Review: Cinder and Ella, by Kelly Oram | Flawed In and Out

Cinder & Ella by Kelly Oram
Published by Bluefields ISBN: 0991457951
on August 15th 2014
Pages: 322
My rating:
Check it out in Goodreads
Synopsis

It's been almost a year since eighteen-year-old Ella Rodriguez was in a car accident that left her crippled, scarred, and without a mother. After a very difficult recovery, she's been uprooted across the country and forced into the custody of a father that abandoned her when she was a young child. If Ella wants to escape her father's home and her awful new stepfamily, she must convince her doctors that she's capable, both physically and emotionally, of living on her own. The problem is, she's not ready yet. The only way she can think of to start healing is by reconnecting with the one person left in the world who's ever meant anything to her-her anonymous Internet best friend, Cinder. ... Hollywood sensation Brian Oliver has a reputation for being trouble. There's major buzz around his performance in his upcoming film The Druid Prince, but his management team says he won't make the transition from teen heartthrob to serious A-list actor unless he can prove he's left his wild days behind and become a mature adult. In order to douse the flames on Brian's bad-boy reputation, his management stages a fake engagement for him to his co-star Kaylee. Brian isn't thrilled with the arrangement-or his fake fiancee-but decides he'll suffer through it if it means he'll get an Oscar nomination. Then a surprise email from an old Internet friend changes everything.

Cinder and Ella… What can I say? It was so freaking awesome.

Here is why:

Bookish Protagonist

Bonus points to Ella for being a blogger! There isn’t much science to it, but her love for her favorite book, and her giddiness and at the same time caution about the adaptation was very realistic and something a lot of us can relate to!

Flawed Protagonist

This was one of the few cases I’ve encountered where the proganonist is flawed both inside and outside. And I’m not just talking about a couple of scars that lover boy will kiss and say ‘You’re beautiful. These scars make you strong.’ Ella was in an accident, her toes are burnt, she limps. And it opens a floodgate of possiblities, bringing in themes like bullying, that I was amazed at.

Family

Family plays a big role in this book. Since Ella’s mom died, she’s had to move in with her father and the family with which he replaced her. This is where I’d really like to applaud the author for, even though this is CINDER AND FREAKING ELLA, not adhering to stereotypes of the evil, fancy stepmother and sisters that make life hell for the main character. Sure, in the fairy tale those women are really EVIL. But what are the chances of that happening in real life? Most of the time we’re just very proud and have prejudices (haha), and the other side too… And it’s just one huge misunderstanding and lack of communication. I loved how this was approached in this book.

I struggled to blame someone, her father for leaving her mother and her, Modern Anastasia for not understanding Ella’s hurt, Modern Drizella for being such a bitch… Ella for being a brat sometimes… Cue flailing.

 

And… The Romance

You didn’t think I’d forget about this, did you? Cinder/Brian’s relationship with Ella struck me as weird at first, because they already felt in love without truly knowing each other, but I could deal. There was enough realism in the other aspects of the story to be more than enough to make up for the slightly idealistic romance. So, it was a good balance.

 

Overall, I had little reason to dislike this book. And it delivered the sappy, but funny romance I was expecting, plus the added depth of important social issues like bullying.

Happy Reading!

 

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