What would you do if your anonymous Internet best friend turned out to be Hollywood’s hottest celebrity? It’s been almost a year since eighteen-year-old Ella Rodriguez was in a car accident that left her crippled, scarred, and without a mother. After a very difficult recovery, she’s been uprooted across the country and forced into the custody of a father that abandoned her when she was a young child. If Ella wants to escape her father’s home and her awful new stepfamily, she must convince her doctors that she’s capable, both physically and emotionally, of living on her own. The problem is, she’s not ready yet. The only way she can think of to start healing is by reconnecting with the one person left in the world who’s ever meant anything to her—her anonymous Internet best friend, Cinder. Hollywood sensation Brian Oliver has a reputation for being trouble. There’s major buzz around his performance in his upcoming film The Druid Prince, but his management team says he won’t make the transition from teen heartthrob to serious A-list actor unless he can prove he’s left his wild days behind and become a mature adult. In order to douse the flames on Brian’s bad-boy reputation, his management stages a fake engagement for him to his co-star Kaylee. Brian isn’t thrilled with the arrangement—or his fake fiancée—but decides he’ll suffer through it if it means he’ll get an Oscar nomination. Then a surprise email from an old Internet friend changes everything. … With a heartwarming online celebrity romance reminiscent of Jennifer E. Smith’s This Is What Happy Looks Like, bestselling young adult author Kelly Oram has struck gold with her new adult contemporary retelling of the timeless fairytale classic Cinderella.
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- YA Fiction & Indies
- Young Adult Indie
- Cinder & Ella
Cinder & Ella
Author(s)
Publisher Name
Bluefields Publishing
Genre(s)
Age Range
13+
Release Date
October 01, 2014
ISBN13
978-0991457953
ISBN10 or ASIN
What would you do if your anonymous Internet best friend turned out to be Hollywood’s hottest celebrity? It’s been almost a year since eighteen-year-old Ella Rodriguez was in a car accident that left her crippled, scarred, and without a mother. After a very difficult recovery, she’s been uprooted across the country and forced into the custody of a father that abandoned her when she was a young child. If Ella wants to escape her father’s home and her awful new stepfamily, she must convince her doctors that she’s capable, both physically and emotionally, of living on her own. The problem is, she’s not ready yet. The only way she can think of to start healing is by reconnecting with the one person left in the world who’s ever meant anything to her—her anonymous Internet best friend, Cinder. Hollywood sensation Brian Oliver has a reputation for being trouble. There’s major buzz around his performance in his upcoming film The Druid Prince, but his management team says he won’t make the transition from teen heartthrob to serious A-list actor unless he can prove he’s left his wild days behind and become a mature adult. In order to douse the flames on Brian’s bad-boy reputation, his management stages a fake engagement for him to his co-star Kaylee. Brian isn’t thrilled with the arrangement—or his fake fiancée—but decides he’ll suffer through it if it means he’ll get an Oscar nomination. Then a surprise email from an old Internet friend changes everything. … With a heartwarming online celebrity romance reminiscent of Jennifer E. Smith’s This Is What Happy Looks Like, bestselling young adult author Kelly Oram has struck gold with her new adult contemporary retelling of the timeless fairytale classic Cinderella.
Editor reviews
2 reviews
Perfect as it could be.
(Updated: June 04, 2026)
Overall rating
5.0
Writing Style
5.0
Plot
5.0
Characters
5.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
N/A
If perfection was possible in literature, Cinder & Ella would be case and point. But alas, reading is subjective so we'll just have to say this book is perfect for those who love a heart-warming love story with a lot of bumps and bruises (or burns) along the way.
The story:
Ella is a young girl who loves her mom, loves movies and books, and loves her best friend Cinder. Only, she doesn't know who Cinder is exactly. He's her online friend who knows her better than anyone.
Cinder in real life is a movie star, picking up the role in the very same movie where his nickname Cinder comes from. Even through all of that, he finds himself falling in love with a girl he doesn't know, a girl who suddenly disappears from his life taking his heart with her.
The accident. It changes Ella's life, taking her mom and sending her into a world of disability, pain, and life with a father who abandoned her and his family who doesn't want her. It isn't until she gets the courage to message Cinder again that she can start putting the pieces of her life back together, even if they don't quite fit as they did before.
What I loved:
Everything.
This is not simply a love story, even though that is the main goal. The accident that left Ella with burns and a walking disability took all normalcy from her life. She is suddenly "that girl" and she has to navigate a world that is much crueler than it was before. Anyone who has experience with a physical disability is able to relate to her on another level. It's handled with grace and heart-wrenching realism. This book will have you crying on every other page, in between the glimmers of hope. It's storytelling at it's finest, making you feel so many things at the same time. It leaves you devastated and yet contentedly happy in the end.
What I didn't like:
Absolutely nothing.
Final Verdict:
A masterful tale of a young girl facing enough adversity to break her down, only to show the reader just how strong you can be when you have no other choice. A book no reader could ever forget.
The story:
Ella is a young girl who loves her mom, loves movies and books, and loves her best friend Cinder. Only, she doesn't know who Cinder is exactly. He's her online friend who knows her better than anyone.
Cinder in real life is a movie star, picking up the role in the very same movie where his nickname Cinder comes from. Even through all of that, he finds himself falling in love with a girl he doesn't know, a girl who suddenly disappears from his life taking his heart with her.
The accident. It changes Ella's life, taking her mom and sending her into a world of disability, pain, and life with a father who abandoned her and his family who doesn't want her. It isn't until she gets the courage to message Cinder again that she can start putting the pieces of her life back together, even if they don't quite fit as they did before.
What I loved:
Everything.
This is not simply a love story, even though that is the main goal. The accident that left Ella with burns and a walking disability took all normalcy from her life. She is suddenly "that girl" and she has to navigate a world that is much crueler than it was before. Anyone who has experience with a physical disability is able to relate to her on another level. It's handled with grace and heart-wrenching realism. This book will have you crying on every other page, in between the glimmers of hope. It's storytelling at it's finest, making you feel so many things at the same time. It leaves you devastated and yet contentedly happy in the end.
What I didn't like:
Absolutely nothing.
Final Verdict:
A masterful tale of a young girl facing enough adversity to break her down, only to show the reader just how strong you can be when you have no other choice. A book no reader could ever forget.
User reviews
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Complicated feelings
(Updated: June 04, 2026)
I have such mixed feelings about this book. When I first read it, I gave it a stellar review but knowing that it doesn't have the best representation makes me feel weird about that now. I'm going to include my original review but know that it's not great as far as latinx/disability rep.
This book was REALLY good!!! I loved it so much and I really loved this as Cinderella retelling. It was completely different from any Cinderella retelling I've read before while still maintaining some of the classic elements of the fairytale.
I found the romance to be really sweet and touching. It was obvious that Ella and Brian truly loved one another just from their messages and phone calls. I loved seeing their relationship develop and seeing how they interacted with one another. They were really precious and I'm so excited to see more of them in the sequel.
I also really loved that Ella was disabled and biracial. It was so nice to see representation like that and I loved that she got her happily ever after. Ella was such a great character and I really empathized with her a lot. I got so emotional about some of the things that happened to her and I just really loved her as a character. She was really well-rounded and I'm excited to see where her story goes.
I liked Brian sometimes, mostly when he was talking with Ella or was thinking about her. He got on my nerves sometimes because he's incredibly arrogant and can be kind of sexist or obnoxious. But I did like him as a suitor for Ella and he was very romantic and loving with her, which I really liked.
I thought this was such a good twist on the classic Cinderella story and I'm eager to see where Ella and Brian go from here!
This book was REALLY good!!! I loved it so much and I really loved this as Cinderella retelling. It was completely different from any Cinderella retelling I've read before while still maintaining some of the classic elements of the fairytale.
I found the romance to be really sweet and touching. It was obvious that Ella and Brian truly loved one another just from their messages and phone calls. I loved seeing their relationship develop and seeing how they interacted with one another. They were really precious and I'm so excited to see more of them in the sequel.
I also really loved that Ella was disabled and biracial. It was so nice to see representation like that and I loved that she got her happily ever after. Ella was such a great character and I really empathized with her a lot. I got so emotional about some of the things that happened to her and I just really loved her as a character. She was really well-rounded and I'm excited to see where her story goes.
I liked Brian sometimes, mostly when he was talking with Ella or was thinking about her. He got on my nerves sometimes because he's incredibly arrogant and can be kind of sexist or obnoxious. But I did like him as a suitor for Ella and he was very romantic and loving with her, which I really liked.
I thought this was such a good twist on the classic Cinderella story and I'm eager to see where Ella and Brian go from here!
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