I really like Eloisa James' take on fairy tales. Here in A Kiss at Midnight she redoes Cinderella. She doesn't follow the original Fairy Tale to the letter which makes it all the better. I believe everyone is familiar with the Cinderalla story. Cinderella's father remarries and then dies leaving Cinderella under the care, or lack thereof, of her new stepmother. She's mistreated, but generally has a good attitude, keeping friends with the mice and horses. When there's a chance to go to the ball Cinderella gets help from her Fairy Godmother who weaves her magic to creat the perfect night. Cinderella entrances the prince and when she has to leave before midnight in her haste to get home she loses one of her glass slippers. The prince uses the slipper to find her and they live happily ever after. Obviously this is a quick and shortened version of events. 
 Where James' story differs is that the main character's name is Kate. Kate does indeed have an evil stepmother, but she's not featured in the story much past the beginning. Instead of equally evil stepsisters, Kate has one sister who is actually nice. Kate is given the task of impersonnating her sister at the engagement ball for the prince in order to secure the prince's blessing upon her sister and her sister's fiancee so they too may get married. Kate's sister had received an injury by one of the "rats" and didn't want to go out in public with her disfigurement so Kate was thought the best substitute. 
 I liked that the "secret" of Kate standing in for her sister didn't go the length of the book. That Kate was found out, and no one seemed to care. It wasn't as big of a scandal as everyone thought it would be without Kate's sister in attendance. I think this also let the readers get more insight into Kate's personality, since she didn't have to strictly act like someone else the whole book. 
 Obviously the book isn't really unpredictable. We all know the original story and the big key elements of that story are met in James' version so we can predict how everything will go. I like that this story is told as a "true" story meaning there is no magic involved yet James was still able to keep all the characters and events in place. 
 Overall, a fun, light, quick read that I would recommend for anyone who wants to get away from more serious and darker books for a bit. I look forward to reading the other stories in James' Fairy Tale retellings. Until Then!