Review: Cinderella's Dress by Shonna Slayton

Cinderella’s Dress

Author: Shonna Slayton
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Genre: YA Historical Fantasy
Format: ebook
Release Date: June 3, 2014
Source: egalley received from publisher via NetGalley
Rating: 2.5 Stars
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***I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way changed my opinion of the book. The review below is my open and honest opinion.*** 

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Being seventeen during World War II is tough. Finding out you’re the next keeper of the real Cinderella’s dresses is even tougher.

Kate simply wants to create window displays at the department store where she's working, trying to help out with the war effort. But when long-lost relatives from Poland arrive with a steamer trunk they claim holds the Cinderella’s dresses, life gets complicated.
Now, with a father missing in action, her new sweetheart, Johnny, stuck in the middle of battle, and her great aunt losing her wits, Kate has to unravel the mystery before it’s too late.

After all, the descendants of the wicked stepsisters will stop at nothing to get what they think they deserve.

My Review:

I expected a lot out of this book. Did you read that synopsis? Historical fiction set during WWII (one of my favorite eras in history to read/learn about) and a fairytale retelling element from one of my favorite fairytales (Cinderella). What’s not to love here? Well, maybe the problem was that I expected too much.

It was good. I enjoyed it. I really did. But I wasn’t awestruck or blown away like I thought I would be. My biggest complaint is how slow the book was. There was next to no action and honestly, I felt like a lot of it could have been completely cut out.

Another thing that bugged me was the timeline. So this story supposedly takes place over a good number of years. Years. It felt like a few weeks, maybe a couple months to me, but then they would make mention of how the president died and then how the war ended and then how the main character’s great-aunt would be celebrating her name-day again. I did not feel like years had gone by. The main character should have matured more in that time, right? Done more things. Gained more life experience, but she hadn’t.

I did really love the concept though. I loved the emphasis on fashion since that’s what I went to school for. My favorite class I took in college was the History of Dress and I loved reading about all the different fashions and designs including the transition from short skirts during wartime to Christian Dior’s “New Look.” I could definitely tell the author had done her research there. The magical element of the dress was pretty cool and really, what kept me reading was the desire to know more about the dress and what it really meant. But here’s the thing: we never really find out the importance of the dress. I mean, we sort of do. But it didn’t really seem like a big deal to me. Not big enough to have an evil family hunting you down, chasing after it for centuries.

I guess I just wanted more. The characters were pretty great, I especially loved the great-aunt. But the story itself lacked depth and body. It just wasn’t interesting enough to hold my attention and it definitely won’t be sticking with me. Oh, and one more thing I want to complain about. I wanted more history. There were just a few brief mentions of moments in history to kind of remind you what time period we were in, but I wish there would have been more. Anyway, all in all, this book was just mediocre for me. Happy reading all! 

Have you read this book? What did you think? Did you feel the same way about the lack of action? Were you fascinated by the fashion element as well?