Cinderella Boy by Kristina Meister

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Blurb


Being perfect isn't all it's cracked up to be.Sixteen-year-old Declan is the perfect son . . . except for one tiny issue. When his sister Delia comes home to find him trying on her clothes, he fears her judgment, but she only fears his fashion choices. One quick makeover later, Declan is transformed into Delia’s mysterious cousin Layla and dragged to the party of the year, hosted by Carter, the most popular boy in school.

When Carter meets Layla, he fumbles to charm her. He adores her sense of humor and her poise. But when she vanishes in the middle of the night, he’s left confused and determined to solve the mystery of who she is.

As their school year begins, their high school embraces a policy of intolerance, and both Declan and Carter know they must stand up. Carter is tired of being a coward and wants to prove he can be a knight in shining armor. Declan is sick of being bullied and wants desperately to be himself. If they team up, it could be a fairy-tale ending, or a very unhappy ever after.

Word count: 89,400; page count: 346


REVIEW
My Rating - 5 Stars!


I am completely blown away by Cinderella Boy, by Kristina Meister.

It is refreshing to have a book that covers genderfluidity in teens. 

I am sure people will complain about some things. Most likely some won't like the way that Declan lies. And I can just hear people thinking these kids aren't representative of average teens, with the way they talk. But, I don't agree that these are problems.

The lying is perfectly acceptable because of the reason it was done. And these are intelligent teens, and teens like this do actually exist.  In fact, I admire how much Carter changes during this story.

The way the kids stand up for what is right reminds me of teens we are currently seeing in the news and I love seeing this in a story. We need stories like this. 

Cinderella Boy is well done, written in an inspiring way, with a lot of feeling and maturity about this all too important subject. I hope this book by Kristina Meister gets the following it deserves. And please recommend it to any teens who can relate to genderfluidity and/or LGBT issues in general.