REVIEW – Finding Cinderella by Colleen Hoover

SYNOPSIS

A chance encounter in the dark leads eighteen-year-old Daniel and the girl who stumbles across him to profess their love for each other. But this love comes with conditions: they agree it will only last one hour and it will only be make-believe.

When their hour is up and the girl rushes off like Cinderella, Daniel tries to convince himself that what happened between them only seemed perfect because they were pretending it was perfect. Moments like that with girls like her don’t happen outside of fairytales.

One year and one bad relationship later, his disbelief in insta-love is stripped away the day he meets Six: a girl with a strange name and an even stranger personality. Daniel soon realizes the way he pretended to feel about Cinderella and the way he really feels about Six may not be so different after all. Especially when the two loves of his life end up being one in the same.

Unfortunately for Daniel, finding Cinderella doesn’t guarantee their happily ever after…it only further threatens it.

REVIEW

Colleen Hoover’s wildly popular and beloved HOPELESS and LOSING HOPE introduced readers to Holder and Sky. Their best friends, Six and Daniel, have their own beautiful story now in FINDING CINDERELLA.

Hoover wrote this novella as a standalone, so readers who are trying to decide if they want to take a chance on this series may want to start here. The price is right (FREE) and the story is breathtaking. It actually took my breath away at one point. I’ll let you get there, though. No spoilers for this one.

Falling in love for the first time is tricky. How long does it take? How do you know if it’s real? When should it become physical (and more physical)? Honestly, these are the questions of all love stories…but they’re often the most poignant with first loves. Blossoming late-teen love is Hoover’s strong suit. As an adult, it’s gratifying to go back to that time and place again and enjoy all the newness. Teens may love these stories for the simple idea that all the things they hope for might just be available. All of these stories have an undercurrent of past pain, redemption, and, well, hope. The continued suggestion that unconditional love is real and available to people who have stumbled badly with love in the past makes these stories resonate on a number of levels with more than one audience.

I read FINDING CINDERELLA in a few hours this morning and have spent the better part of the day in a lovely, hazy, book hangover, attempting to relive parts of it again. Read it slowly…it’s best the first time. And how many things can you say that about?

5 stars

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