The Cinderella Theorem

The Lily Sparrow Chronicles #1

by Kristee Ravan

Alternate cover for this ASIN can be found here

Fairy tales are naturally non-mathematical. That is a fact, and fifteen-year-old Lily Sparrow loves factual, mathematical logic. So when her mother confesses that Lily’s deceased father is (a) not dead, (b) coming to dinner, and (c) the ruler of a fairy tale kingdom accessible through the upstairs bathtub, Lily clings to her math to help her make sense of this new double life (1 life in the real world + 1 secret life in the fairy tale world = a double life).

Even though it’s not mathematical, Lily finds herself being pulled into a mystery involving an unhappy Cinderella, a greasy sycophant called Levi, and a slew of vanishing fairy tale characters. Racing against the clock, with a sound mathematical plan, Lily attempts to save her fairy tale friends while proving that normality = happiness.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fairy Tales, Fairy Tale Retellings, Adventure, Fiction

391 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 10, 2014

About the author

Kristee Ravan lives in Oklahoma with her husband, children, and pet cats, Kasidy and Rosie. She wanted to be many things as grew up including a general, an artist, and an architect. But she never bothered to say, “I want to be a writer when I grow up.” She was always writing stories and thought of herself as a writer anyway. She sent her first story to a publisher in the sixth grade. (It was rejected—in a nice way.) When she is not making up stories in her head, she enjoys reading, juggling, playing games with her family, and hearing from her fans.

Reviews

[Elaine - Splashes Into Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Using facts + logic = Lily Sparrow’s life.

Mathematics = Lily Sparrow’s favourite subject + her idea of fun.

This story = highly original!

Ok, so enough of the equations for a while at least . . . but you hopefully are getting the idea that this is a decidedly different story, with Lily Sparrow as the super logical, mathematics loving main character. She’s a fifteen year old who has been brought up to believe her father is dead but then learns that he’s actually the king of a fairy tale kingdom, with the awesome name of E. G. Smythe's Salty Fire Land, one she is destined to rule and one where "the impossible is sometimes possible." Now that contravenes all her logical processes - she’s never even been interested in fairy tales before but now gets to meet the characters from them and begins her training in how to keep these same characters happy - they all have to maintain their living happy ever after or their fairy tale and all the associated characters will disappear. Applying logic to help her actually causes more problems than it solves, so get ready for Lily to develop her Cinderella Theorem, testing it out and dealing with the consequences.

The story is written to appeal to folks who are ten years old and older and is packed with great characters, many of whom will be familiar if, unlike Lily, you know many fairy tales. There are villains as well as heroes and heroines and it is great to learn just why some of them became villains in the first place. It is an adventure as Lily tries to maintain her life in both the ‘normal’ world with school, friends and everything else involved whilst also participating in activities in the alternative world, learning how to help the citizens living there and use her experiences to help complete a school project, too. This is a very different story, one that I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend to anyone who likes something unusual with a sprinkle of magic and fairy tales to escape into.

Great story + cliffhanger ending = I need the next book asap!

I received a free copy of this book via YA Bound Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how original this story was! Lily Sparrow is 15 years old and absolutely loves math. Her life is turned upside down when her mother reveals some things that are not compatible with her orderly, mathematical life. She's never bothered to learn about fairy tales and now her life is full of them so she needs to learn them quickly. She tries hard to be rational and logical and return things to "normal." She thinks she has things figured out but makes a bigger mess of things and needs to fix it.

I liked Lily. She experienced a lot of growth as she went from a girl that didn't believe in the nonsense of fairy tales to a girl that wanted to fix her mistakes and show that she truly cared about others. There were parts that you expect to find in a book about fairytales and then there was so much more added to it which kept my attention. I also love that I laughed out loud. A lot.

There are some great characters that Lily works with and I loved getting to know them all. She feels frustration at first and like she's letting people down and her parents encourage her to embrace the role she was born to fill. I liked the villains, too, and learning more about them and how they became villains. I also like that they aren't too scary and look forward to seeing where they go from here.

I'm someone that tolerates math so was interested to see how the author would incorporate math into her story. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading more! I felt that I learned more about both fairytales and math while reading it so I feel smarter now than I was before I started. The ending was great and left me wanting more, so I was glad to get a sneak peek into the next book, Calculating Christmas (which is hopefully coming soon). If you or someone you know loves math, this book is a no brainer! If you don't enjoy math, you will still find plenty about it to love, so give it a chance!!

I received a copy of this book to review. My opinion is 100% my own.

Mel's Shelves

[Kimber Wheaton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

The Cinderella Theorem is a cute YA fantasy about a logic, math-oriented girl who learns her father is the king of a fairy tale kingdom. Though it's billed as a YA novel, I thought it read more like middle-grade and would appeal to younger YA readers. Warning: if you have a math aversion, you might want to avoid this book. Math is life to young Lily, and it can be found on every page.

I can't imagine what it would be like to be fifteen, see the world through a strictly logical mind, only to find out everything you thought fantasy to be fact. But main character Lily rises to the occasion to use her math skills to save the day. I liked Lily, it would be hard not to since she was a rather sweet girl-- however the overall voice grated on my nerves at times.

There was a whole slew of intriguing and fun secondary characters in this novel, not mention lots of funny scenes. Just the whole Dad emerging from the bathtub is enough to set the mood for craziness. I did not like the footnotes on the bottom of the pages. While they were very cute, they still drew me from the story which I found irritating. Take a look at the synopsis with the math symbols-- the book is written like this. It might appeal to some people, but it was another thing that kept me from becoming immersed in the story.

Overall I thought The Cinderella Theorem was a cute fantasy that would appeal to a young YA audience. There were lots of laughs, fun characters, and mayhem in a fast-paced plot.

[J.M. Cagle · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a wonderful read. I like the story very much. I've always enjoyed reading fairy tales so I was really pleased to read about my favorite characters like Cinderella being part of another story and I like castles, balls and princes. I've always wanted reading story about girls living normal lives and then later on they'll find out that they are really princesses. I guess it is because I am still secretly hoping that I am a princess too from another land and my people are actually looking for me.

Lily Sparrow is a very interesting character and I really admire her love for math. Everything in Lily's life is all about equation and I find that very interesting. The other characters introduced in the book are equally likable. I enjoyed the play on the characters of Cinderella and her prince charming Prince Aven. Cinderella who despite being a princess loves to still clean the palace and Prince Aven has a job as map maker.

It is really an entertaining read. Lily Sparrow's adventure through E.G. Smythe Salty Fire Land is amazing and I am glad I get to read it.

I can't wait to know what happens next to Lily and Calo.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all I want to thank the author for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review. So here we go!

I love fairytales who doesn’t? But this isn’t like any other fairytale. Although I realy did like the ending of this book. I’m not going to tell you anything about that. You guys are going to have to find out for yourself. I hate it when someone tells you what is going to happen before you can find out yourself. So that’s why I’m not saying anything about the ending. But it was awesome ;)

At first I was a little bit skeptical. Math and fairytales how can you combine it. I absolutely hate math. I like all things that don’t involve math. So I was wondering if I would be able to put myself over the fact that the main character of the book was always talking in math ‘riddles’. But actually it didn’t bother me at all  The way that the characters interacted are completely genius.

So I can’t wait for the next installment of this series to come out. I will have to check as soon as I finish writing this review.

So for everyone who likes a little bit of magic in their life take some time to read this book, and I’m sure it will wauw you !

[Kendra Ardnek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Math + Fairy Tales + a very distracted authorly mother = a book I thoroughly enjoyed. Romance was minimal but there were hints. Villains were sufficiently greasy. Plenty of humor and brilliant plot twists to keep me laughing and guessing.

I need book 2!

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute Story

This is a cute story for any young girl who loves fairy tales, it's a fresh perspective and one that is humorous.

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

Maybe I'm being too harsh in DNFing now, because this book had a lot of fun promise, with the very math oriented main character. But... if a parent needs to be away from a child for years, whether the reason is magical or otherwise, there's NO reason to lie and tell the child that parent is dead! And then, having lied for no reason, why would you expect that child to just immediately accept that you've lied for years and life is totally different from what they thought, and be cool with it all???

I'm just too mad at her parents (aka this really stupid plot device) to really enjoy this book now...

[Alicia Huxtable · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great fairytale

Really enjoyed this story, was a different perspective on fairytales and the Happily Ever After endings. If you love fairytales, I recommend you read this book

[Meyan Rose Malabanan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Ebook was sent to me for free in excange of an honest review. My opinions are my own and have not been influenced by anyone or anything.

This was a book I saw on YA Bound Book Tours that was open for review but at that time, I had a totally different idea of what it was about even after I read the synopsis of the book. So I requested it, and as soon as I was accepted and got the book, I read it and boy was I surprised.

What I liked

The world building was really unique and interesting. Now at first it might not be too obvious, but as you go along, you see that this is another spin to fairy tales. The stories and the characters in them are given personalities, more than what they are made to look like in the tales. Don’t get me wrong though, they retain their signature characteristics they are known for in the stories, but there is just more to them than what is told. This new spin to the usual re-telling is refreshing, kind of how Shrek has different fairy tales in one movie.

The “magic system” is quite unique. I don’t know if I should call it a magic system even. Lily does not have magical powers, and what she does doesn’t exactly call for magic. However, there is looking deeper into the story of what "magic" really is in this story, I think that finding happiness, true happiness, is what it actually means. In essence, Lily has magic because she is able to see and understand what makes people happy, by looking into the root of their sadness. Yes she is a bit immature, but you see talent.

There were some parts of the storytelling that I was not comfortable about which I will discuss later. What I want to tell you now is that as I went farther into reading, I felt comfortable with the jargon (except the equations and math stuff), and the style of how the story was told. For me, the choice of telling it in a point-of-view style worked perfectly. It suit Lily's personality well, which brings me to my next point.

I like how Lily is so rational, because I for one am. I like thinking about stuff, a lot. And seeing how this world confuses her, I could totally relate to Lily. I would have freaked out too if my dead father just appears in front of me standing in my tub. Oh and I just adore her nickname for her dad. "King Tub". Gets me every time haha!

Although there were certain things that didn't work out for me while I was reading, the last 50 pages or so were the ones that got me really interested. I was really intrigued and excited honestly. Honestly, I am looking forward to what is next, and I would definitely read the sequel if only to know what can take off evil Levi's greasiness.

What I didn't like

Three things.

One. I am as irritated as I can get with Lily's parents. I mean it people, IRRITATED. I cannot believe these people! You drop a truth bomb right in front of your teenage girls face and you expect her to be calm and okay about it with just a few words and ice cream with every flavor she wants? I mean, the ice cream sounds like a good idea but come on! Fairy tale parents are supposed to be loving and caring and overly explanatory! Give her time people! Actually talk with her about it. That is what adults do. Or is that just me? Seriously, I am so glad Lily is rational because clearly, her parents have lost their minds.

Two. The math. MATH! Oh the bane of my existence. This part, I can only blame myself for. I hate math. I just do. And seeing how parts of the book is represented in letters corresponding to values and equations and whatnot seriously almost threw me off. I think I would have liked it better if it were told in paragraph form, explaining probabilities and limits and stuff.

Three. I am kind of not too sold on the Calo story. I get it, but I think I need more proof? I mean there is the circumstantial evidence but I needed something more. Although yes, it served the purpose of solving a mystery.

I kind of am sad about this rating. I know that if I hadn't despised math I would have given it more. But oh well, it is still a good one right? It is a casual, easy to read type of book. If you want to read stress out, then I think this book can help you.

Before I go, one more thing I have to say is that I do think this book will be enjoyed by those in the younger age bracket of YA. This book is cute and I think they will like it better. And I fully agree with how this book refers to Cinderella. Yes girl, Cinderella is not a fairy tale. Cinderella is THE fairy tale.

This review has been previously posted in my blog. https://paperspensandperidot.wordpres...

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ravan has created an elaborate fairy tale world unlike any I've read about before. The Cinderella Theorem is not a retelling of A fairy tale, but a retelling of ALL fairy tales.

Many teenage girls would be thrilled to discover that they're actually a princess of an entire kingdom (a world, actually, but kings and queens and princesses go with kingdoms, so that's the word we'll use). Imagine having tea with Cinderella, and then receiving a package personally prepared for you by Prince Charming. Or dancing with the Little Pig who made his house out of bricks. Or having your very own fairy godmother whose wand shoots plaid sparks.

Lily, however, is rather stuffy and stodgy for a fifteen-year-old girl. She's very grounded in logical reality and plans to either do pure mathematics research at a major university or become a code breaker for the National Security Agency when she grows up. Lily uses math to think, to rationalize, to problem-solve real-life (and fairy tale life) situations. When she discovers her dad isn't really dead but rather the King of a magical fairy tale kingdom, she uses math to recalculate her family structure as she contemplates the implications. When Cinderella is Less than Happy, Lily devises a mathematical equation – The Cinderella Theorem – to determine how to help Cinderella become Happy.

Lily is not a static character. She starts out as extremely logical and somewhat rigid in her thinking, especially for a teenager. She wants everything to be "normal," and tries to make her environment adapt to fit her own personal beliefs of the way the world should be. But Lily is a smart girl, and throughout the course of the book she gains knowledge and insight into life. Her narrow definition of normality (which was heavily challenged by learning about the very existence of a fairy tale world) is expanded upon, and she learns to be more flexible in her thinking. The personal growth and development of the main character is an important aspect of a good YA novel, and it's great when you discover a writer who can portray that without being excessively didactic and overbearing about it.

This is one of the best-written and best-edited books I've read recently. As a reader I really appreciate the high quality of the editing – too often lately I've been reading books that were "good stories but could have used another editorial go-over." There were very few actual errors/typos (minor things like misspelling Schrödinger as Shrodinger - I don't count the missing umlaut over the o as a misspelling per se, but I do count the missing c). The characters are well developed (and fun!), the plot is entertaining and very creative, the writing flows well, the dialogue is natural sounding and true to the character who's speaking, and it's overall just a good, fun read.

One important note to readers: It's important to remember that this *is* a YA book (Amazon lists it as for ages 10-18/grades 5-12), so don't go into it expecting a story written for adults. If you do, you may find yourself disappointed… but if you go into it expecting a fantastical YA story filled with math and magic, I think you'll fall in love!

*I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review; all opinions are my own.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net** 

The Cinderella Theorem overall was a really great read. I had a few small issues with the book early, but they were minor things and I am so glad that I didn't let them get in the way of enjoying the story, because this was a book that just kept getting better and better. I loved the concept of the story and the main character, Lily was a delight. Lily loves math, she likes logic and she likes being able to get the same answer every time she does the same problem. I loved her commentary throughout the story, told through math equations and footnotes. It was so funny.

Lily Sparrow is just a normal high school student when she comes home on her 15th birthday to find out that her dad is not dead like she thought, but rather the ruler of a magical land where all fairy tale characters go to live out their "happily ever after". A cool concept but it was in this initial phase that I had a couple of minor problems. First up, Lily's mom. Her mom is very nice and it is easy to see that she really cares for her daughter, but her flippant almost ditzy way that she dealt with telling Lily this crazy magical story was annoying. She didn't want to explain everything, she just expected her daughter to be fine with dead dad showing up out of no where, in her bathtub no less. And then she expected her to automatically understand all the crazy magical ins and outs of the land with no questions asked. Her dad was more understanding about the whole thing. The other small issue I had, was that I wasn't crazy about the name for the land. But other than that, I really loved the book.

The plot revolved around the happiness levels of the characters. Since each fairy tale character was supposed to live out their HEA, if they became truly sad they were in danger of disappearing. And if all characters in a story disappeared, then the story also disappeared from our world's records. When characters start disappearing left and right, Lily has to get to the bottom of it. I loved it. Mostly because Lily. She was such a treat for me. I loved her voice in the story. I hope the next book is done in the same fashion, with her math equations and footnote commentary throughout. That was my favorite. There was only a tiny hint at a romance to come, one that I hope is explored more in the next book. I can't wait to discover more Lily Sparrow!

 This review was originally posted on Book Briefs

[Ren nerdychampagne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

There is a lot more Math in everything than we acknowledge and this book is much more fun and exciting than Math.

When I first saw the title, the first thing that came to my mind was Math, because well, I went through Geometry at school and theorems, and postulates, and proving and I had quite a relationship. (I broke up with them though.) The second thing that came to my mind was Cinderella and oh look, another retelling. The third thing that came to my mind was a list of Modern Fairy tale retellings. No, we won't go through my list.

Let's go to the book and my opinions:

Things I loved:

- the mathematical references, even though I never listened to my Math teachers, I miraculously understood the mathematical puns.
- fairytale setup and the anagrams. I love anagrams.
- each and every character. Aside from the principal.
- the way of writing.
- the story
- this book.
- my new book boyfriend, Calo *insert heart-eyed emoji here*

Things I did not like:

- the principal. She was annoying.
- the annoying principal
- I hate the principal

Note: The principal only appeared on the beginning of the story but her annoying presence stayed with me.

The story was good and I am a person who hates irrational things as well as those that doesn't make sense so I can easily relate to to Lily when all these fairytale stuff was thrown into her life oh so suddenly, let's start with the bathtub. Oops, spoiler alert.

The only real criticism I can say is that the story is quite predictable band has a standard base line.
We have a smart girl who started out as somewhat useless but saved the whole kingdom in the end and a smart boy who is always annoyed at our female lead.

Statistically speaking, in stories where we have these kinds of lead characters, they always end up together. Therefore, I dare conclude that (right from the moment that Call was introduced) they were going to be together by the end of the story.

But I will not tell you how the story ended but I can tell you that this a has second book and I am dying to get my hands on it.

[Katie (hiding in the pages) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not into math, but I love fairy tales. I passed my math classes, but it's not my favorite subject, and I wasn't sure how a story about fairy tales could possibly tie into math. But it worked! I thought it was very creative and the story was even written in a math book-type of format--little side notes and footnotes. It was interesting to see the way a logical girl could come to accept a fantasy world--almost like right brain meets left brain.

Lily Sparrow spends the first fifteen years of her life believing that her father is dead. Imagine her shock when he appears on her birthday and she finds that her life is nothing like what she thought it was! Lily is very left-brained. She is analytical, factual, and likes things to be solvable. That doesn't leave her any room to entertain ideas about a whole new fantasy world, even though she's expected to one day take over.

Using her math skills and orderly mind, she goes on an adventure to help these fairy tale characters find happiness. The story is full of great characters.

One little note--I love fairy tales, as I mentioned before, but I haven't read many "real" versions. It's surprising at how depressing and gruesome they are. I really couldn't blame Lily for not knowing, and not wanting to know, the stories.

Content: no language; mild violence (not graphic); mild romance. Clean!

*I received a copy in exchange for an honest review*

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious! I loved this book! I knew just by reading the synopsis that I had to read it. I was a little nervous about reading about a math lover (personally I hate math), but not only did Kristee Ravan help me understand math (there wasn’t an equation that I didn’t understand) but she also made it so that I actually enjoyed the math in this book (and that’s saying a lot because, me liking math is not even mathematically possible). I loved all the characters (except for Levi, but that goes without being said). I totally, related to Lilly. Could you ask for a more lovable heroine? Plus I liked her distracted, author mother, because I (being an aspiring author myself) can relate to that, too. I even liked grumpy Calo and her kingly, non-dead father. You can definitely say that this book is original. I’ve read a lot of Cinderella stories (I’m even considering writing one) and I have to say that I don’t think I have ever read a Cinderella story quite like this. I didn’t think in a million billion years anybody would have come up with a story even remotely like this, so great job, Kristee Ravan!
The Cinderella Theorem= a great book
Thank you to the author for my review copy. The opinions, however, are my own.

[Arlene Mullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

On Lily's 15th birthday she finds out her life has been a lie. She starts the day being told she can not take more than one math class. For Lily that is upsetting because she really loves math and uses it in all parts of her life. She comes home to find out her dad isn't really dead but the king of a fairy tale land. Her parents do not seem to understand why she is so upset and confused. On top of all of the strangeness she is told she is a princess and will have to go and fulfill her duties. She then meets a dad Cinderella and try's to help her and save all the disappearing fairy tale characters. Will he life be normal again? Does she truly want to be normal?
This is a very interesting spin on fairy tales. I did truly enjoy the story. It was fun to think how I would feel as a teenager in this situation. She uses math to rationalize life. For a 15 year old girl I did not find her annoying. Most of the time the female character can be whinny and boy crazy. Lily was not like that and I was glad for a change of pace. A great fun read.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I didn't like it that much. Lily's "math talk" was very strange and unusual at the beginning. With time I got used to it and actually liked her way of talking and thinking, although I am definitely not a math fan. The story itself was interesting, I especially liked the idea of the HEA (an agency which monitors people's happiness) and how Lily tries to bring "normal" to the fairy tale world (which of course doesn't go as planned). A math fanatic in a fairy tale world, who would have thought it could work so good!? Looking forward to the next book.

[Cathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought I wouldn't like it because I don't like math, but this book was AMAZING!!! Can't wait for the next book!!

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first started this book, I was a bit overwhelmed by Lily. She has an obsessive need to turn absolutely everything into math. I appreciate the logic and was originally a math major in college. But it did make a bit of the storytelling awkward at first.

But then very quickly I got drawn into the story when she finds out that she is actually a princess, her father is actually alive, and her entire life up until now has been a lie. She now has to spend part of her time in this fantasy world, learning how to become its princess. It's amusing because she's constantly trying to rationalize things - which is understandable because math you can control and she is losing control of her life - but you can't rationalize magic. Her lack of fairy tale knowledge is appalling. And yet it makes sense - if you're more interested in math and logic, you're not going to pay as much attention to the fantasy.

I was amused by meeting all of these characters from familiar stories and seeing a different side of them. It's like Smythe (my shortened name for it) is a parallel universe to the fairy tale world. And many of the supporting characters in Lily's kingdom are also amusing.

I also felt like I learned a lot about happiness and friendship and things like that, but on a different level. Lily, of course, also learns a lot.

The book is quite long, but if you can handle reading through a Harry Potter, you can handle reading one this long. There are a ton of footnotes throughout where Lily explains her mathematical equations and whatnot. I admit that I didn't read very many of them. I have a hard time doing that in a paperback, let alone all of the clicking on a Kindle. But I also understood the math terms.

I fell in love with Lily in this book and am looking forward to continuing her adventures.

Thank you to the author and Prism Book Tours for providing me with a requested review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this spin on the fairy tale world that throws in a teenage math wiz who needs everything to be logical. Kristee Ravan has successfully created an imaginary world that incorporates many fairy tales.
Lily, the main character, needs everything to be logical. She has a goal of doing pure math research at a major university when she finishes school. Ravan’s storyline guides Lily down the path as she learns her role in the alternate world in which fairy tale characters live and interact.
I would have no problem adding The Cinderella Theorem to a k-12 Christian school library.
I received a complimentary copy of The Cinderella Theorem. This is my honest review.

[Anne]

it was very different from other fairy tales... it was mashup of all the fairy tales and pointrd out a very common theme in all of them.... the concept of "Happily Ever After"... which is never true in real world.. "all love stories have to come to an end...death is inevitable.."

[Shannon McDermott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lily Sparrow is an atypical teenager: a teenager who thrives on mathematics, who wants everything clear and logical, who thinks all life should work out to a balanced equation. But when she discovers on her fifteenth birthday that her parents have been leading a double-life in a fairytale world, and now they want her to join them, she has a typical teenager response: She wants her normality back.

That she never was normal may occur to readers who watch her try to process all of life through mathematical equations. It’s natural, I suppose, that it never occurs to her.

The Cinderella Theorem is written by Kristee Ravan and is the first book of the Lily Sparrow Chronicles. This novel abounds in fresh, fun ideas. The clash between Lily’s mathematical compulsion and the fairytale world she is pushed into is the first. More follow.

In the world Lily enters, the characters of all the fairytales – good and bad – are living Happily Ever After. If they ever become Unhappy, they are no longer living Happy Ever After.

And so they vanish.

It’s a quirky world governed by its own absurd logic, and its citizens are all eccentric in their own way. I enjoyed all the outlandishness, enjoyed seeing old, beloved characters like Cinderella and King Arthur living Happily Ever After. The foundational ideas of the book and the worldbuilding are the finest elements of The Cinderella Theorem.

The principal flaw of this novel is a lack of proper editing. There are misplaced commas and far too many wrongly done dialogue tags (“That’s a problem.” He said). More substantively, there were things in the book – little things – that were extraneous, hints of ideas that were never used. (For example, in an early scene Lily is ordered out of a banned palace library … and that’s it for the Forbidden Library.) A good editor could have helped with these things.

I liked the first-person writing style of The Cinderella Theorem; I thought Lily had a good voice. The characters were quirky and likable, and the ideas and world itself were delightful. The Cinderella Theorem is an enjoyable book, a fun play on the old fairy tales. Recommended.

I received a review copy of this book from the author.

[Tween 2 Teen Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Characters: Lily, her mother, her father (the Tub Man),

I really enjoyed these characters. They are all so funny. Especially Lily. She thinks in mathematical terms, which makes for a VERY funny story. 1 funny girl + 1 funny family = loads of fun!

First Impressions:

I got this book in the mail back in July. I expected it to be okay, but it far surpassed my expectations. I picked it up and couldn't stop! I was laughing out loud the entire time!

Writing: 5/5 The writing is very original. I love the math talk, which I haven't seen before.
Plot: 5/5 Oh, this book was fun! Constantly moving from one insane thing to the next, I wish it hadn't stopped!
World Building: 5/5 The world building was beautiful. The author managed to create an entire fairy tale land out of other fairy tales. In the land, everyone has to be happy. It reminds me of Dorothy Must Die where Dorothy makes everyone smile.
Characters: 5/5 As I said before, the characters rock. Crazy things happen to them, and they brush it off like it's nothing.

This book was SO much fun! I honestly loved every minute of it. The romance was fleeting, but promised more. I can't wait for the next book!

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cinderella Theorem (The Lily Sparrow Chronicles Book 1) by Kristee Ravan


4 STARS


This is a entertaining fairy tale that is different. Math loving Lily finds out that her dead father she never knew is really alive and lives in a different world. You get there through the door in her bathtub.


It is fun with math and fairy tale stories. I like the characters. I liked the topics of how important happily ever after is. That things might make a person happy for a moment. The math is a little bit much for me, but I did not have to do any so it was okay.


Lily has to look at herself and her ideas of what normal is and that her mother had lied to her all her life. Lily is fifteen years old. She wants to take lots of math classes but is not allowed. She loves math textbooks and books on math.


I would read another Lily Sparrow Chronicles in the future.


I was given a free ebook The Cinderella Theorem so I could give it a honest review.

[Tanya Thurling · Rating 3 out of 5]

I originally thought this book was a YA book but upon reading it I think it's more suited to a younger audience. I have a 9 year old daughter who I think would enjoy it very much. I've no doubt she will read it now I've finished.
I must admit the maths aspect of the story was slightly off putting but this is coming from a person who dislikes maths very much. But you do get used to it as the story goes on.
Overall a very lovely story, I mean who wouldn't want a portal to a magical kingdom in their bathroom, a fairy godmother who grants your wishes and a magic marble that makes you invisible?
Even the villians are quite comical. A bad guy that leaves a trail of grease wherever he goes. Funny but quite gross.
As I said im sure my daughter will love it and it's a nice story to read together at bedtime.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to read this book because what girl doesn't like reading about a happily ever after sort of story? This was a pretty quick read and geared towards younger audiences but still cute and different enough for adults to like it too. At first Princess Lily's math talk was a bit much for me to get through, I really, really hate math as it is so confusing to me however I decided to stick with it and the math ended up being a cute quirk of the character that I kind of liked. I thought the characters were cute and engaging, and what a unique story line, I liked it and am rather impressed by the author's dedication to all of the jargon, that must have taken time! The quest clause was another favourite of mine, that is so funny, I can't wait to see if our princesses happily ever after was really for real or part of a manipulation of mathematics...way to go clever heroes Lily and Calo!

[Cynthia Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Comfort math" what can be funnier that? The Cinderella Theorem is a basic teen girl coming of age story but with the hilarious device of the heroine doing math problems to solve her angst, understand fairyland, and to enjoy herself. If things get really too sticky to deal with the heroine brushes her teeth (and so finds somebody looking at her from the other side of the mirror). The novel is full of wonderfully farcical elements--unbeknownst to the heroine her dad who she thought was dead has been coming daily to visit her Mom via the bathtub. She always wondered why her Mom was always so distracted. It is great to have found such a delightful Indie novel. I'll be buying more of Kristee Raven's books.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me awhile to get into this one but by the end I was really enjoying it. I loved the creativity and the concept of fairy tale characters all trying to live happily ever after in another land. I also liked the inclusion of math references. My only complaint would be Lily read a little too young for me. Her thoughts and words feel more like a 9 or 10 year old than a young teenager. Having said that, I think it makes a great book for girls in the 7-10 age range which wouldn't pick up on or mind the younger voice. Excited to see what happens in the next one.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lily Sparrow believes her father is dead, but on her 14th birthday she finds out he's not. He is a king of a land where fairy tale characters live. Lily likes math and all this new information and experiences just don't equate.
Lily starts to train as a happyologist. Her partner is Calo and in the end they manage to save some important fairy tale characters from unhappiness.

I liked it. The combination of math with fairy tale was unique and interesting.

[Sean Randall · Rating 3 out of 5]

"This makes absolute perfect sense. Why shouldn’t she have seen him? I mean, my goodness, the man rules a fairytale kingdom and travels through a bathtub. Why wouldn’t he have time to see his wife?"

This was fun, and clever mathematically as well. Not for the age range of YA I normally read, I think, aimed a little younger. But intelligent, neatly done and a grand homage to the fairy tale.