I always love a good retelling, and I love knowing both sides of the story, and while this is cannon you get to see why "the step mother " is the way she is...it humanized her and I love that

I’m loving this Disney villains retelling, this is the 7th book in the series and it tells the story of Lady Tremaine, Cinderella step mother. This was very fast paced, too fast paced 🥴. The story went so quick with how it jump from one time to another. It lacks the depth like the other books, this didn’t really pull me in and when it ended I was left wanting. It’s the missing the action and Magic and mythical-ness that the other stories had in bounds ! I wanted more of the odd sister, more emotion, more , more more !!
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If there’s anything we can learn from Lady Tremaine is not to marry a guys after 2 days because he’s handsome
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I loved this rendition of Cruella De Vil. It gives wonderful insight on how she thinks and comes to be. It was a great addition to this wonderful series and is a must-read for anyone who loves Disney and the Twisted Tales series.

One of my favorite reads these days is the retelling of the Disney classics. Still targeted at ages 8-12, the stories find a much larger audience in those of us who want to see a different side of the characters, especially the evil villians. I read this with three seperate groups of the targeted age groups and met the same excited comments and the same request for MORE!!! When a child says I want to read....well, I run with it. Serena Valentino has written a book she can be proud of.

This was a fun retelling that filled in a nice gap between my normal go to of dark romance. It pulled me in quickly and gave an amazing break between series. Definitely worth the read if you are looking for a solo book that can catch your attention.

Once again Serena Valentino has made me love another villain!!! I absolutely love her ability to take the story you already love and just tweak little things so you are able to see the villain in such a different way!!! Lady Tremaine really was just a woman looking for love and someone to share her life with after losing her own love and being a mother.

I loved this retelling of the Cinderella story from Lady Tremaine's perspective. Villainy really is in the eye of the beholder. And, in this book, fate wins out for Lady Tremaine...I am looking forward to the next book in this series. I want to thank the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for giving me an e-copy of this book, in return for an honest review.

Admittedly this wasn't as intense and evil as most of the other books in the Villains series, however I still found myself gripped by Lady Tremaine's story and was eager to reach the ending to find out what happened!

I apprecitate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I found this a really interesting read and the characters are quite engaging. it kept me reading until the end. I highly recommend.

This story is familiar in many ways. The author still showcases the daughter who is dealing with grief in the loss of her father. This one is the story of Lady Tremaine and how she became to be the cold-hearted woman that she is. This book is full of ups and downs and overall I would recommend it.

My review is extremely late because as soon as this book archived, so did my Kindle copy of the eARC. I'm not sure how or why, but it took me ages to get my hands on a copy to actually read and review. In the mean time, I managed to review other ARCs in this series, and they just aren't what I had hoped they would be. These books, Cold Hearted included, re-characterize key characters in ways that fundamentally change the way you feel about the source stories if you decide to consider them canon, or just drive you nuts for being so out in orbit if you don't. This feels like a story that should have been redeveloped into something stripped of its Disney references, because it feels like an average-to-good YA novel idea that was shoehorned into a Disney skin.

We all know the story of Cinderella. But do we really? Why did Lady Tremaine hate Cinderella with such fervor? What happened to her and her daughters after Cinderella married her Prince Charming? In this fun and captivating retelling, you learn Lady Tremaine’s origin story. You learn that she is from London and she herself has lost her spouse. She meets Cinderella’s father at a friends dinner party. She is immediately smitten! And after a short time, they become engaged! Off to where her new home is going to be with her daughters-they are all very excited! However, when they get there things are not what they expect! There are no servants, Cinderella refuses to call Lady Tremaine mother, and her new husband is cold towards her. Oh and he expects her and her daughters to be his servants! What is she gonna do? This was not what she was expecting…

I love fairy tale retellings! And this was no exception! After reading this, I did have a better understanding of Lady Tremaine. I, however, don’t think she was justified in her cruelty. I read this out of order so there were a few things that were mentioned that had me slightly confused but that’s on me. I did wish that at the end there was a bit of redemption for Lady Tremaine. There were for her daughters but not her. I absolutely love this series and can’t wait to read more of it!!

Thank you to Netgalley for this advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review!

Loved this book. Can't wait to read more by the author. Fast paced and interesting. Will add to my classroom library.

This one was not for me.
Thank you NetGalley for providing a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Serena Valentino does it again! I will always read every book she writes about a villain; every villain has a story! With that being said, Valentino tells its beautifully!

While this book was well written it was not for me. The story was interesting but just didn’t live up to the original standards.

This YA book is a retelling and the backstory of Cinderella from the perspective of Lady Tremaine, THE Wicked Stepmother. She has definitely caused a global setback for all stepmothers to come after her, and true Disney fans REALLY love this book. This was my first Villains retelling, (with a literary nod to Rebecca!), and I enjoyed the research and imagination that goes into a project like this!

This was my first if this series. It's a fun twist on what we all know and love from Disney classic stories. Hearing the Evil stepmother's side and how things play out is actually pretty fun and interesting!!!

I’m a big fan of retelling so the Villains books have a lot of fun for me to read. This book did not fail to entertain me as it retold the story of Cinderella but with Lady Tremaine as the star. This book had me turning the pages wanting to know more and more. If you’re a fan of fairy tales and retelling this book and the other books in this series are for you!

**I received and voluntarily read an e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

The series is best read in order, but you can get the gist of the story without reading the others first.

This really felt like one of the better stories in the series.