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A review by the_ya_assassin
Cold Hearted by Serena Valentino
4.0
I received an eARC via Netgalley from Disney Hyperion in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much for the opportunity!
"I was lost in the past, and perhaps the future. I'm careful not to linger there too often for fear of being lost there forever."
*3.5 stars, rounded up*
In "Cold Hearted", we follow the other side of the Cinderella's story - the one of her evil stepmother. I believe Valentino managed to capture the correct before and after persona of Lady Tremaine in Cold Hearted and definitely made the before realistic and understandable. I have never thought I'd say this, but I feel BAD for Lady Tremaine, Cinderella's evil stepmother, after reading this book. Lady Tremaine is known for being one of the cruelest, coldest villains in Disney. However, Valentino allowed me to see what CAUSED her to be so evil. She was once a kind mother to her daughter's Anastasia and Drizella, but after her husband died she became lonely. Around 6 years after her husband's death, Lady Tremaine seeked companionship. When she met Cinderella's father, she thought he was perfect (although I hated this - love at first sight is such a terrible and unrealistic trope) - they seeked parent figures for their daughters and wanted love. When Cinderella's father turned out to be . . . how do I put this delicately . . . an a**hole, Lady Tremaine turned evil. She was just repaying what Cinderella's father did to her and her girls back to Cinderella. Although it was WRONG to do so, as Cinderella was clearly manipulated, I have never hated Cinderella so much in all my life (and she has NEVER been my favorite princess) - despite HER being what spurred the recounting of Lady Tremaine's story on in the first place.
How Valentino delivered this story was pretty good overall except for the same adjectives and verbs used, the long descriptions, inconsistencies, and the characters themselves. Surprisingly, there was a LOT of backstory at the beginning, which is usually bothersome, but it somehow worked for "Cold Hearted." I also enjoyed the third person omniscient point of view. On the downside, Valentino used the same words several times throughout the story, and I spotted them almost immediately. It's just something my writing brain goes off at. These words include "rattled," "stoic," "livid," "drifted," "amused/amusing," "by the book." One of the main phrases that was reused quite often was "that is a story for another time" or something along the lines of that. It just got a bit annoying. Another one was calling the women "handsome" which just didn't sit well with me. With just a little bit more research (and probably the help of a dictionary), Valentino could've given the reader a better experience with word diversity. In addition, there are long descriptions of locations used in the beginning, which made it a little difficult for me to get into.
Next, the way Valentino wrote Lady Tremaine. Overall, she was written well, but there were MANY instances where Tremaine would just trail off and get distracted easily by her own thoughts. Maybe this is purposeful, but I doubt it since it happened so frequently. Finally, the inconsistencies - there weren't many of these but the main one I took note of was how Lady Tremaine treated her daughters after only being at her friend's estate for two days - she was calling them "hellions" and "troublemakers" when she left and only two days later, she was calling them "my darlings." In such a short amount of time, there is NO way the whole purpose of Lady Tremaine's trip to her friend's estate was accomplished (to get away from her girls and reevaluate how she treats them).
Overall though, this was an enjoyable book and I'm glad I picked Cold Hearted up because it gave me such an interesting and different view of Cinderella's tale.
"I was lost in the past, and perhaps the future. I'm careful not to linger there too often for fear of being lost there forever."
*3.5 stars, rounded up*
In "Cold Hearted", we follow the other side of the Cinderella's story - the one of her evil stepmother. I believe Valentino managed to capture the correct before and after persona of Lady Tremaine in Cold Hearted and definitely made the before realistic and understandable. I have never thought I'd say this, but I feel BAD for Lady Tremaine, Cinderella's evil stepmother, after reading this book. Lady Tremaine is known for being one of the cruelest, coldest villains in Disney. However, Valentino allowed me to see what CAUSED her to be so evil. She was once a kind mother to her daughter's Anastasia and Drizella, but after her husband died she became lonely. Around 6 years after her husband's death, Lady Tremaine seeked companionship. When she met Cinderella's father, she thought he was perfect (although I hated this - love at first sight is such a terrible and unrealistic trope) - they seeked parent figures for their daughters and wanted love. When Cinderella's father turned out to be . . . how do I put this delicately . . . an a**hole, Lady Tremaine turned evil. She was just repaying what Cinderella's father did to her and her girls back to Cinderella. Although it was WRONG to do so, as Cinderella was clearly manipulated, I have never hated Cinderella so much in all my life (and she has NEVER been my favorite princess) - despite HER being what spurred the recounting of Lady Tremaine's story on in the first place.
How Valentino delivered this story was pretty good overall except for the same adjectives and verbs used, the long descriptions, inconsistencies, and the characters themselves. Surprisingly, there was a LOT of backstory at the beginning, which is usually bothersome, but it somehow worked for "Cold Hearted." I also enjoyed the third person omniscient point of view. On the downside, Valentino used the same words several times throughout the story, and I spotted them almost immediately. It's just something my writing brain goes off at. These words include "rattled," "stoic," "livid," "drifted," "amused/amusing," "by the book." One of the main phrases that was reused quite often was "that is a story for another time" or something along the lines of that. It just got a bit annoying. Another one was calling the women "handsome" which just didn't sit well with me. With just a little bit more research (and probably the help of a dictionary), Valentino could've given the reader a better experience with word diversity. In addition, there are long descriptions of locations used in the beginning, which made it a little difficult for me to get into.
Next, the way Valentino wrote Lady Tremaine. Overall, she was written well, but there were MANY instances where Tremaine would just trail off and get distracted easily by her own thoughts. Maybe this is purposeful, but I doubt it since it happened so frequently. Finally, the inconsistencies - there weren't many of these but the main one I took note of was how Lady Tremaine treated her daughters after only being at her friend's estate for two days - she was calling them "hellions" and "troublemakers" when she left and only two days later, she was calling them "my darlings." In such a short amount of time, there is NO way the whole purpose of Lady Tremaine's trip to her friend's estate was accomplished (to get away from her girls and reevaluate how she treats them).
Overall though, this was an enjoyable book and I'm glad I picked Cold Hearted up because it gave me such an interesting and different view of Cinderella's tale.