Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Once Upon a Time, a Girl Lost Herself

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

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I picked this up due to crystalclear’s review, and since I have a weakness for fairy tale retellings.  Stepsister takes place after the prince has chosen Ella, and taken her away from home to marry her.  Her stepmother and stepsisters are left behind in a village where they are now hated for their abuse of the country’s future queen. Donnelly decided to use the Grimm’s version of the fairy tale as her starting base so Tavi (Octavia), the older sister, and Izzy (Isabelle), the main […]

There Was Once A Girl Named Isabelle

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

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Wow this book was perfection. I laughed, held my breath, cried a bit, and cheered. Donnelly did such a wonderful job with this book I can’t wait to read more from her. “Stepsister” follows what happens after Cinderella (Ella) is locked away and her two stepsisters remove parts of their feet (Tavi cutting away her heel and Isabelle her toes) and are found out by a bird singing in a tree. What follows is the two girls and their mother are shunned by their village […]

One of my top recommendations right now!

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

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This is a Cinderella retelling focusing on one of the ugly stepsisters.  There is magic in this story, but also a lot of realism. We start with Isabelle, the younger of the stepsisters, getting ready to reluctantly cut off her toes to fit into the glass slipper.  Her older sister, Octavia, has already cut off her heel and was caught out, so now it’s Isabelle’s turn to try to secure their future. As expected, it doesn’t turn out well. The tale of Cinderella has a […]



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