The Ugly Stepsister Strikes Back

by Sariah Wilson

I would've preferred to read Ella and Trent's story. I kept hoping for glimpses but instead I got Mattie and Jake. It wasn't bad, I just didn't love it. It was easy enough to get through and it was humorous but it had two main problems - the characters. As in Mattie and Jake. I didn't like them. I think a lot of people will enjoy the pop culture references and Mattie's quirky humour - which were good - and perhaps a lot of other people will like Mattie and Jake. But it wasn't for me. 2.5 stars, rounded to 3 because I loved Ella. Further thoughts/rant on characters below.


Mattie kind of sucked. I hated her to start with (the first chapters made me want to kill her) and while she got better I was never really loving her. She had some funny lines but she was mainly just annoying. She was mean and bitter and petty. Ella didn't deserve any of her nasty thoughts. And yes, I get that it's a Cinderella retelling - but you can't make a mean character oh woe is me without some serious rewriting. Mattie was a bitch. It was hard to like her. And harder to be sympathetic towards her. Which is fine. Write that story. But don't bag on Ella because she's generous and nice and kind and then say you hate her because she exists and expect me to feel like Mattie's been hard done by. She hasn't. Any problems she has are of her own making. But sure, she got nicer. Less prickly or whatever but I just didn't find it enough for me to care for her.

And I didn't like Jake either. He was a jerk. Sure, he's got parental issues and whatnot but it never really redeemed him from being the jerk he started as. The romance between them started out bad and got fluffy but I just didn't care.