Ron Vitale

In the past I've read reviews of books and thought 'damn, that was harsh.' And while I maintain that some critics come across as snotty jerks, after reading this book I'm starting to understand that, if forced to read many of similar quality throughout my career, I might start to lose a little bit of my tact despite my best efforts.

As others have mentioned, Cannonball Readers were offered this book (and its sequel - which I will not be reading, because I try to avoid making the same mistake twice) for free with the understanding that we would read quickly and report back.

This is not a horrible book. In fact, I can imagine where the inspiration came - other fairy tales are starting to have origin stories (or perhaps always did, but are experiencing a resurgence now). And the idea of following the 'happily ever after' is really interesting. It just wasn't well done in this instance - there is simultaneously too much and not enough going on in the storytelling, the devise used doesn't really seem to work for this story, and the characters are, in my opinion, almost universally unlikable (including Cinderella).

I have a few issues with this book so I'll work through them here. First off, the author is clearly not short on ideas; unfortunately there is a whole lot of telling and very little showing. Part of that likely comes from the challenge of a first person narrative in diary form, but my experience reading Silver Linings Playbook showed me that it's possible to create a rich, complex and interesting character who is telling the story without filling it with lines like "I know you are a good person." Cinderella may be a good person, but having her best friend say it doesn't do much for me - I prefer a book show it to me. Or perhaps show me she ISN'T a good person, and that her friends don't understand her. Something.

Other times statements were made that suggested something had taken place - the most glaring example was the line "All my training had prepared me for this moment." Huh? Granted, I did find myself bored at times, but I read the whole book, and that line stood out like a sore thumb. Cinderella had been training? I know she was off with her mentor 'getting ready' and 'preparing' but what did that mean? What was the training? How was she 'preparing'? What was she doing? It'd be much more interesting to see her in that moment if I had an understanding of what she was calling upon to get through it.

I also have to disagree with another reviewer who thought the writing was good. I don't think it was horrible, but it wasn't good. As the book is set in Europe during Napoleon's time, the author tries to make the language formal and a bit flowerier. I don't have a lot of experience with modern-day re-tellings of fairy tales but I really, really hope that they don't all suffer from this forced language. It took me nearly half of the book to get past the feeling that every single paragraph was written in a struggle with an author's guide to 19th century writing.

I did appreciate the author's attempt to give the book a bit of a feminist spin, but I think he missed the mark. Nearly all the 'good' women in the book are witches, and every single man she encounters either directly causes her pain or is indifferent to her. If the author was going for 'girl power' and the idea of saving yourself, he seems to have gone a bit too far. I love that she doesn't need a man, but does every man need to be totally unlikable?

I still want to find a book like this that I would enjoy reading - I don't spend nearly enough time reading fiction and I know I'm missing out. I just wish that I hadn't spent the last six days with this one.… (meer)

Fairy tales don't always have happy endings and sometimes there is a lot more to the story that we don't know. In the book Cinderella's Secret Diary (Book 1:Lost), Ron Vitale told what happened to Cinderella after she married the prince. Cinderella's life didn't turn out like she planned. In the end of the book Cinderella is living with her daughter Phoebe in America in the late 1700s. In Stolen:Cinderella's Secret Diaries (Book 2) by Ron Vitale, its 10 years later and Cinderella is still in America and on the run.

The book begins with Cinderella, her daughter and their friend Rene'e on a prairie in America heading west in a wagon. Ten years ago Cinderella discovered she was a witch, Rene'e is also a witch and has been teaching Cinderella to use her powers. The trio of women want to keep their freedom and live in America but dark forces are calling them back to England.

A witch hunter named Jeremiah has been hunting Cinderella for months. He plans to return her to England so she can use her powers to help England win the war against France. French Emperor Napoleon is under the control of the Faerie Queen Mab who wants to destroy Cinderella's powers and rule all of Europe. Cinderella wants to stay out of the war but another force is also pulling her back to England. Cinderella never got over her former lover Henri and she goes to him in her dreams. Queen Mab and the witch hunter are using Cinderella's dreams to track her and soon Cinderella finds herself trapped in a war that only she can stop.

Stolen is a book that works on many different levels and it can fit into several different genres. The story could be considered science fiction with its use of time travel, fantasy with the use of magic, horror as the spirit of pestilence ravages the countryside and alternate history as the story gets into Native American history and European history. There is also is a lot of great battle scenes in the book.

Along with the theme of loving the wrong person and dealing with loneliness the book has great characters. The two main characters in Stolen are Cinderella and Queen Mab, they both love someone who doesn't love them and are lonely. The two women make mistakes that effect everyone around them and the book ends up being about them correcting their mistakes and growing from them.

I loved how Queen Mab is presented as being evil but as you get to know her you sympathize with her and you see her as a shade of grey. All of the characters in Stolen are shades of grey, the villains have their good points and the protagonists have their bad points. They have their own agendas and everyone in the book reminds you of someone you would meet in real life.

My only complaint about the book is that there was almost too much going on. A little over half way through the book, the story gets into time travel and the characters visit so many different locations and times that I found myself getting a little confused. That being said I still was excited to see what would happen next.

Stolen is a fast paced action packed thrill ride with fascinating characters and beautiful settings. I felt that Stolen was better than the first book in the series and I am very curious as to where Ron Vitale will go with the third book in the series. Stolen has something for fans of all genres and you owe it to yourself to give it a chance.… (meer)

Book Giveaway & Review
When Ron Vitale approached me about reading and possibly reviewing Cinderella’s Secret Diary: Lost, I was intrigued by the concept. This is the first book in this new series. Being an extremely curious person, I’ve always wanted to know what happens after fairy tales end. “Happily ever after” has a nice ring to it but what really happens? Although this novel works well as a YA fantasy, it is also going to be very appealing to older readers who always wondered about that “happily ever after” stuff once reality sets in. Ron has generously donated a copy of Cinderella’s Secret Diary, which we’re giving to a lucky reader! Read the rest of my review & enter our giveaway at http://popcornreads.com/?p=2269… (meer)