Book Review: Caging Ella

Title: Caging Ella

Author: Andie M. Long

Date: 2022

Quote: "I just came to tell you that if you still believed your poor mother was going to save up enough money to go to court and get you away from us, it's not going to happen now, seeing as she's dead."

In this twenty-first century version of the Cinderella Fantasy, Ella spent her teen years hiding in the cellar of her remote yuppie father's house, while her mother, discarded to make room for a second wife, went to work for the vampire who lived in Moonstone Castle. Ella's Mum believed Ella was getting a good education. In fact stepmother Glennis didn't let Ella go to school at all, but kept her busy doing chores for her hateful blended family.

And Ella was no sweetie-pie who endured everything in the hope of a glimpse of a spiritual reunion with her mother when she admired a tame white dove. In this story Ella wants revenge. And what happens when she goes to the castle and meets the vampire? Let's just say she doesn't run away screaming. 

Long has written several e-books, published on Amazon, and her writing certainly rates as "voicey" even if some of her phrasings are awkward. People who like erotic fantasies about vampires will probably love Caging Ella. I don't share the kink, nor do I judge those who do. I will note, however, that in Caging Ella it's not just detailed bedroom scenes, although there are some X-rated scenes. Nor is it only Ella's vengefulness. There's a distinct antichristian feeling about this story (in contrast to the Christian motifs found in early versions of the Cinderella Fantasy, such as the spiritual comfort in the form of the white dove). Long seems to be wallowing in the idea that Ella's happy ending involves doing everything a good Christian wouldn't do. We don't actually see her lying or stealing but we see her sleeping with other men, ordering torture, dumping men because they care about her. Some readers may be turned on by the fantasy of misbehavior on every level except for overt tackiness; some will think that, if it's antichristian, a good Christian shouldn't read it and I should repent of the sin of having read on past Ella's first childish act of revenge.

Meh. I did note too many references to body parts for the book to remain on my computer.