Author: cherylmahoney
I'm a book review blogger and writer. I have published four novels, The Wanderers; The Storyteller and Her Sisters; and The People the Fairies Forget; and The Lioness and the Spellspinners. All can be found on Amazon as an ebook and paperback. In my day job, I'm a Marketing Specialist. Find me on Twitter (@MarvelousTales) and GoodReads (MarvelousTales).
Book Review: The Ugly Stepsister
You all know how I am about retold fairy tales, especially ones with a twist. I certainly couldn’t resist The Ugly Stepsister by Aya Ling, retelling Cinderella from a very unusual perspective.
Kat is a typical modern teenager…who suddenly finds herself trapped inside the world of a storybook. Specifically, Cinderella–but not as the heroine. Kat is one of the stepsisters, and she won’t be able to get out of the story and go home until the book achieves its happy ending. But the other stepsister is gorgeous and vying for the prince, the prince has no interest in balls or marriage, quiet and obedient Elle definitely won’t be pursuing the prince herself…and also, it’s hard work being in Society. Kat could desperately use a fairy godmother, but none seems to be in sight.
I enjoyed the fish-out-of-water aspect of this, as modern Kat tries to cope with a (more or less) Victorian world. Between corsets, curtsies and dull society calls, not to mention watching her modern slang, Kat struggles to find her way. Her anachronistic status takes a more serious turn when she ends up confronting the harshness of child labor in the factories. Her modern sensibilities drive her towards efforts at reform. Continue reading “Book Review: The Ugly Stepsister”
Quotable Erin Morganstern
“Someone needs to tell those tales. When the battles are fought and won and lost, when the pirates find their treasures and the dragons eat their foes for breakfast with a nice cup of Lapsang souchong, someone needs to tell their bits of overlapping narration. There’s magic in that. It’s in the listener, and for each and every ear it will be different, and it will affect them in ways they can never predict. From the mundane to the profound. You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone’s soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift.”
– Erin Morganstern, The Night Circus
Movie Review: The (Gerard Butler) Phantom of the Opera
I finally watched the Gerard Butler Phantom. I say “finally” because I haven’t seen it in…at least eight years. I know this, because I know I haven’t seen it since the first time I saw the stage production. Since the last time I watched this movie, I’ve watched just about every version of Phantom I could find, including the stage production…eight times, actually!
If you’re not familiar with it, the Butler Phantom is a movie version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical–but very much not the play (for that you want the 25th anniversary/Karimloo Phantom). I liked this movie when it came out–but I was seventeen and I’d never seen the play. And ever since I saw the play, I’ve been afraid to go back to the movie… But I finally did, because I’m writing a retelling and this is research. And the movie was…not as bad as I feared. But it’s SO not the play. Although! I have a theory that addresses all the movie’s issues, so keep reading for that. 🙂 Continue reading “Movie Review: The (Gerard Butler) Phantom of the Opera”
Tales of the Marvelous 