ugly duckling/swan metamorphosis, and happy ending, without overdoing it. The dialogue between Greg and Francesca was extremely witty - I especially liked Francesca's abundant supply of bitchy zingers. The character development allowed the reader to connect to Nick as he works around his insecurities and confidence issues. Even though he's a billionaire, his self-esteem issues are completely believable. Further, Francesca has her own familial and trust issues to work through as well. As Nick transforms physically through the TV show, Francesca learns to open herself to the possibility of love. And there's a well-placed foil in their romance that serves as a bit of drama too. As a proud Yank, my only gripe was Francesca's blatant disdain for Americana culture in comparison to the British counterpart ;-) I highly recommend this book as a superb, comical, well-paced, fun romance! Thoroughly enjoyed this read.