Just Ella

Just Ella
By: Margaret Peterson Haddix

Description on the back: Happily Never After. It's a familiar story: In spite of the obstacles put in her way by her wicked stepmother, Ella goes to the ball, sweeps Prince charming off his feet, and is chosen to be his bride. Now she's comfortably ensconced in the palace, awaiting marriage to the man of her dreams. It's happily ever after time, right? Wrong! Life for Ella has become an endless round of lessons and restrictions; even worse, prince Charming turn out to be more like Prince Boring. Why can't she talk with him the way she can with Jed, her earnest young tutor? Slowly, Ella comes to realize she doesn't want the life she fought to hard to win. But breaking her engagement proves more difficult-and dangerous-than escaping her stepmother's tyranny.

I found this book while skimming through books at D.I. and remembered loving it as a child (okay, I was more like 12 or 13). :) This book only took me a few hours to read and I was laughing out loud in quite a few spots. The plot is fairly predictable, but still a fun twist on the Cinderella story.