I enjoyed this book immensely. Yes, it's a remake of a story that's been retold a thousand times, and yes there it wasn't a standalone (my biggest YA pet peeve), but it was a fun ride just the same. 
 The author stuck fairly close to the original in this retelling, which I appreciated by some other people might not. 
 I will be reading the second book, under protest, because seriously... can't ANY YA authors just write standalones?