Kalynn Bayron: Hello, my name is Kalynn Bayron. I'm the author of Cinderella is Dead. This is my debut novel, even though it's not the first book that I've written, but it's my first published YA. I chose to retell Cinderella specifically because it's so visible. But as a young reader, it always felt like I was on the outside looking in. So I wanted to retell Cinderella because I wanted to make it more accessible to people like me and people who maybe haven't had a chance to see themselves reflected in fairytales while also deconstructing the story itself.

Sophia is my main character and she's a sixteen-year-old girl living in this world that treats Cinderella's story with the kind of reverence that's usually reserved for religious texts. In developing Sophia's character, she's loud. To me, as a writer, her voice is crystal clear in my head, which is always nice. That doesn't always happen, but Sophia really jumped out for me and she's been this very smart, open, caring person from the first draft.

Sophia and I share some similar characteristics. And I think that watching her go through this adventure, this mystery, these revelations, watching her go through that also just felt very personal to me. So Sophia is just a headstrong young woman and she knows exactly who she is and what she wants. And she has reached a point where she has nothing left to lose and she's willing to risk it all to get the respect and the affirmation that she needs. I definitely see some of myself in her and her tenacious spirit and her drive. She's my favorite. She's my boo.

My hope is that readers see themselves reflected and understand that they can be the heroes of their own stories. I hope that readers will take away a sense of fun and adventure. And maybe also just learn to always question the status quo to understand that just because something has been done the same way for a very long time, doesn't mean it's right and doesn't mean that it can't change. Yeah, there's a little bit of both, a little bit of fun and a little bit of life lessons thrown in there.

I'd like to read a passage from Cinderella is Dead.

Chapter One.

Cinderella has been dead for 200 years.

I've been in love with Erin for the better part of three years.

And I'm about two minutes away from certain death.

When the palace guards find me, and they will, I'm going to die in the forest, eastern border. But I don't care. The only thing I'm focused on is Erin, who is pressed up against a tree directly across from me. The palace guards don't see her yet, but they are headed her way. They stop a few feet from where she's standing. Her eyes grow wide in the shadowy confines of the forest. I meet her gaze across the wide swath of carriage pathway that separates us.

Don't move, Erin. Don't make a sound.