3*

I was really intrigued by the premise of Cinderella is Dead - set 200 years after Cinderella found her Prince Charming, and now every girl is 'invited' to the ball to be chosen by her perfect 'Prince' and live happily ever after. It has a poc protagonist who is LGBTQ+ and who is desperate to find some way to escape the life that is expected of her. But unfortunately, what I read was lacking.

I felt that the chatracters were very one dimensional, and I get this this is aimed at the YA market, but it just read very young if that makes sense. I guessed several of the big reveals pretty early on. I could not understand Sophia's infatuation with Erin, which then moved onto the next girl that she met. The story lagged, she spent dozens of pages in a cottage doing not very much, and I felt like the ending, whilst it lasted for an appropropriate amount of 'pages' it still somehow felt rushed. Conversation was stilted and not all that engaging, I think the book could have done with some more fleshing out.

It may appeal to the actual marketed age bracket, but it wasn't really for me.