Isabelle should be blissfully happy – she’s about to win the handsome prince. Except Isabelle isn’t the beautiful girl who lost the glass slipper and captured the prince’s heart. She’s the ugly stepsister who’s cut off her toes to fit into Cinderella’s shoe … which is now filling with blood.

When the prince discovers Isabelle’s deception, she is turned away in shame. It’s no more than she deserves: she is a plain girl in a world that values beauty; a feisty girl in a world that wants her to be pliant.

Isabelle has tried to fit in. To live up to her mother’s expectations. To be like her stepsister. To be sweet. To be pretty. One by one, she has cut away pieces of herself in order to survive a world that doesn’t appreciate a girl like her. And that has made her mean, jealous, and hollow.

Until she gets a chance to alter her destiny and prove what ugly stepsisters have always known: it takes more than heartache to break a girl.

Trigger Warning: body mutilation, general violence, general blood and gore, character death

There are quite a few Cinderella retellings on book shelves, but there are very few that focus on characters beside Cinderella or the Prince. But that is exactly what Jennifer Donnelly’s Stepsister does. Cinderella and her Prince are merely side characters in this retelling. Instead, the focus is shifted to the “evil” stepsisters and leads the reader to wonder if maybe they weren’t so evil after all.

Who among us has not sacrified part of themself for something they believed they wanted? Who has not changed who they were to make the people they loved happy? Who has not made themselves miserable to please others and done it with a smile?

Isabelle has done all of these things in the belief that one day she will be happy.

Isabelle’s path is one that many will likely recognize and relate to. In order to fit in and make her mother happy she has changed who she fundamentally is even at the risk of destroying herself. When given the chance to have her happily ever after she believes she knows exactly what to do.

The journey Isabelle, her sister, and their mother go on is not an easy one. They are met with the same cruelty and indifference they meted out on Cinderella and some readers might find that hard to take. Their bullying ways are turned back on them making them the ones being bullied. And while it does end up being a worthwhile lesson, it is also a painful one.

I personally enjoyed reading Stepsister. Isabella and her sister Tiva show great character growth from beginning to end. In my opinion it has a good ending and a good message without being too preachy. It is very likely that I will be seeking out more books by this author.