I received this picture book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

A delightful spin on the Cinderella fairy tale. What if the wrong maiden got the slippers… and what if they fitted her perfectly?

The book is all about our shoemaker, he tells us in rhyme about his life and his work. All told in a very annoying scroll kind of manner. I actually was happy when that scroll wasn’t there in some of the pages. We see him meet the godmother, though for some reason she forgot the shoes (who forgets the shoes????) and she is out of power (what is she a battery???). Thankfully this bland shoemaker has the shoe for her.

We learn how the shoe fitted another maiden, and I had quite a laugh though I wished that he would have been honest and said no. I get it dude, you love her, but she is clearly more invested in the prince than you. Sorry guy. Counterfeit is probably not going to work for you. Plus, not to mention you are ruining the chances of that other girl who, as you know, has a pretty crappy life. She could lead a life of happiness and joy.

I was so not a fan of Mona, what a total wart. Way too desperate and the prince was also not helping. Dude, if you think something is amiss, then just search her bag or check things out. sighs Fairy tales….

I had a laugh at the very angry fairy godmother popping up, dang she looks so sweet and cute but she can also look fierce and bloodthirsty, I actually feel sorry for those people who cross her path the wrong way.

The magic part and how they went on to fix it was pretty fun and I was happy that it would probably end the way I hoped it would end. Though I am still not shipping Mona and the shoemaker together. Oh no. I was just rolling my eyes at it all. Why does it have to end like this? sighs It was just way too convenient. Way too magical, even if the fairy states that she didn’t hex Mona with a love spell. I am fairly certain she did.

So, quite an interesting twist on the fairy tale story, but yeah, I am not too delighted with it in the end. Happy for Cinderella, and I guess for the shoemaker, but with the exception of Cinderella’s happy ending, I just didn’t feel the shoe maker’s one.
But the art was just fabulous, I love the style so much. And the rhyming was fun too. I will still be rating this a 3 star, which still means I mostly enjoyed myself!