Fated: Cinderella's Story (Destined, #1) By Kaylin Lee

Kaylin Lee Æ 7 read

All Cinderella wants is to take care of her family.

After working tirelessly for five years to prove herself among the city’s elite, she’s about to graduate and win a coveted spot in city government. Then it all blows up in her face—literally.

A violent, anonymous force has been targeting commoners in horrifying attacks. Now they’ve set their sights on Cinderella. Either that, or she’s losing her mind. It doesn’t help that she’s falling for a mage who’s way out of her league.

Just as she manages to recover from the attack that left her scarred and traumatized, the city’s mysterious enemy destroys what’s left of her future. But when they go after her family, they cross the line. The whole city is in danger now.

How much is Cinderella willing to risk to save the city that has always hated her?

—

Fated: Cinderella’s Story is a magical fairy tale retelling filled with hope, sacrifice, and sweet romance. It’s the first book in the planned Destined series, a collection of overlapping fairy tale retellings all set in the same magical world. Fated: Cinderella's Story (Destined, #1)

Loose retelling

Hmm. Meh, I enjoyed parts of this one, but I think it just dragged on too long and I felt like I was drowning in all the angst. *eyeroll* XD
-Also wasn't really a huge fan of Wes..was it Weslin??..yeah I already forgot *whoopsies*. There were some intriguing plot points and characters that I wouldn't mind getting stories about, so I'll probably give the next few books a try eventually, though it's not on my priority list.

Clean Rating 4.5/5
-For violence Fated: Cinderella's Story (Destined, #1) Fated, book 1 of the Destined series by Kaylin Lee was an excellent debut in my opinion! We all know how much I love fairy tales and I've been on a bit of a fairy tale kick lately, but this spin on Cinderella was quite unique and certainly intriguing. I opened the book to read the prologue or maybe just chapter one to see what I might think...next thing I know I was three fourths the way through the book and up way past my bedtime.

Fated features a unique setting--possibly my favorite part of the book--with a very structured caste and political system. I found myself very enthralled by this society and yearning to learn more about the city and its policies as well as the cities around Asylia. I wanted to know more about the history and how they came to be where they were and I hope the rest of the series continues to expand on the incredible world that Lee has created. The mages were a lot of fun to read about and, again, I hope to see more about them. What rules govern them how do the laws of magic work, etc? I feel like Fated just gave me a glimpse into a much larger world. The characters themselves were wonderful! I loved Weslan and Ella and Zel and the girls. I will say that I did not see the big reveal at the end coming until I was right up on it and so now I'm super pumped to read book two (and I hear there's a third in the making!!!). I liked how real they felt. Each character displayed an array of emotions and reactions to the people and situations around them. And the romance was slow and sweet. There are quite a few bits I wouldn't have minded to see from Weslan's pov, honestly. Ooh, and the plot, y'all! I was drawn in from chapter one. Lee kinda throws you into the deep end of the pool with her world and the setup, but she gave me just enough information at just the right time that I never felt frustrated, only curious to learn more. The plot was well-paced with several faster paced points that kept me surging forward for more. The story was very well-written and I can't wait to see more by this author! I will say this, I did wish that last chapter had been just a tiny bit longer. I mean, come on! We spent the whole book building up to that moment and then whoosh it was over in like a few sentences. Though, it wasn't disappointing!

Mild romance, mild violence (nothing graphic, though one of the main plotlines follows a terrorist group), and there were like 6 swear words in the last fourth of the book in a few conversations between some of the guards. Nothing terrible, but it was mild foul language for the paralleled time period. I was actually kind of surprised to see it since the first three quarters of the book had absolutely none. Overall, I'd recommend it to fairytale lovers, probably high school and up. Fated: Cinderella's Story (Destined, #1) I really like fairy tale re tellings when they are done well and this was done really, really well. In fact this may have been the best re telling of Cinderella that I have ever read. I recently of Kindle Unlimited for a free trial (I think I am keeping it!) and as I was looking through the books New Years Eve I came across this. I was unsure about picking it up but I am so glad I did.

The usual tropes of fairy tales were turned upside down here. The evil Stepmother? Not so evil! The mean, ugly and annoying step sisters? Sweet, pretty and lovely girls. The Prince? Well, yes there is a Prince but I will leave it at that. Fairy Godmother? What's that? This story is dark yet hopeful. Full of magic, romance and love. I always felt that Cinderella in the classic was a hero in many ways. Her kindness in the face of being victimized made her a hero in her own way but THIS Cinderella was a true hero!! The world building is excellent and I am so excited that I am about to read the second book in the series!

Fated: Cinderella's Story (Destined, #1) 3.5 stars

This is probably the most unique spin on Cinderella that I've read. I'm not a fan of Cinderella's story for many reasons, but this handled those amazingly. Cinderella is not a weak-willed, broken person. She's determined, smart, ambitious, and kind.

She wins the rare honor to attend the Academy where if she graduates well she can improve her family's circumstances. Instead of being cruel, her step-mother and sisters(who aren't really related) are generally nice people who unfortunately need to stay hidden to stay safe. They've allowed rumors to circulate that Ella is mistreated and so on in hopes that it'll keep her protected.

Everything comes crashing down when an attack on the Academy during the finals not only puts Ella in the hospital draining her family's finances, but also snatches away her chance to complete the exam.

Schooling down the drain and her dream vanishing before her eyes, Cinderella tries to pick up the pieces of her life. Scarred, and without a hope of advancing, she pours her energy into the bakery. Alongside is a mage who's been blacklisted. Together they combine their talents to take their business to new heights.

But someone out there doesn't want them to succeed and Ella can't tell if the creepy threats she's getting are real or just her traumatized mind cooking up things after the attack.

An interesting, original world with flaws that maybe, just maybe, Ella can help fix. The romance or rather the relationship between Ella and Wes started out a little strange for me. I had a hard time completely believing the shift from two people who can't stand each other to two people who worked together perfectly and liked each other. The dislike at the start was believable, and the partnership after the shift was also. It was the transition itself that felt rocky. Smooth road on either side but a nasty speedbump? Fated: Cinderella's Story (Destined, #1) A Cinderella retelling that gets lots of points for creativity. It twists the story in interesting ways--the stepmother and stepsisters are kind, Cinderella has lots of reason for working so hard--and ties in other fairy tales. The world-building is the best part. No generic fairy tale kingdom here--this takes place in a slightly 1930s-flavored city that has a lot of detail to the history, political and class structure, and magic system. The plot has too much happening for the length (it feels like we skim the surface of a thousand disasters and don't dig into the full depth of many of of them). Often, plot happenings or character decisions don't make complete sense. The ending feels slightly unsatisfying because (avoiding spoilers) Cinderella seems more satisfied with it than she should be. And the romance feels a bit cheesy and clunky, especially in the first portion of the book. But the book is above-average for an indie fairy tale retelling. Fated: Cinderella's Story (Destined, #1)

I really enjoyed reading this book! Fated was a very unique twist on a beloved fairytale. It was well-written and easy to follow with a nice plotline that kept you guessing. It’s not dark, but it’s a nice reprieve from the fluffier, more lighthearted fairytale reads
The main character, Ella Stone, is strong-willed and determined, an admirable heroine whose plight was believable and sometimes even relatable. How often have we all felt despised and scorned when we find ourselves out of place? And yet, most of us have kind, loving families to be there for us, don’t we? Ella’s stepfamily is nothing like the original. Her stepmother is definitely the actual parental figure in this story, and both her stepsisters are sweet and lovely.
Then there’s Weslan…
Seriously, Weslan is the most awesome hero ever. His weaknesses weren’t watered down or overlooked, but neither is his wonderful amazingness. No one else is more deserving of Ella than he is! Theirs are just about one of the sweetest romances I’ve ever read.
Wait. This is supposed to be a book review. I should stop before I begin rambling about the characters.
Which leaves… well, the awesome world-building and fairytale elements, of course. But since we’re dealing with a really unique little storyworld here, it is absolutely safe to say that the original elements have been (discreetly, quietly) whacked upside the head and rearranged to make a whole lot more sense, especially in this interesting world of Theros. And, might I mention: there were some pretty seriously tortuous mouthwatering descriptions of cake. (Caaaaaaaake…)
So, now I have to explain to you that this book was quite clean– no graphic violence, no intolerable language, no uncomfortable romance scenes, and no glorified evils (although, I guess that is entirely up to your degree of tolerance?).
All in all, this book was FANTASTIC. I’m definitely continuing this series. I’d give it a 4.5 star rating (except I hate giving half-stars and am currently debating wondering if I should maybe be funny and just round it up to a solid 5). So glad I’ve finally decided to pick up these books!! Fated: Cinderella's Story (Destined, #1) This series has an dystopian feel to it, set in a carefully crafted fantasy world with a caste system based on magic and political power. The Cinderella character works hard to support her family and raise their standard of living against incredible odds. She is an interesting character who never quits, even when plagued by self-doubt along with an oppressive system and evil mages. Her love interest is a mage who's been dumped from the system because of his weak magic and lazy rebellion.

This is an intriguing book with beautiful writing. Readers who like slightly darker and more serious retellings will love it. Fated: Cinderella's Story (Destined, #1) 3.5 This one was really hard for me to get into. It starts off quickly but because of the unexpected world it takes place in, the story was confusing. By the time I started to understand the world the story seemed a bit tedious. So I took a break and read some other books before I came back to this one. I did like the story, I liked how everything ended up but I probably won’t read the rest any time soon. Until I’m in the mood for dystopian, this felt more dystopian than reimagined fairytale. In the end, I enjoyed that it wasn’t typical fairytale. Fated: Cinderella's Story (Destined, #1) Honestly torn between a 2 and 3. The twist was very original and I enjoyed this new world, but the characters were not likable and that made it difficult to root for them.

Ariella has quite the chip in her shoulder supporting a family of mages-in-hiding. To help keep the secret, she single-handedly runs the family bakery and let’s everyone think her stepmother is using her as slave labor. Being a commoner, she’s the lowest of the low in their society. Her bright light is that she’s earned a scholarship at an elite school and can get a cushy government job once she graduates. Unfortunately, after a bomb goes off at her final exam (dashing her chance of graduation), she’s left injured, penniless, and without prospects.

Given her difficult circumstances, I do feel bad for Ariella. She’s hardworking, which is admirable, and she really does love her stepfamily. But for a good chunk of the book, she’s really abrasive and I just couldn’t make myself like her. Likewise, Weslan is also down on his luck but was a bit of a jack at the beginning. Again, both had reason to be so but it wasn’t the best introduction.

The romance was also odd. Honestly, they were just fighting and hurling insults for the first half and had moments of just physical attraction. When they do decide to just bury the hatchet and start anew, it still felt more like a comfortable friendship as opposed to a slow burn romance. Perhaps I’m just picky, but I like to see/feel the emotional attachment and not just a physical pull.

Zel and the twins were so-so. Most likely we’ll get to know them better in the sequels. Gregor was probably my favorite but alas. We’re meant to know other people instead.

Overall, it’s okay. The prince storyline had great potential but it was a bit of a letdown (something else to be explored in the future). The world and the twists were original and interesting, but the characters were just so-so for me. Fated: Cinderella's Story (Destined, #1) Awesome twist!

This was a great take on Cinderella’s story and definitely worth the read. I love that it wasn’t so wrapped up in being a love story and that Ella was a strong female lead. I would love to continue the story and find out more about the other characters. Fated: Cinderella's Story (Destined, #1)