I picked up the book for the title and cover alone. I didn't really bother to read the back and really I wish I had.
The book took forever for me to get into, and it wasn't for lack of trying. The writing was perfect and the detail was great, I just felt like I couldn't connect to Lucy the main character. Okay, her mother is an artist that dies when she is a baby and then after so many years (she's a teenager) her father remarries and she has to move. I understand her not liking the new stepmother and the step-sisters, but really? She complains throughout the whole book, she has no friends, has a crush on the star basketball player and her dad is almost never home.
I guess after watching a hundred different Cinderella story movies and not really liking the whole Cinderella fairy tale to begin with, may have made me a little cynical while reading.
After everything in the boy and friend department starts going good for Lucy, she really changes and thinks that she is all that just because she is dating the star basketball player. It's a classic move with most authors and really turned me off the book. There is the normal, talk of them drinking, making out and al the stuff high schoolers are known to do. Lucy continues to have issues with her stepmother and the step-sisters, and of course she feels as though her father doesn't care about her because he is never there.
I had to keep reading after being almost done with it and of course Lucy had to start falling for someone else, and then all of a sudden she isn't happy with everything she has. The ending was too abrupt for me and I believe that Melisa could have gotten to that point faster and then expanded on it more. ( )

So Lucy starts out by comparing herself to Cinderella, but by the end she's rejecting the fairy tale set-up. She's realized that her "Prince Charming" isn't charming (it took her way too long- this was the most annoying part of the book because she obviously didn't have more than a superficial connection with him). She also fixes the situation with her stepmother (and her father), and even gives the "princesses" (stepsisters) names and personalities. Interestingly, her friendships with the two popular sophomore girls don't fall apart as she imagines they will- she finds a way to integrate herself into her new life at last. ( )

This was a super cute retelling of Cinderella. A little young for me so I wish I would have read it way back in 2008 when I bought it and I was still in high school. ( )

This book was amazing! I liked the twist on Cinderella. It was a cute book, and I will be reading more from this author. ( )

When you hear the title – If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where’s My Prince? – what do you think of? Probably the first thing that comes to mind is Cinderella. And you are not far off. The main character in this enjoyable book feels as if she is being treated like a Cinderella; even her new friends think so.

When Lucy’s mother died, leaving behind her husband and young daughter, it meant it was just the two of them for several years. Then her dad remarried and moved them to live in another city with his new wife and her two younger daughters. Lucy was relegated to a room in the basement, a very inadequately furnished room, and her dad was hardly ever home because he was still working in the city where they had lived before Lucy’s life was turned upside down.

Lucy felt unfairly treated, being expected to do chores the other girls were not asked to do and not treated very nicely. She felt like a .. well, the way Cinderella may have felt. Then she falls for a boy and things just get more complicated.

This is a story that holds the reader’s interest, and I think especially young teen girls will like it. I found myself thinking at times, this girl is being so emotional and self-centered … like a teenage girl with the jealousy, the angry outbursts, the drama. But that simply means Melissa Kantor hit it right on. Being on the other side of all that hormonal craziness it is easy to see what should have taken place, and I kept hoping someone would see through everyone’s foolishness and set things right. (Even the stepmother was exasperating.)

I won’t tell you what happened. ** Possible spoiler alert ** What I will say is .. there is some of the normal temptation stuff, but it’s the drinking that becomes the issue for awhile. It is handled well by the author, Melissa Kantor.

This is an easy book to read, interesting and engaging, and not simply a young person’s book. Why not branch out and see what our young people are reading these days? :) ( )