Cinderella Screwed Me Over (Entangled Select)

by Cindi Madsen

[Angie]

The Basics: This is a Contemporary Romance narrated by Darby Quinn, a thirty-year-old who no longer believes in love. She’s an interior decorator and has all of her exes catalogued into neat case studies to help her avoid making the same mistakes again. My Thoughts: I absolutely love the premise of Cinderella Screwed Me Over. I’m sure we can all relate on some level about Disney princesses, Rom-Coms, and romance media in general giving us unrealistic expectations about love and relationships. Well, Darby took it to a whole other level. She fit all of her exes into the prince archetypes and came to the conclusion that relationships are not forever. You can have fun for awhile, but then someone is going to get hurt. Then she met Jake and has to put all of her notes to good use, but epicly fails at following her own rules. It took me a little bit to get into Cinderella Screwed Me Over, because Darby came across as quite unlikable in the beginning. She’s described as honest, which is great, but she’s actually just rude. She blurts out whatever comes into her mind and has no filter. On their first meeting, she immediately calls Jake a liar because he said he’s the owner of her favorite restaurant. Apparently, in her mind, all men are liars, and restaurants are not owned by anyone. They just exist for her eating pleasure. The restaurants, not men. Although…anyway. She makes quick judgements about people to fit her world view. She was just a mess, but thankfully she gets it together when she puts her foot in her mouth one too many times. Cinderella Screwed Me Over is super predictable, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I read enough Romance novels that the formula doesn’t bother me. This is a story we all know too well: Jaded person swears off love, then falls head over heels. Jake was good for Darby. I loved that he called her out on her crap. I was nearly cheering during their inevitable breakup (can you even break up with someone if you swear you’re not dating?!), which is not something I ever do. But she needed to hear everything that he had to say. In the end, I did enjoy Cinderella Screwed Me Over. I love fairy tales and this was a fun anti-fairy tale twist.