Glass Across the Sea is similar to a Cinderella retelling, but it’s too unique to be exactly a retelling. There were definite nods to the popular Cinderella stories.

1. Noelle Perrault, the MC, has the same last name as one of the original authors, Charles Perrault.
2. There’s a prince, but Cinderella knows him her whole life (not insta love) so similar to Ever After in how the MC met the prince before the ball.
3. There was a mean stepmother type, Lady Charmange, which sounds like Lady Tremaine, the Disney Cinderella stepmother. Since Noelle’s mother is still alive, the woman was more a caretaker, but she was perfectly horrible to Noelle, which is probably exactly what the author wanted. It brought back those awful feelings the Disney’s stepmother produced when I was a child. I was defensive of my favorite princess.
4. Charmange also sounds a bit like Charmont and he was a prince in Ella Enchanted. Coincidence or planned?
5. There was a slipper left behind, but it wasn’t entirely made of glass.
6. The last comparison, even though there are more, is the glass pumpkin, which is an obvious nod to the Disney Cinderella’s coach.

I loved the messages in this story. The main theme of light over darkness flowed throughout this tale wonderfully. I read this right after writing a similar message in my Snow Queen retelling, but I regress.

A favorite quote among several, “All good men made mistakes. It was what happened after those mistakes that determined who a person was at their core.”

Noelle was truly a kind person and there were a few times, she seemed inhuman in her reactions. It’s a tricky balance to between showing humility and becoming a doormat. Noelle returned cruelty with kindness and didn’t even have an unpleasant thought about Lady Charmange. I think even the Disney Cinderella yelled out some frustrations to the mice about her stepsisters and stepmother. I’m nothing like Noelle, but I don’t think I’m really like Cinderella either. She was my favorite because of the possibilities of rising above your current station and reaching for your dreams, but I never wanted to marry a prince or live in a castle.

One last thought to this lengthy review. The magical system was a bit complicated for me. I’m sure if I reread this with a physical instead of an audio book, I may have a new take on it, but when Noelle gets to the island and tries to reverse curses, it was a bit convoluted. I know the author started writing a Count of Monte Cristo retelling and it took on it’s own life, so perhaps she was mixing bits of that story, which I struggled to follow also. Despite that, I found my way through the cave to the end and really enjoyed this story.

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