#Cinder & Ella

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

Cinder Ella by S.T. Lynn

goodreads

Ella is transgender. She's known since she was young; being a woman just fit better. She was happier in skirts than trousers, but that was before her stepmother moved in. Eleanor can't stand her, and after Ella's father passes she's forced to revert to Cole, a lump of a son. She cooks, she cleans, and she tolerates being called the wrong name for the sake of a roof over her head. Where else can she go? An opportunity to attend the royal ball transforms Ella's life. For the first time, strangers see a woman when she walks down the stairs. While Princess Lizabetta invited Cole to the ball, she doesn't blink an eye when Cinderella is the one who shows. The princess is elegant, bold, and everything Ella never knew she wanted. For a moment she glimpses a world that can accept her, and she holds on tight. She should have known it wouldn't last. Dumped by her wicked stepmother on the farthest edge of the kingdom, Ella must find a way to let go of the princess and the beautiful life they shared for an hour. She'll never find her way back. But it's hard to forget the greatest night of her life when every rose she plants is a reminder.

Mod opinion: I haven't gotten around to this book yet, but it sounds really good and fun!

#cinder ella #s.t. lynn #polls #trans lit #trans literature #trans books #lgbt lit #lgbt literature #lgbt books #trans woman #retelling #own voices #fantasy

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads / storygraph

Cinder Ella

Black trans cinderella retelling, novella

Ella is forced to be a servant boy by her stepmother, until the princess shows up an offers her an invitation to her ball, and she shows up as her true self

#cinder ella #aroaessidhe 2023 reads #this is very short and simple and not super developed; but it’s cute for what it is! #I like how she sort of sorts her own life out before going and finding the princess and makes some good friendships too #(even if again. very brief) #also she has a dog :) #I will say that I picked this up assuming the author is a Black trans woman which upon a brief search I’m not sure if they are? idk whateve

[fairytale-poll]

ROUND 4B, MATCH 2 OUT OF 2!

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Ella:

Listen, is the book good? No. Does the idea of a trans Cinderella slap? Yes.

Danielle:

This is, imo, the single best retelling of Cinderella out there. She has a great character, her relationship with the prince grows organically rather than happening in a single night, and the scene with the bandits is top tier

The story is told as a historical romance instead of anything supernatural happening. Drew Barrymore is a cute Cinderella, Anjelica Houston is an incredible stepmother, and she's also really nasty to one of the stepsisters too, who ends up taking Danielle (Cinderella)'s side. Also Leonardo da Vinci is hanging around painting a portrait of Danielle at one point.

The Drew Barrymore Cinderella is fantastic. It’s got real history mixed with beautiful whimsy! I absolutely love the butterfly wings and how she spoke up for her step mother and sister at the end (and that they were still punished). I feel like I need to go watch it now.

she’s funny and smart and she’s resourceful (also her outfits are historically accurate!)

I was named after a character in Ever After (her). Vote for my mothers good taste!

#cinderpoll #round 4 #round 4b #ella #cinder ella #black trans fairy tales #black trans fairy tales series #s.t. lynn #danielle de barbarac #ever after #cinderella #fairytale #poll tournament #poll bracket #character polls #polls

[icouldbeaduck]

it just hit me that ashlynn ella is called ashlynn because ash. like cinder. ashella. cinderella.

#it took years but i just got it #ashlynn ella #cinder ella #ever after high

[transbookoftheday]

Cinder Ella by S.T. Lynn

Ella is transgender. She's known since she was young; being a woman just fit better. She was happier in skirts than trousers, but that was before her stepmother moved in. Eleanor can't stand her, and after Ella's father passes she's forced to revert to Cole, a lump of a son. She cooks, she cleans, and she tolerates being called the wrong name for the sake of a roof over her head. Where else can she go?

An opportunity to attend the royal ball transforms Ella's life. For the first time, strangers see a woman when she walks down the stairs. While Princess Lizabetta invited Cole to the ball, she doesn't blink an eye when Cinderella is the one who shows. The princess is elegant, bold, and everything Ella never knew she wanted. For a moment she glimpses a world that can accept her, and she holds on tight.

She should have known it wouldn't last. Dumped by her wicked stepmother on the farthest edge of the kingdom, Ella must find a way to let go of the princess and the beautiful life they shared for an hour. She'll never find her way back. But it's hard to forget the greatest night of her life when every rose she plants is a reminder.

#cinder ella #black trans fairy tales #s.t. lynn #transfem #trans book of the day #trans books #queer books #bookblr #booklr

[wondereads]

Weekly Reading Update (11/27/23)

Reviews and thoughts under the cut

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare (6/10)

This book was just way too long for the story it was telling. It easily could have been 100 pages shorter. I did like a lot of the emotional moments concerning the romantic relationships, but there is so much filler that it just go incredibly boring at the end. Also, Cassandra Clare does this thing I like to call "no romance left behind" which is when everyone in a book is paired off by the end, even ones that don't really make sense or seem rushed, such as Gabriel and Cecily. The plot in this book was just overall lacking, coming off as extremely simplistic and far too convenient. Luckily, Tessa and her romantic relationships sort of saved the day; the epilogue did make me tear up, hence why this book is not dropping to a 4 or even 3.

Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire (9/10)

Continuing my Wayward Children run, Beneath the Sugar Sky is a really good installment. I love that we got the return of Kade and Christopher, who I missed, and the new characters, Cora and Nadya, are quite fun. Nancy was also there for a short time, and I loved seeing her in her element. I really liked Cora, who is great plus size representation and really addressed how being fat affects everything in our world and can worm into your brain. I am obsessed with the worldbuilding of Confection and the foray into how all the worlds are built and how they're laid out. I really hope there are more stories that involve visiting multiple worlds and exploring how they work.

Lodestar by Shannon Messenger (9/10)

This was an amazing installment in Keeper of the Lost Cities. It feels like something has truly changed for the first time in a while, instead of the back-and-forth that usually happens between the Black Swan and the Neverseen. Major developments occurred with terrible consequences for both sides, and we got what I would consider the first major character death as Calla in Neverseen had only been introduced that book. The relationship between Sophie and Keefe also developed quite a bit, and we got some real conflict within the group since the Alden debacle in Exile. Finally, there is some progress in the romance department. They're still, you know, like fourteen/fifteen, but considering how much this series hints at it, I'm glad we're starting to see concrete development. Finally, that ending had me gagged. Not only was the climax ridiculously tense but there is a twist at the end that made me immediately want to start Nightfall.

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire (16%)

This book is hitting a little too close to home...as a goody-two-shoes reader who had like two friends growing up, Lundy feels like a callout. I am so excited to see a Goblin Market-based world, as I've read other books like that and they're always incredibly fun.

Cinder Ella by S. T. Lynn (8%)

This is part of a little project I'm doing, and I can't say much about it so far. I'm a little hesitant about the writing, as it has been clunky in a few places, but I'm really interested to see the story of Cinderella under a trans lens.

Rising Storm by Erin Hunter (7%)

I'm back on that Warriors grind, you guys. I swear I am going to read this entire series, even the later ones I never got to that are supposedly terrible. I also might be working on a project concerning them... Anyway, gotta love the Tigerclaw/ShadowClan foreshadowing.

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett (3%)

It's always thieves in high fantasy novels. I'm not sure what the obsession with them is, but I feel like 60% of high fantasy protagonists are thieves. Anyway, I'm loving the magic system so far, so hopefully the plot and characters will hold up!

#books #reading update #clockwork princess #cassandra clare #beneath the sugar sky #seanan mcguire #lodestar #shannon messenger #in an absent dream #cinder ella #s t lynn #rising storm #erin hunter #foundryside #robert jackson bennett #warrior cats #wayward children #tid #kotlc

[sapphic-book-tournament]

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron-

It’s 200 years after Cinderella found her prince, but the fairy tale is over. Teen girls are now required to appear at the Annual Ball, where the men of the kingdom select wives based on a girl’s display of finery. If a suitable match is not found, the girls not chosen are never heard from again.

Sixteen-year-old Sophia would much rather marry Erin, her childhood best friend, than parade in front of suitors. At the ball, Sophia makes the desperate decision to flee, and finds herself hiding in Cinderella’s mausoleum. There, she meets Constance, the last known descendant of Cinderella and her step sisters. Together they vow to bring down the king once and for all–and in the process, they learn that there’s more to Cinderella’s story than they ever knew . . .

This fresh take on a classic story will make readers question the tales they’ve been told, and root for girls to break down the constructs of the world around them.

Cinder Ella by ST Lynn-

Ella is transgender. She's known since she was young; being a woman just fit better. She was happier in skirts than trousers, but that was before her stepmother moved in. Eleanor can't stand her, and after Ella's father passes she's forced to revert to Cole, a lump of a son. She cooks, she cleans, and she tolerates being called the wrong name for the sake of a roof over her head. Where else can she go?

An opportunity to attend the royal ball transforms Ella's life. For the first time, strangers see a woman when she walks down the stairs. While Princess Lizabetta invited Cole to the ball, she doesn't blink an eye when Cinderella is the one who shows. The princess is elegant, bold, and everything Ella never knew she wanted. For a moment she glimpses a world that can accept her, and she holds on tight.

She should have known it wouldn't last. Dumped by her wicked stepmother on the farthest edge of the kingdom, Ella must find a way to let go of the princess and the beautiful life they shared for an hour. She'll never find her way back. But it's hard to forget the greatest night of her life when every rose she plants is a reminder.

#sapphic book tournament #sapphic books #lesbian #lesbian books #sapphic #lgbt books #sapphic fiction #lgbt characters #lesbian romance #lgbt #lesbian fantasy novels #lesbian novels #lesbian characters #lesbian stories #lesbian romance novels #sapphic fantasy #fantasy books #cinderella is dead #kalynn bayron #cinder Ella #st Lynn #s.t. Lynn #sapphic characters #sapphic retellings #retelling #Cinderella #sapphic stories #lgbtq characters #lgbt fiction #gay

[accidental-spice]

"And while Cinderella and her prince did live happily ever after, the point, gentleman, is that they lived."

@monthly-challenge 2024 | Day 13: Shoe

The story of Cinderella, told from the point of view of seven different retellings (four books, two movies, and one completely made up story that someone should totally write lol)

#cinderella #magicalmarch2024 #monthly challenge #fairy tales #fairy tale retelling #the blood spell #c j redwine #blue de la cour #cinder #tlc #the lunar chronicles #linh cinder #rook di goo #jenni sauer #elisandra elis #ginger nutbrown #ella enchanted #gail carson #original character #my ocs #ever after #ever after 1998 #cinderella 2015 #pizzazz is who I am

[roughentumble]

geraskier cinderella AU with prince jaskier. the ball is a masquerade where princekier misleads geralt about his standing because he wants to have a genuine connection with someone. the slippers are fur and supple leather instead like that one translation because geralt deserves comfortable, soft footware on his night off. the dead father is vesemir, and geralt cant leave because as a foundling his dad loved him dearly but he wasnt able to properly inherit vesemir's name and he never entered a trade at the right age, so he'd be out on the street without a name to fall back on or experience to get him a job(plus with his stepmother's standing she would pressure people in the area not to take him on, and how is he supposed to get farther than the local area with no money or prospects?) he could join the military but that's just a good way to die in a field somewhere.

instead of cinderella they call him asher

#because. ashes aka cinders. and er masculine name ending like ella feminine name ending #witcher tag #ogc tag

[grandwretch]

me trying to beam into Siobhan's head that she should ask for Cinderella's real name bc its always bugged me that she continues to be called the mean nickname her abusive family gave her even after becoming a princess

#shut up az #I mean the assumption is Ella but we don't know right #maybe they were really creative and it was the equivalent of calling her like Cinders McGee #neverafter

[popeyesmith]

Ella Cinders Deserves Her Moment

View On WordPress

#1920s #adventure strips #comic strips #Ella Cinders

[fairytale-poll]

ROUND 1B, ROUND 9 OUT OF 16!

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Ella:

Listen, is the book good? No. Does the idea of a trans Cinderella slap? Yes.

Cyn:

Give this butch firefighter a chance ✊😔

#cinderpoll #round 1 #round 1b #cinderella #fairytale #ella #cinder ella #s.t. lynn #black trans fairy tales #black trans fairy tales series #cinders #cara malone #sapphic fairytales #sapphic fairytales series #poll tournament #poll bracket #character polls #polls

[onyxbird]

Watching the Chroma Conclave arc of Critical Role Campaign 1, listening to exposition from an NPC about what has been happening in a dragon-occupied city: "Wait a second, did Matt just say the dragon talked to his wife?? Since when was the dragon established to be married??" *checks captions* "Ohh, 'wyvern guard'". That makes more sense."

A few moments later:

Laura: "Did you say Thordak's wife? Did I mishear you?"

Sam: "Wyvern guard."

Marisha: "Wyvern. I heard wife."

Laura: "'Wife and guards' is what I heard, and I was so fucking confused."

Glad to see it wasn't just me!

#thordak the cinder king and his wife cinder ella #vox machina #chroma conclave arc #critical role

[prosebushpatch]

still reeling from the one agent saying they want "subtle" fairy tale retellings like Cinder, and idk if we're thinking about the same Cinder there are literally quotes from the og fairy tale before the corresponding chapters?????? so you know exactly where we are in the plot??????

#rose and rambles #i will probably delete this one later but like?????????? #like?????????????????????? #i would not describe that one as subtle #it is different and imaginative because it takes place in a sci-fi dystopian future BUT IT IS LITERALLY #A CINDERELLA STORY?!?! AND DOES NOT LET YOU FORGET IT FOR ONE MOMENT???? #im pretty sure it has the quotes from the fairy tale i might be misremembering but the Cress one does for sure #like the chemical makeup is just full on the fairy tales i feel like if you want subtle it would have to be like #less obvious that it's a retelling? like just echoes of the key moments or imagery #but Cinder by Marissa Meyer is so fully cinderella even in the different genre #im going to be so stupidly bitter about this BUT IM RIGHT #whats also funny is the agent could be talking about a different cinder idk #she diDN'T PUT THE AUTHOR but the one by Marissa Meyer is popular and the only one i know at the top of my head #subtle #that was not the word you were looking for i think #just to be clear i love cinder and the lunar chronicles so so so so much #but THEY ARE WHOLE-HEARTEDLY FAIRY TALES #EMBRACE IT????? PLEASE????? #the only subtle retelling example i can think of is Ella Enchanted or Fairest #both by Gail Carson Levine. More so Fairest because it's like one specific moment where the apple comes in that you're like oooooooooooh #this is snow white #but Ella Enchanted is more like Cinderella i think it would be hard to not see the parallels #Cinderella is hard because you just need a mean stepmom and two stepsister and that's an instant give away #but Ella Enchanted has its own Vibes that it comes off as its own thing ya know ya know?

[wondereads]

Weekly Reading Update (12/04/23)

Thoughts and reviews under the cut (also, have you ever seen a weirder combination of books lol)

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire (10/10)

I absolutely loved this book, but I will be billing Seanan McGuire for my therapy. She does an amazing job of writing these stories that you already know the ending to, and it doesn't make it any more gut-wrenching when the children are rejected or expelled. I see a lot of myself in Lundy, which only made it hit harder, and I loved the world of the Goblin Market. I really enjoyed seeing what would be referred to as a High Logic world with hard and fast rules and seeing how the characters worked within them (or around them). The side characters were, as usual, amazing, and they really helped bring the story together.

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett (10/10)

I was not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did! This was a really good, fast-paced adult fantasy; it was a bit refreshing since adult high fantasy tends to be much slower. Despite being more action-oriented, it still had strong characters and the beginnings of a good message. I suspect it'll be elaborated upon more in the later books. The magic system was so detailed and unique, exactly what I want from worldbuilding, and I'm really interested to see if we'll get more of the world outside Tevanne in the rest of the series.

Cinder Ella by S. T. Lynn (5/10)

This is part of a little project I'm doing, and I unfortunately didn't enjoy it very much. I think a fairy tale retelling would do quite well in a shorter format, but this one just falls short. It adds in a bit too much and as a result reads as rushed with not enough time dedicated to any of the scenes or relationships. Also, fairy tales tend to go by the "that's the way it is" rule of worldbuilding, which this book tries to do, but it raises too many questions to get away with not answering any of them. For example, the increased role of the fairy godmother brings up a lot of worldbuilding implications that the book just doesn't have the space to address.

Redfang Royal by Lola Rock (7/10)

Ok, I've never talked about these books before because they are the guiltiest of my guilty pleasures, but I'm trying to get over that. I'm a huge fan of Lola Rock's Pack Darling duology, so I've been looking forward to this book for a while. I finished it in a day, and I definitely enjoyed it. I did find the plot a little convoluted, and I wish it had been split into two parts like Pack Darling. The ending in particular feels a little rushed; I feel like there's a lot of stuff in Sol's backstory that was never explained to her pack. Still, I really liked the romance dynamic, and the love interests were quite different from the other series, which I appreciated.

Forget Me Knot by Marie McKay (CR, 48%)

Another of my guilty pleasures, this one is much darker than Lola Rock's books. All the characters have trauma upon trauma, but I can definitely see how things are going to resolve. Also, McKay's take on the omegaverse (yes, these are omegaverse novels if you haven't figured it out) is pretty unique with some interesting worldbuilding that adds a bit more to the story. I wonder if that worldbuilding has anything to do with why most of the main characters are named after objects (i.e. Arsenal, Riot, Ice). So far, I like Onyx, the main character; she's pretty different from what I've seen in this genre before, and she's a breath of fresh air.

Rising Storm by Erin Hunter (CR, 15%)

The Warriors reread continues, and I've remembered what takes place in this book. Unfortunately, I think that other than Fire and Ice, this is my least favorite of the first series. Still, the nostalgia does a lot of the heavy lifting for these books, especially since cat politics would probably intrigue me on its own today.

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson (3%)

My first Brandon Sanderson novel! I was initially going to start with Mistborn, but this is required reading from my book club. (Literally. There's a group of us that choose a separate book each month that we have to read.) So far, I really like the narration style. It reminds me of Diana Wynne Jones and other classic fantasy authors, which happens to be my favorite kind of writing.

#books #reading update #in an absent dream #seanan mcguire #foundryside #robert jackson bennett #cinder ella #s t lynn #redfang royal #lola rock #poisonverse #marie mckay #rising storm #erin hunter #yumi and the nightmare painter #brandon sanderson #wayward children #warriors #cosmere

[megsarts]

#cinderella #ella of cinders #Ella Fowler