This wasn't really to my taste which isn't the author's fault! I didn't realise this was a "spicy" book when I requested it and I wouldn't have necessarily requested it had I realised. I do believe it was well written if that's what you want to read but I really did not.

I did appreciate that this was a "fresh" retelling of the Cinderella story -- a genre otherwise done to its absolute limit. That being said, although I appreciated the heroine Anna and her double identity, her strength and tenacity ended up very tell and not always show. She fell easily into being "frail and girlish" in places when she was fiesty and full of ideas in others. I didn't really warm to her and I found myself bored waiting for things to happen. The first half of the book was largely uninspired and I thought it was very unexciting to twist the story and make Cinderella/Ella overtly villainous without much deeper thought. It was comically black and white for me personally. Would've been nicer to see some depth.

The big reveal with the love interest was fun, although not exactly surprising. He was an alright character, too, although I feel like we didn't get chance to really explore him despite the fact that half of the novel is from his perspective. I certainly did not enjoy the amount of time dedicated to telling us what his -ahem- downstairs was thinking and feeling. At times the language felt very modern and crass in comparison to the fantasy setting. It was distracting (and not in a good? way).

To be honest, I think the book felt overlong and quite lacking, but there was certainly the kernel of a very good tale here. All in all, this is a fun read although I think, given my ignorance of the author and her brand, I was somewhat mis-sold on the content. If I hadn't felt the urge to skim through the adult content maybe I would've enjoyed it more. I don't know.

Thanks for the free book, though.

I absolute adore fairytale retellings of all kind, and lately I’ve been on a streak of reading ‘twisted’ ones. Ones where the villains win or where the heroes are the bad guys. I really enjoyed this story and can’t wait to see what else this author comes up with!

I enjoy fairytale retellings and seeing the story from a different perspective. <b>The Ugly Stepsister</b> is my first Megan Van Dyke book, it is a blend of primarily Cinderella with a touch of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty vibes. I like that the author turns the tables in this book and vilifies Cinderella while making her stepsister Anna the heroine.

Anna's sister and mother are being held captive by Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother. Anna managed to escape. While disguised as a young man, she meets Will, a former royal huntsman with a secretive past and his friends Mina, Koen, and Brandt whose family were also captured. With the common thread of revenge, they set out to free their family and bring Cinderella to justice.

There is a lot of action in this retelling which keeps the story moving along at a nice pace. It took me a while to read this one, but it had little to do with the book and more to do with my hectic schedule this past month. much as I loved Will and can see how someone would be attracted to him, their instant attraction was a bit much and initially seemed forced rather than occurring naturally over time which I always prefer. Although some parts were predictable, the I enjoyed the story overall and found the ending satisfying. 3.5 stars.

I love fairytale retellings and this was a superfun take on Cinderella where she is the bad guy. The overall adventure story of the "ugly" step sister as she tries to save her family and maybe save the kingdom is so good.

I liked the start where Anna was in disguise. I love found family and her love interest Will. The group dynamics was well done and the tension of when they are going to figure out who she is was very well done.

One of my favorites parts the mixng of other fairytales. Minas storyline as almost Snow White and the Fairy Godmother as the evil chrone from Rupenzel. Great details when you are in a fairytale world.

The story is very predictable but still fun and has all the happy feels you get from a great fairytale. It has sword fights, magic mirrors and true love.

Generally, I tend to steer clear of anything Cinderella. It's one of my least favorite fairytales, and I find retellings to be predictable and boring. However, I really loved having Cinderella be the villain of this story! Megan Van Dyke is excellent at retellings. I found Anna to be a likeable heroine, and the side characters were just the right amount of quirky. The slow burn worked really well in this, I feel. The pacing was pretty good, maybe could have been a liiiitle bit shorter. Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable retelling!

Thank you NetGalley and City Owl Press for the book, here is my honest review!

Actual rating 3.5⭐!

This is my second book of Megan I've read and I really like the first book so I have big expectation for this one but sadly this book didn't meet my expectation.

The book itself is a twisted retelling of Cinderella story, the villain is Cinderella and the heroine is Anna, her stepsister. The event took place after the wedding between Cinderella and the prince, Nik. But, not long after that The King, Nik's father, died. It makes Nik became the King and Cinderella become the Queen. And again, not long after that Nik announced dead and Cinderella become the sole ruler of the kingdom. This is when everything revealed that Cinderella is not like what other people seen.

The book has fast paced plot, from the beginning the author didn't waste time to show us what kind of conflict that will raise in this book. It also more action packed, so many battle, swords, blood in this book. It makes me more excited to know how Anna will rescue her family.

This book also have journey and found family trope. In the forest while hiding Anna met this little family that have the same mission with her and quickly they become a close friend even family. They protect each other and always there for the other, they rely to each other so much.

The book will have 2 POV, from Anna and Will. Anna and Will obviously will develop a special bonding. I love these two relationship. With Anna and Will POV, we know what really happen with Cinderella, we even know Cinderella past from Anna's POV, the real one. Anna and Will really sweet to each other, at first doubt always appeared between them but after that they show a good chemistry.

The unique one is that the author not only show us a retelling of Cinderella but there's another tale that you'll recognize right away. I think it's good but unfortunately it makes me easier to guess the ending.

A really great retelling of the classic Cinderella. I enjoy these retellings. Especially when they are done well like this one. It was enjoyable and I enjoyed the twists on the storyline too.

Fairytale retellings are one of my favourite book categories! Especially if they have a unique twist like in The Ugly Stepsister!
A Cinderella retelling where Cinderella is the antagonist? Yes please!
The story was fast paced and engaging, but in no way left any necessary details out. All of the characters were well formed, the protagonists were likeable and you really wanted them to succeed, Bad Cinderella was suitably multi-dimensional but she also wasn’t forgiven either, the other antagonists were greedy and sometimes that’s all they need to be.
I loved the various twists that came up and they were executed well!
I don’t think I could recommend this book enough for anyone who loves fairytales with a twist!

This was an excellent take on the Cinderella fairy tale. Told from the POV of the "ugly stepsister" Anna, who has disguised herself as a man to be able to rescue her mother and sister from the Evil Fairy Godmother. Along her journey she meets a ragtag band of brothers and a sister, plus a former huntsman and joins their posse to get revenge and dethrone the evil queen who is Cinderella.

The secrets were a little obvious to me but did not detract from my enjoyment of the story in the least and I actually finished the last 80% (thanks Kindle!) in one sitting. I would definitely read more fairy tale re-tellings by this author. Strongly recommend if you love fairy tales, but this is definitely not for the Disney audience.

Book 2 in a duology, this is a retelling of Cinderella, wIth a douse of sleeping beauty and Snow White. Plenty twists and turns with really loveable characters. If you are a fairy tale lover you will love this book.

It was a great mesh of Cinderella and Snow White, creating a retelling with fresh vibes!
I enjoyed this book a lot. Anna is a great lead who despite have being through so much, she maintain her good heart. Also love to see how she deal with her insecurities of her looks (which I don't think she is ugly, but like plain-er than super pretty Cinderella). Will was cute, and I love Mina and her brothers! Saw the twist from the failed first mission, but I still love it.
Overall, it was a sweet, whimsical, and fun retelling!

I was expecting so much more. Unfortunately this story fell flat for me and I just couldn't get into it. The characters were fine and the twist were interesting but nothing about the plot or characters made this a fantastic, can't put down read. Maybe my expectations were too high after reading the blurb but it just didn't do it for me. I might try the other books in the series, but I won't go out of my way to buy them if they're expensive.

I absolutely loved this fairytale retelling of Cinderella. It was definitely a refreshing take on the original story.
It did take me a couple of chapters to fully get into the story but once I did I was hooked and couldn’t put the book down.
The plot was fantastic and I certainly didn’t see some of the twists coming my way. The book was well written and truly engaging too. The side characters definitely made the story engaging too.
I enjoyed the world building as well as the character development throughout the book.
I was so glad that Anna got her happy ending in this book. It definitely felt like an emotional journal for her throughout the book.

Thank you to Netgalley and City Owl Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review

I’m a Huge fan of fairytale retellings and couldn’t wait to read this one!
The first few chapters didn’t hook me. The whole hiding as a man in full view of 3 grown men and a girl and NOBODY knowing you are actually a woman didn’t do it for me. Especially when it’s obvious from the start Will has some pretty strong feelings for the “stranger” he’s just met.
Aside from that the characters are fairly interesting and I liked some aspects of the plot. I really liked the way the story played out but not going to lie my eyes hard rolled on more than one occasion.
This is not YA! 👀 I checked and nowhere does it warn that this book is spicy 🌶 I think the spice kept the story interesting but if I never have to read the words “delving into her secret forest” again it will be too soon 😷
Overall I didn’t hate the story but it’s not my favourite retelling of Cinderella.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a copy of this book to read and review. All of these thoughts are my own.

When I first seen this; I wasn’t sure I would like it since it made Cinderella the villain but not really even Cinderella, it was more The Fairy Godmother corrupting everyone to get what she wanted.

This book gave me part of a Snow White vibe as well. With Mina being poisoned and falling into a sleep and then her 7 bothers saving her. So it’s like she was Snow White and her brother were the dwarves.

I really liked this more than I thought it would. It was a bit predictable especially with “will” being the king. I knew that from the get go. I do like that him and Anna ended up together. She did deserve a happy ending. Cinderella even got a happy ending to which she didn’t deserve but good ole Anna has too big a heart.

All in all this was a great read. If you like retellings, especially princess retellings; I’d recommend this book.

4 stars!

I received an electronic advanced reader copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.

I’m currently in a retelling/reimagining season in my reading, so when this dropped in my inbox I was eager to read it; having already decided I wanted to read more books inspired by Cinderella.

This book was a beautifully creative retelling of the classic Cinderella story, with some unique twists. Cinderella is not the heroine of this story, but a devious liar who span tales about her stepmother and two stepsisters to further her aims and invoke pity from the nation. The truth is this; Cinderella abused both her stepmother and her stepsisters Charlotte and Anna, she collaborated with the ‘fairy godmother’ to get the princes affections and after his and his fathers untimely ( and totally suspicious) deaths, she rules the kingdom by drugging her subjects.

Enter Anna; having escaped when her mother and sister were taken to the fairy godmothers workshop, she hides within the kingdom as she tries to work out just how she can save those she holds dear. After a chance run in with a group of thieves, Anna( posing as a man named Ansel) teams up as the group attempt to free the kingdom from Cinderella’s clutches.

What was a real treat for me was the way that while this was clearly focused upon Cinderella, some of Snow Whites story was woven seamlessly through the novel. Added to the complete Robin Hood vibes from our huntsman Will, this made for a brilliant story.

I did however feel the twists were very obvious, but it didn’t detract from the enjoyment I had reading this book!

Twisted fairy tales abound, but this one still manages to be unexpected and delightful. The premise here is that Cinderella is the evil one and her step family are the true victims. Written in an engaging manner, I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes the genre.

This is cute I think I preferred the Peter Pan retelling a bit. But this is a 3.5 for me and I am rounding up.

Essentially this is a Cinderella retelling. Except Ella is the bad guy and her step sister Anna is setting out to save her family and the kingdom from Ella’s grasp. She runs into a group of men and a young woman who share her goals and they create elaborate schemes to try to sneak into the castle and poison Ella.

But of course none of these plans really work. And Anna is outed as a woman (she was pretending to be a man). And she falls for Will, the huntsmen, who figures out that she’s Ella’s stepsister.

But the huntsmen isn’t really who he says he’s actually the Prince, yeah the one that’s married to Ella. Ella has been poisoning people to love her and he was one of them. She of course is mad. They confront the fairy godmother who’s an evil pixie and then the prince is cursed with a potion that only Anna’s kiss can fix.

So the Will is the Prince Nik was probably the best part of the book because I didn’t see it coming. And after the reveal the book picked up I thought it was much better than the first half. The first half is kind of slow and a lot of terrible schemes and it’s a bit funny but Anna and Nik don’t feel fully realized ever and lack some depth.

Thanks to netgalley for letting me review this book.
The Ugly Stepsister by Megan Van Dyke
This was a fairy tale retelling for Cinderellas story. Although this one does not focus on Cinderella (Ella) but instead one of her step sisters named Anna and the aftermath of what takes place once Ella becomes queen. In this tale Ella is still beautiful, however she has become an evil queen with the help of her wicked fairy godmother and mind control potions. She has also convinced everyone that her family were bullies when in fact she was the one bullying them, together they have now over thrown and killed both king and her husband, yes prince charming! Our heroin Anna who has escaped capture and imprisonment is now disguised as a male trying to hatch a plan to just save her family. 4 out of 5 stars! This book is an easy read, and not a YA novel! Which is what I had expected ... i mean.. look at this innocent cover, right?! Pleasantly surprised to come across some spicy scenes with a huntsmen! If you love fairy tale character, you might enjoy this book. Specially since there's plenty of nods to other fairy tale characters.

I love the way that Megan Van Dyke takes and twists classic fairy tales. Her takes are new and fresh and full of adventure. This book tackles Cinderella and with the dual storyline gives so many twists on the classis tale that it feels like a completely new story. The plot and growth of the characters felt real and pulled me in, while the pacing and adventure had me rushing to see how it all would end. I really liked the ending, I wasn't sure if it would all get wrapped up, but I think it does a good job of being realistic while still being a HEA.

I hope there are so many more re-tellings from this author because I will be first in line to read everything they write!