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I am not much of a fantasy reader ( I say that now, but I seem to be reaching for more every time I buy a book; maybe it is because the world is a shitshow at this moment, and it takes me to other places ), but I have always loved retellings of fairytales or mythology.

A fellow bookstagrammer was highlighting Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser on her account a week or so ago, and I liked what she had to say about it, so I was off to NetGalley to see if I could get a hold of a copy of it. Lucky for me, I was able to  ( Thank you, McMillan Audio ), and she was right, it is a good story.

It is a retelling, sort of, of Cinderella, except there is no fairy godmother, no pumpkin coach, or glass slippers. In fact, it was a bit of a dark story, and even though it took place in a land long ago, it was fairly modern.

I liked how the author spun her story; she kept the basics of Cinderella, but remade it from the Stepmother's POV. It is a story of pushing through and surviving what has come your way.

Lady Tremaine has had it hard; she has two daughters by her first husband and is taking care of her stepdaughter ( Ella ) from her last husband. She wants the best for them, despite the lot they have been given with the death of each husband. She does lean a bit more toward her own daughters, which I am sure most parents might, over Ella. Ella isn't the Cinderella of the fairy tale; she was given much growing up and has a tendency to be a bit lazy, while the other two girls work hard helping their mother. While I wasn't a fan of Lady Tremaine, I did question how I might be if I were in her situation, but I will say she is not the stepmother we often see her as.

The one thing that I did not enjoy, and it is minor, is that I felt at times the author got bogged down in detail, making the story lag in places, but I kept listening, refusing to hit the pause button on the audio ( and stay up until after 2 one morning ) so it is hard to say it bothered me a lot. What I did like was her details on Hawking. I always like watching the Hawks at our annual Medieval Festival, and she did teach me a lot.  The ending? Well, let me just say, I did not see it coming, and it was a bit of a surprise to me. 

Lady Tremaine is well written, enjoyable, and full of strong women, the perfect retelling of a loved fairytale.