Reviewed by Gary Stout for Readers' Favorite

Lewis Carroll move over, there's a new Alice in town, but this one is named Lily. In her latest novel, The Cinderella Theorem, Kristee Ravan has created a wonderful world where faerie tales and the real world collide. When mathematically-minded Lily Sparrow turns fifteen, she unwillingly crosses from the only world she thought existed, a world of logic and equations, into a world populated by the characters from the very faerie tales she ignored as a child in her quest for what she considered normalcy. Yet, what exactly is normal? A father she thought was dead suddenly turns up very alive and using her bathtub as a portal to another world where he is king? Or a mother, an often distracted writer, who easily explained away the death of her father as occurring in a train wreck when it hit a cow - the train, not the father - but when she exists in this other world, the mother is queen and not the least bit distracted. None of this equates for Lily, though she tries different formulas to explain it all. What is worse, when Lily portals over to this other world, she finds out she is a princess and heir to the protectorate. Can she find the right variables to make her equations and formulas work out to her satisfaction? Is it possible to live Happily Ever After? Can she stop the disappearances of faerie tale legends before they’re gone forever from both worlds?

Kristee Ravan’s book, The Cinderella Theorem, deserves six stars on a five scale. She has created a very clever and original tale for all ages. I don't need a Happiologist to make me happy; reading the book was an extreme pleasure. Generously sprinkled with references from the likes of Escher, Einstein, and Shrodinger, The Cinderella Theorem tells a story at different levels. On the surface, it’s an extraordinary tale that is a lot of fun to read. Yet, with all of the subtle allusions, associations, and implications Ravan includes, most readers will enjoy researching to find out just how Lily’s mind works in both worlds. I highly recommend The Cinderella Theorem. It deserves a rightful place on everyone’s shelf, right next to the works of Grimm, Anderson, and Carroll. Absolute Entertainment = The Cinderella Theorem + Kristee Ravan, and that’s an easy formula for anyone to solve. Enjoy!