I believe every young girl hopes a
prince will come along and rescue her from whatever fate may have in store for
her. I never thought it would be possible for a prince to come along and for
the girl to deny the possibility of a happily ever after, but in Mechanica by Besty Cornwell, the reader
gets exactly that---a girl who simply says no to the boy. A modern day,
Steampunk, Cinderella story is the tale of Nicolette, who has been left to a
wicked stepmother and two evil stepsisters, but this story has a bit of fairy
revolution in it as well.
When Nicolette turns 16 she is given a
letter from her deceased Mother; the letter leads her to a secret room in the
house where Nicolette meets a tiny, mechanical horse her mother has left her.
With a little fairy magic and her Mother's journals, Nicolette is able to
invent machines to help with menial chores and later sale them to escape her
life of service. Nicolette, renamed Mechanica because of her ability to build
mechanical things and her nickname of Nick, befriends two kids in the market
who help aspire her to help in the Fey revolution, and encourage her to become
more than just a maid to the two insolent stepsisters.
I was thoroughly impressed by the
atypical ending to this fairy tale. This book does not give its readers romance
or stereo typical characters. It is a cleverly written story about a young girl
who figures her happily-ever-after life depends on only one person---and that
person is her.
You can read the entire review at Books & WhatNot
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