The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines

5 stars
R-2 ish. Just innuendo.

I love the quote on the cover: "These princesses will give 'Charlie's Angels' a serious run for the money, and leave 'em in the dust." -- Esther Friesner

One thing's for sure-- these are NOT Disney Princesses! (Well, okay, Megara may fight right in... and maybe Esmerelda, but neither is technically a princess.)

This book is officially on my "need to own" list. Though not in first person, and therefore not as snarky as Lisa Shearin's books, there's something about the urban-ish flavor that reminded me of Raine. And you know how I love the Raine Benares books by Lisa Shearin. (Or maybe your a newcomer and don't, in which case scroll down and find the Lisa Shearin tag in my cloud over there. There are plenty of posts to be found!)

Danielle de Glas (aka Cinderella) is not sure this whole princess thing is going well. She tries to pay attention to all the proper forms of address that she must learn, but really? They want her to memorize how many by the end of the week?? Sigh.

But then that's completely driven out of her mind when her stepsister shows up and tries to kill her. She's saved by a dove, a pigeon, and Talia, a personal attendant to the queen... who just happens to be Sleeping Beauty (Talia, not the queen).

Now they've got to find Prince Armand, Cinderella's husband, whom her stepsisters have spirited off to who-knows-where. Snow White rounds out the party as they head to Cinderella's father's house to look for some clues... or maybe even some stepsisters. After all, they're not known for being real smart.

Absolutely delightful. From Cinderella, who starts out seriously out of her depth, to Talia/Sleeping Beauty who has... issues... to say the least, to Snow, the flirt with the magic mirrors, those stepsisters just may not know what hit them.

This definitely has a dark edge, though, since it draws heavily on the original Grimm stories. Which are not real pleasant. To say the least. But overall, The Stepsister Scheme is just good kick-butt fun!

**The sequel is coming out soon... if it's not out now. It's called The Mermaid's Madness.... and I don't think we'll be seeing Flounder or Sebastian. :D