Cold Hearted (Villains)

Product Description

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.

From School Library Journal

Gr 4–6—As this Cinderella backstory unfolds, wealthy London socialite Lady Tremaine, a widow with two young daughters, is swept off her feet by Sir Richard, a dashing visitor from Many Kingdoms. However, Lady Tremaine no sooner sets foot in Sir Richard’s home when her story begins to sour. It is obvious Sir Richard married her for her money and expects her to provide childcare, keep house, and cook. Eventually, after years of a bitter existence, the gentle woman devolves into the legendary wicked stepmother. This latest in Disney’s YA “Villains” series explores how Cinderella’s stepmother was forced by fairy fate into the stereotyped role. After the lengthy backstory concludes, the tale, which reads more like middle grade than YA, quickly wraps up and the potentially intriguing plot is abandoned in a rush to the apparently happy ending. The fairies, who deliberately force Lady Tremaine to become a wicked stepmother, exhibit no remorse or sympathy for the woman, and the stepsisters’ years of abuse and neglect are smoothed away with a closet full of new dresses. VERDICT A unique premise fails to live up to its potential. Purchase if you have dedicated Disney princess fans; otherwise look for better fairy tale rewrites by Robin McKinley, Gail Carson Levine, and others.—Nancy Nadig, Penn Manor Sch. Dist., Lancaster, PA

About the Author

Serena Valentino has been weaving tales that combine mythos and guile for the past decade. She has earned critical acclaim in both the comic and horror domains, where she is known for her unique style of storytelling, bringing her readers into exquisitely frightening worlds filled with terror, beauty, and extraordinary protagonists. The books in her best-selling
Villains series are best enjoyed when read in the following order:
Fairest of All,
The Beast Within,
Poor Unfortunate Soul,
Mistress of All Evil,
Mother Knows Best,
Odd Sisters,

Evil Thing, and
Cold Hearted.