Review: The Cinderella Moment by Jennifer Kloester

Sometimes fairy tales do happen, but not in the way we expect it to.

Title: The Cinderella Moment by Jennifer Kloester
Release Date: July 24th 2013
Published by: Penguin Australia
Source: Publisher (Thanks, Tina!)
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Summary:

A love of fashion.

A couture competition.

A once-in-a-lifetime chance . . .

Angel Moncoeur has always wanted to be a fashion designer, but without money or connections, it's going to be a challenge. When an opportunity to leave her home in New York and head to Paris appears, Angel grabs it – even if it means masquerading as her best friend Lily. That can't be too hard, can it?

But faking things doesn't come easy for Angel, so when she falls in love with her very own Prince Charming and he thinks she's someone else, things start to get complicated.

Angel needs to stop her secrets unraveling if she wants to live happily ever after . . .

It's a lovely, romantic story reminiscent of Cinderella. A poor girl, Angel, dreams of becoming a fashion designer. She had the talent but lacks the necessary tools to make it come true, that is, until she was presented with an opportunity to swap places with her best friend and stay in Paris for two weeks. Angel had a mission, aside from pretending to be the granddaughter of a Comtesse, she had to take back the design stolen from her by her best friend's soon to be new sister. What Angel didn't count for was that besides the lavish lifestyle, she'll fall in love. Worse, she'll find out that she's not the only ones with secrets to keep.

From the onset, Angel is your typical protagonist, a young girl wracked with loneliness and grief from the passing of her father and worrying over a mother who wouldn't share her pain with her daughter. She's nice, sometimes unbelievably so. What I liked about her was despite knowing fully well that she doesn't have the means, she was persevering to achieve her dream in her own way. Poverty and lack of money won't stop her. It felt so wrong having such an honest person like her get cheated off with her hard work and I found myself cheering for her despite the circumstances that brought her to Paris. You'll find yourself wishing for something good to happen to Angel because of the way she was, and because she deserves it.

It's easy to identify who stands in the way of Angel fulfilling her dream, and both Margot and Clarisse fit the role of the evil stepmother and stepsister. Although the novel was more focused on Angel's adventures in Paris, Margot and Clarisse were given enough time to be villains. What is a fairy tale without them, anyway?

I was immersed in the summer season the same way Angel was. Was it possible to live such a lavish, luxurious lifestyle? The author made sure to give the readers a peek at how it was to be a debutante from the upper echelons of society, welcoming readers like me to high fashion, couture, the complicated but very indulgent lifestyle of the rich and how it feels to be one of the few lucky ones to be in the same social circles as the sons and daughters of royalty. The places mentioned in the book was enough to rouse my curiosity and think of going to Paris to explore the places Angel went to. The moments between Angel and Nick left a small smile on my face. They both made me laugh and feel so giddy every time they talk and interact with each other! It was almost too good to be true, and the way their relationship blossomed, despite the lies and the secrets, made me feel a little warm inside.

The Cinderella Moment is an awfully sweet story, though a little bit dramatic at times. There are moments in this novel that felt unbelievable, but I chose to think of it as a part of a fairy tale. It's not a fairy tale if you don't lend a little bit of make believe and cut the characters some slack. The drama, the problems and the dilemma Angel faced both concerning her family, her future and her one chance at love felt a little bit exaggerated. Do things do fall into place that easily? Was it that easy to forgive? What are the chances that all of that happened to Angel weren't coincidental? But you know what? I can turn a blind eye for all those little issues because I am swept away by the story. It was enough that Jennifer Kloester made me want to believe that happy endings do exist after all with the way she wrote this book.

Content (plot, story flow, character):

I felt like I was watching another re-telling of Cinderella while I was reading this book, and it's good. It's your typical fairy tale type of book, but Jennifer Kloester did a great job in making it feel that way. I do think that Margot, Clarisse and even the Comtesse we're a bit overdramatic, which lessened the appeal of the story a little bit, but I love the rest of it.
Shining: Worthy of a Goddess' Love!

Book Cover:
It's so pretty although I would've loved it if the girl wore the same dress Angel made for her Teen Couture entry.