Cinder and Ella Review

I have been meaning to start actually writing reviews for the books I have been reading, but I just haven’t gotten to it until today.

The first book I’m going to review is Cinder and Ella by: Kelly Oram.

This book is about an internet relationship between two individuals. They started messaging each other and over the past three years, they became best friends. Ellamara gets into an accident early on in the book and it leaves her scared and crippled. She’s forced to move in with the dad that abandoned her ten years ago, who has a whole new family. Brian is the hottest new up and coming celebrity. His life is hectic with the release of his newest movie and a relationship he didn’t ask for. They don’t know who the other is, but they are friends nonetheless.

Having read and loved two other books by Kelly Oram, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on another. Her writing is just so gripping and all the books I’ve read by her, I couldn’t put down. Her character are witty and her books are just so entertaining.

With that said, I want to mention that I typically shy away from books like this one. The young adult genre can be filled to the brim with the characters main concerns being about having sex and the raging emotions. I don’t enjoy reading that, so I’m always careful when picking up a YA book (normally I’ve stuck with dystopian YA). However, this book was amazing and had didn’t have any of that to bother me. Yes, there was mention of Brian hooking up with girls and he’s a merciless flirt, but the book didn’t cross any of my lines.

I loved that Kelly Oram didn’t shy away from the issues that Ella was going through. From anxiety to depression to bullying, everything felt real. Ella’s character had so much more depth than I ever imagined when I read the synopsis. The book doesn’t do what so many others have – to their detriment – and act like after something so traumatic, the main character could just move on. This book showed Ella’s scars in a way that really endeared her to me and I felt all her wounds as she did.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there was tons of fun banter between Cinder (Brian) and Ella. I laughed and gasped so many times during this book. As many times as it was serious, the book was also lighthearted and funny.

This book exceeded my expectations (which were high to begin with, since I had loved other of Kelly’s books) and I recommend it to anyone that loves a lighthearted, fun, and emotional romance.

Lastly here are a few quotes that struck me and I just had to stop and reread them a few times before I could keep reading the book:

“A great character needs trials to overcome – experiences to give them depth, to make them vulnerable, relatable, and likable. Good characters need hardships to make them strong. The idea makes sense, but it still sucks if you’re the heroine.”

“‘You want to know why you’ve never been able to make me cry?’ I asked. ‘Because you’re trying to tear down someone who’s already hit rock bottom. You can’t make me feel any worse about myself than I already do.’” (I just about cried with this.)

“I’d always wondered how such a hero, who spent so much time helping others, could be the villain of my story.”