Title: Cinder Ellie
Series: Faraway Castle (Book #0.5)
Year: 2018
Author: J.M. Stengl
Summary: Trained by an enchantress but obliged to work summers for her living, fifteen-year-old Ellie Calmer serves as a maid at a world-famous mountain resort. Her lowly rank keeps her always at a distance from the powerful, beautiful guests who spend their summers at Faraway Castle, yet Ellie dares to dream of one day exchanging even just a few words with shy Prince Omar of Khenifra.
But when rare magical creatures show up in Faraway Castle’s gardens, Ellie’s life is suddenly complicated. Cinder sprites are causing fires and potentially endangering the beautiful resort. The resort director has sent for an exterminator to deal with these so-called pests. Can Ellie find a way to use her humble magic to save the cinder sprites and Faraway Castle before disaster strikes? (from Goodreads)
But when rare magical creatures show up in Faraway Castle’s gardens, Ellie’s life is suddenly complicated. Cinder sprites are causing fires and potentially endangering the beautiful resort. The resort director has sent for an exterminator to deal with these so-called pests. Can Ellie find a way to use her humble magic to save the cinder sprites and Faraway Castle before disaster strikes? (from Goodreads)
Main Characters:
~ Ellie
~ Ellie
Review: This short story was just what it promised to be. It's a little bit of fun, fluff, and magic leading up to a new novel. To be honest, I liked it more than I thought I would. Ellie is a fun heroine, and you can't help but want to see her succeed.
I really liked the interesting magical creatures popping up. Immediately in chapter one, we're introduced to a brownie as Ellie performs her maid's duties, and you know this isn't going to be any typical Cinderella story. There are pixies, sprites, lake serpents, and more, and they're just fun to follow. Very fairy-tale-ish. If you're looking for something sweet to read real quick between heavier novels, I'd recommend this one.
Ellie's crush on Prince Omar bothered me a little bit. She has seen him interact kindly with his siblings and thinks well of him based on that, but I felt that the crush sometimes was almost unrealistic. More forced than anything else just because there needed to be a love interest somewhere in this story. Honestly, I think that this whole novella could have flowed a lot more smoothly without Omar getting in the way. I will add to that statement by stating that I realize this book is to set up the adventure and romance in J.M. Stengl's upcoming novel, Ellie and the Prince, and I'd be interested in reading that to see how the relationship progresses. Because right now, I'm rolling my eyes every time Ellie swoons.
No spoilers, but I am very interested in what's going on with the lake serpent. *cough* J.M. Stengl set something big up and never answered. That had better be in the full-length novel!
I really liked the interesting magical creatures popping up. Immediately in chapter one, we're introduced to a brownie as Ellie performs her maid's duties, and you know this isn't going to be any typical Cinderella story. There are pixies, sprites, lake serpents, and more, and they're just fun to follow. Very fairy-tale-ish. If you're looking for something sweet to read real quick between heavier novels, I'd recommend this one.
Ellie's crush on Prince Omar bothered me a little bit. She has seen him interact kindly with his siblings and thinks well of him based on that, but I felt that the crush sometimes was almost unrealistic. More forced than anything else just because there needed to be a love interest somewhere in this story. Honestly, I think that this whole novella could have flowed a lot more smoothly without Omar getting in the way. I will add to that statement by stating that I realize this book is to set up the adventure and romance in J.M. Stengl's upcoming novel, Ellie and the Prince, and I'd be interested in reading that to see how the relationship progresses. Because right now, I'm rolling my eyes every time Ellie swoons.
No spoilers, but I am very interested in what's going on with the lake serpent. *cough* J.M. Stengl set something big up and never answered. That had better be in the full-length novel!
Advisory: This is definitely a magical story. It's full of magical creatures, and Ellie and other characters have various magical abilities. The whole fairy-tale feeling of this story didn't bother me too much with the magic, but it's hard to say definitely just from this small sampling of Ellie's world. Ellie is a human (or so I believe) with the ability to sweet-talk people, but this came across as more of a talent rather than something she learned through magic training. She also works with magical potions. For people wondering about magic in stories, know that the magic is definitely present in this one, but it didn't feel out of the fairy-tale box for me. At least not yet. Again, this is something difficult to discern just from a prequel novella.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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