Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell combines a feminist Cinderella story with a beautiful steampunk world.

Nicolette is not your typical Cinderella, and while her story may share some traits with the classic fairy tale, the journey she is on is far different.

Nicolette is living with her step-mother and step-sisters after her inventor of a mother passed when she was young, with her father following not long after he re-married. Nick is not your typical daughter-turned-housemaid. She’s far, far more.

Just like her mother, Nick is an inventor. She uses her machines to make life at home bearable, but she soon discovers she wants more. She doesn’t want to hide her talents, and she certainly doesn’t want to continue living with the Steps.

‘Mechanica’ book review

The Cinderella story is tried and true: Girl’s mother dies, father remarries, he then dies, and Girl inherits a step-family who banishes her to the kitchen to cater to their every whim. Girl finds a fairy godmother who grants her wishes, allowing her to go to the ball and see the prince, where he falls madly in love with her and they live happily ever after.

This is not that story.

Nicolette is on her own. She may get a little help from her mother’s journals and Faerie magic, but everything she accomplishes has been accomplished because of her own talents and knowledge. There is nothing so satisfying as that.

Caro, Nicolette’s newfound friend, smashes stereotypes in her own right. She’s not just curvy, but opulently so, and yet she commands the attention of plenty of men. And while she likes to be a little less than exclusive about it, she is also a talented artist and a caring friend. She’ll do anything for her family, especially her mother, without a second thought as to her own well-being. Those kinds of friends are hard to come by, in fiction or in real life.

The prince is also something else entirely. We won’t give it away, but the relationship he has with both Caro and Nick is interesting, complex, and definitely not what one would expect from a Cinderella story. If you’re looking for a love story, you’ll find one as delicately laced throughout the book as one of Nick’s mechanical, stained glass dragonfly wings, but no more. This is a tale about Girl being her own fairy godmother, and the heights to which she can ascend because of it.

Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell is on sale now. You can add it to your Goodreads list or purchase it from Amazon or IndieBound.