Review: Cinder by Marie Sexton
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 12, 2014
“A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you're fast asleep... Have faith in your dreams and someday your rainbow will come smiling thru. ...if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true.” ~ CinderellaEldon Cinder has not been happy since his parents died in an accident when he was ten years old. He lives with his aunt and her daughters and is treated as a servant instead of family. But he makes the best of it, seeing no sense in making matters even worse. When he meets Xavier, the prince, he finds happiness even if it's only for a brief time. The prince treats him with dignity and respect and he treasures their time together. Cinder's heart longs to be with the prince, even though, in his mind, he sees no way of ever making that happen, believing it to be only a fanciful dream.Xavier needs to be married before he can be declared the heir to his father's throne. The idea sickens him since he prefers men - and a woman, regardless of how beautiful, intelligent or charming, is not going to fill that qualification. When he meets Eldon Cinder, he finds all his heart's desires - a friend, partner, and eventually a lover. Finding a way to keep Cinder with him becomes his primary goal in life, even if he has to resort to something he doesn't believe in. In order to fulfill his father's requirements and keep Eldon by his side, he's willing to try anything and comes up with an unconventional, but workable solution.When retelling a story, there's always a comparison to the original, but in this re-telling, there are some unexpected and delightful twists; a boot instead of a glass slipper; a witch instead of a fairy godmother; exposing the real Cinder, not by putting on the glass slipper, but by taking it off, and the welcomed addition of a goofy, but smart dog which knew more than the prince about whom he was seeking. The mean stepmother and sisters are there with one sister being more conniving than the other, guarantying that things will not end well for her. Although brief, the story contains all the elements of a good fairy tale—a prince, a commoner, and magic. I appreciated the fact that Marie kept within the original fairy tale as much as possible and still added the elements necessary for it to be a male/male romance without it being predictable.This is an endearing, clever love story, retold with wit and charm and, of course, a happy ending. I recommend it to anyone who loves fairy tales and happy endings. Thanks, Marie, for the entertaining tale of love finding a way even when the situation seems impossible.Originally published at Rainbow Book Reviews.