"THE PRINCESS CHRONICLES: I’m Not Cinderella,” by Tarrah Montgomery, Currawong Press, $14.99, 265 pages (f) (ages 13 and up)
“The Princess Chronicles: I’m Not Cinderella,” by Tarrah Montgomery, is yet another twist on this timeless fairy tale.
Brinlee, who is 17, loves fairy tales, but she is obsessed with the story of Cinderella. While spending the summer in Idaho with her Nana, Brinlee is surprised by an unexpected visitor in her attic bedroom.
Gabriella, also known as Cinderella in the world she comes from, enters the attic through a secret door. When she shows Brinlee the door, Brinlee can’t resist stepping through it to take a look. The door shuts behind her, and despite her best efforts, she cannot find a way to open it. She is stuck at Sherwood Manor in a fairy-tale world.
In her search to discover a way back home, she encounters the wicked stepmother and her two daughters, some friendly servants, a masked highwayman — and Prince Charming at a ball.
There is a mystery to be solved at Sherwood Manor, and Brinlee is determined to solve it as well as to reunite Cinderella and Prince Charming, but things don’t turn out the way she expects them to.
The tale is well told and although the ending is foreshadowed throughout the book, the ending still contains surprises — and promises of at least one sequel.
Each chapter has a brief prologue that is often a quote from one of the many versions of the Cinderella story. The connection between the prologue and what takes place in the chapter is not always clear, and occasionally only serves to interrupt the flow of the story.
The story contains a lot of passionate kissing, caressing and warm embracing, but it stops there.
It’s a fun, fresh look at the Cinderella story, and contains humor that is reminiscent of “The Princess Bride.”
Montgomery, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, lives in Snowflake, Ariz., with her husband and young children. “I’m Not Cinderella” is her first novel and the first book in the Princess Chronicles series. She blogs at tarrahmontgomery.blogspot.com.
Rosemarie Howard lives in a 100-year-old house on Main Street, Springville, Utah. She enjoys creating multimedia projects. Her website is at dramaticdimensions.com.