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'Kalynn Bayron does more than re-write a fairytale ... She breaks it apart and rebuilds it into a wholly original and captivating story where girls finally decide for themselves who lives happily ever after' - New York Times bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer
'A richly diverse and lovely read ... relevant, modern and inclusive' - NetGalley Reviewer
'An intense experience, but a captivating one' - Paper Lanterns Magazine
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It's 200 years since Cinderella found her prince, but the fairytale is over.
Sophia knows the story though, off by heart. Because every girl has to recite it daily, from when she's tiny until the night she's sent to the royal ball for choosing. And every girl knows that she has only one chance. For the lives of those not chosen by a man at the ball . are forfeit.
But Sophia doesn't want to be chosen - she's in love with her best friend, Erin, and hates the idea of being traded like cattle. And when Sophia's night at the ball goes horribly wrong, she must run for her life. Alone and terrified, she finds herself hiding in Cinderella's tomb. And there she meets someone who will show her that she has the power to remake her world .
An electrifying twist on the classic fairytale that will inspire girls to break out of limiting stereotypes and follow their dreams!
For more twisted retellings, look out for Kalynn Bayron's Frankenstein-tinged horror romance, Make Me a Monster, publishing 30 September 2025

Portrait

Kalynn Bayron is the bestselling author of the young-adult novels Cinderella Is Dead, This Poison Heart, This Wicked Fate, You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight, Sleep Like Death and Make Me a Monster as well as the middle-grade series The Vanquishers. She is the winner of the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for YA Fiction 2020 and Wordery's Children's Book of the Year 2020, and has been shortlisted for the Goodreads Choice Award for YA Fantasy 2020 and nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2021. When she's not writing, you can find her listening to Ella Fitzgerald on loop, attending the theatre, watching scary movies and spending time with her kids. She lives in Ithaca, New York, with her family.
kalynnbayron.com
@KalynnBayron