Review--Cold Hearted by Serena Valentino

 

This was supposed to be her happily ever after...

It’s a familiar tale: A kind and beautiful young girl, reeling from loss. A doting father, frantic to bring a mother’s love back into his daughter’s life. And the selfish, cruel woman who insinuates herself into that family―a woman so unfeeling, so cold hearted, that when her new husband dies, she makes the girl a servant in her own home.

But who is that evil stepmother, that icy lady of the house? How did she become so closed off that, in the face of a child’s grief, she thought only to seek wealth and power for herself and her abhorrent daughters? Before that fateful ball, before the glass slipper and the prince, there was another story―a story of love and grief, of hope and of dreams dashed. It is the story of Lady Tremaine.

Even the coldest of villains are sometimes wives and mothers, women who loved and lost and hoped for something grander for their lives . . . once upon a dream.

The latest novel in Serena Valentino’s deliciously devious Villains series introduces the most famed and hated wicked stepmother of them all―but turns everything you know about her on its head. 

As a lover of Disney, I must say that Serena Valentino's Villains series is one of the greatest things ever! For years we fell in love with Disney movies and rooted for the princess for getting her happy ending, but it always makes you wonder, what that villain's story was. What made them be so cold and cruel? Well, in Cold Hearted, we finally get to know about Lady Tremaine herself...and the tragic story that unfolded.

Lady Tremaine's first husband had passed away a few years ago, and she's been alone ever since. Well, not entirely alone, as she has her daughters, and her staff who she came to think of as family. Lady Tremaine was a very thoughtful and considerate woman in fact. You almost wouldn't believe this was going to be the wicked stepmother in Cinderella's story. But as we've learned in this series, things are not always what they appear to be. There always seems to be a higher power at work, whether this is to have any connection with Walt, himself, remains unknown, lol. I mean, Once Upon a Time, the TV series brought in "the writer," so who's to say. Of course, I am still three books from being caught up!

It was Lady Tremaine's friend who pushed her to meet Sir Richard, who was also a recent widower. She thought they would be a great match for one another. Lady Tremaine was surprised to find how quickly she was falling for him and then he suddenly proposes to her on the spot and before she knows it, she's accepting and he's insisting that she and her daughters move in with him in the Many Kingdoms right away. Things move alarmingly fast and before she knows it, she's married and her husband is rushing off to see the king about other matters, leaving her behind with her children, and his daughter, Cinderella.

Lady Tremaine continues to try to be the best mother and wife to her husband and Cinderella, but fate, of course, is working against her. For Sir Richard is not the man she thought he was at all. Cinderella, is a beautiful and sweet little girl, but also very straight forward. While Lady Tremaine wishes to be her mother, Cinderella will only call her by name or as "stepmother."

This story broke my heart...as pretty much all these villain stories have. They are not the people we thought they were. True, circumstances and fate have had a hand in their behaviors and outcomes, but they started out as decent people. Lady Tremaine was one of them. She thought she was getting a second chance at love, but was proven wrong.

The story pretty much leads us up to the point in which the movie starts and dose a little fast forwarding through some events and gives us the sequel we didn't know we needed...and no, not that Cinderella 2 or 3 nonsense! This is a different kind of epilogue to the movie that makes things seem a little lighter, perhaps? 

Serena Valentino opens the eyes of Disney fans everywhere with her cutting edge Villains series. There are always two sides to every story and while we thought we knew these Disney movies well, we are reminded that we do not know everything.

If you're a Disney fan and have enjoyed some of the other outstanding series that we have out there such as Twisted Tales or Disney Princes, then I highly recommend checking out the one that started it all with the Villains series. It's not truly necessary to read the books in publishing order, although there are occasional appearances of the famous Odd Sisters, who work things behind the scenes of all these incredible stories and they have a story of their own that gets told throughout which may cause some confusion if read out of order, but essentially, each book belongs to the villain in question and can be enjoyed in whichever way you choose!

Overall Rating 5/5 stars