Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles)

For those of you who love a good twist on an old classic, this is the book for you!  Marrisa Meyer's Cinder (Lunar Chronicles), is a fantastic futuristic twist on the Cinderella story complete with the stepsisters and evil step mother.  

We meet Lin Cinder, a cyborg mechanic with a mysterious past, who lives in this future world, New Beijing in China (123 years after World War IV) and are quickly introduced to our hero, Prince Kaito (Kai), who seems to be the heart throb to every girl in New Beijing.  Every girl, that is, except Cinder.  Kai visits Cinder discretely and in disguise to repair one of his royal androids secretly...Cinder instantly knows there's more to this android than he lets on.  Almost instantly, there is a spark between the two that plays throughout the book.

Within the story lines there are undertones of a serious plague, political unrest, and an unwelcome, possibly necessary, alliance with the evil Lunar Queen, Queen Levana (who wants to take over the world, as most "evil" ones tend to want to do).  

Cinder is filled with heart-clenching twists and turns and a strong female lead who does not need a Fairy Godmother to grant her any wishes.  The minor characters (Iko, the Doctor, etc) sprinkled throughout added a nice dimension and flavor Ms. Meyer's imagery and descriptions of the characters and city made everything so believable.  I, for one, am eager to see how the story unfolds in the series!