What would you do if your anonymous Internet best friend turned out to be Hollywood’s hottest celebrity?
It’s been almost a year since eighteen-year-old Ella Rodriguez was in a car accident that left her crippled, scarred, and without a mother. After a very difficult recovery, she’s been uprooted across the country and forced into the custody of a father that abandoned her when she was a young child. If Ella wants to escape her father’s home and her awful new stepfamily, she must convince her doctors that she’s capable, both physically and emotionally, of living on her own. The problem is, she’s not ready yet. The only way she can think of to start healing is by reconnecting with the one person left in the world who’s ever meant anything to her - her anonymous Internet best friend, Cinder.
Hollywood sensation Brian Oliver has a reputation for being trouble. There’s major buzz around his performance in his upcoming film The Druid Prince, but his management team says he won’t make the transition from teen heartthrob to serious A-list actor unless he can prove he’s left his wild days behind and become a mature adult. In order to douse the flames on Brian’s bad-boy reputation, his management stages a fake engagement for him to his co-star Kaylee. Brian isn’t thrilled with the arrangement—or his fake fiancée—but decides he’ll suffer through it if it means he’ll get an Oscar nomination. Then a surprise email from an old Internet friend changes everything.
Now I am a massive paranormal fan be it YA, NA or adult, but sometimes I like to dip into other genres, as long as they have some romance to them as truth be told I'm a sucker for a good romance.
I have been a fan of Kelly Oram for a while and think her Supernatural series and Being Jamie Baker books are awesome (some exciting news is that Jamie Baker #3 is coming out this year, squeee). I'd heard lots of good things about Cinder & Ella and it was always popping up in my recommended to you books on Amazon but had just never got around to reading it. Well I decided that after having a bit of a book hangover from a paranormal series I'd just read, the best way to get over it was by switching genres so I decided to give it a go.
I'm so glad I made that choice and am now thinking, why didn't I read this book sooner? This book has one of those great romance stories but with a good dose of reality on the side. It has a truly heart breaking story running through it, but is also full of warmth, growth, friendships and how to deal with the shit that life dishes out to you which Ella really does have a lot to deal with. Brian, well it was kinda hard not to fall for him but there were some points where I felt he needed a kick up the arse and I think Ella delivered those very well. I loved the friendships that Ella eventually managed to make and her support team she had around her they all made the story that much more real. There really were times when I wanted to march right into the book and put my arms around Ella, but she did have people who cared for her, no matter how difficult it was that they did.
I cried, I laughed, I cried some more, I fell in love and then cried even more through this book. You need to be prepared that this book will pull on your heartstrings and emotions, in fact in some places I was a blubbering mess, but I love a book that can make me cry (yes I know that makes me sounds crazy, but who doesn't love a good cry every now and again, it's therapeutic) and feel that for an author to reduce me to tears so many times through the book shows the skill in their writing.
There are certain books that I feel you just can't go through life without reading, Pride & Prejudice; Emma; Jane Eyre; The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and The Hobbit are some of mine. I really feel that this is just one of those books that you can't live without having read once in your life and is being added to my list of books that I recommend to people they must read. I hope that you also give this a try too* and let me know your thoughts on it in the comments below.
*warning do not read this book in public, have a big box of tissues to hand and warn your husband, wife, partner, kids, cat, dog, cockatoo to not disturb you whilst reading but to provide you with lots of chocolate, tea/coffee and to maybe hand you a fresh tissue every now & again
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