Review: A Gracious Hope

I've read roughly half the books from the Hope Ever After series, leaving a good handful of them on my TBR list. The latest one I got around to is A Gracious Hope by Robyn Sarty. This charming retelling is a surprising combination of "Sleeping Beauty" and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with fae lore in the mystical land of Tír na nÓg. It's an interesting combination that makes for a lovely and whimsical story with beautiful visuals. Few people probably would have the imagination to combine two such different stories as these. There are also some fun twists and turns encompassing a unique read that's full of surprises.


This book picks up right in the middle of Disney's 1959 animated classic, Sleeping Beauty. For that reason, it is probably necessary to watch the film before reading the book, which is unlikely to be an issue for its target audience. Alora is a peasant girl living with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. On her nineteenth birthday, she learns that she is actually a princess who is betrothed to a prince. She secretly hopes that Prince Phillip might be the same peasant boy she had a prior dalliance with. While all this is happening, Alora also learns that she was cursed at birth and must find a way to break the it and save her people.

Between the two stories that this book combines, there is more of a focus on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz than "Sleeping Beauty." It handles this adaptation in a way that feels fresh and original. Instead of Oz, Alora is swept away through a magic portal to Tir na nÓg, where she encounters faeries, a magical unicorn, a kind woodsman named Zander, and his dog. Many of the same events from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz take place here, such as Alora being recruited by the Wizard to destroy a witch, a city where everyone wears green, and sleep-inducing flowers. The whimsy and magic of the world are further enhanced by the addition of Scottish fae lore.

The Disney inspiration is apparent throughout the book, which is filled with descriptive visuals reminiscent of old-school animation. Alora pays tribute to her aunt by insisting on wearing the over-the-top pink and blue dress she made for her birthday, which goes through several magical transformations. The beauty and wonder of the world are reminiscent of old school Disney. Yet, there are also many unexpected surprises. For instance, the true identity of the Wizard was a complete shock, as well as the budding romance that was built up nicely throughout the book.

A Gracious Hope by Robyn Sarty is a delightfully whimsical retelling of "Sleeping Beauty" and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, set in the mystical land of Tír na nÓg. With its unique blend of fae lore and Disney magic, this book is a must-read for fans of fairy tale adaptations. The story adds some unique twists to the multi-author Hope Ever After series, which supports Operation Underground Railroad to help fight human trafficking.. Alora's journey is a beautiful and wondrous ride, filled with magic and romance. If you're looking for a charming and enchanting read, A Gracious Hope is definitely worth adding to your list.
I have always dreamed of being a writer and creating the next great fairy tale princess heroine. Princesses inspire us to be our best selves. While you're here, feel free to follow my page on Facebook, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and check out my books. I'm also on Instagram and Twitter.

Would you like to contribute to The Princess Blog? Become a patron, and you could pick the topic for my next post!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Find Me in Paris Has Its Last Dance

Image
Only one month after my recent obsession with Find Me in Paris , the time-traveling ballerina princess drama dropped its third and final season on Hulu today. Though somewhat predictable, this season offered a satisfying conclusion to the show's unique concept that combined dance with science fiction and tied up all remaining loose ends from the previous seasons. We finally learned the truth about Lena's birth and why she's always being chased by anyone remotely interested in time travel. Nearly every character got paired off at the end, even if it meant some questionable decisions on behalf of the writers. The season also offered some of the most beautiful dance sequences in the show yet for its key story moments. While I could have done without the repetitive recap sequences, the final episodes made it clear that this was always meant to be the end and gave the cast and crew many happy memories to look back upon. The final season of Find Me in Paris incorporated the ...
Read more

Review: The Spanish Princess/White Queen Trilogy

Image
Yesterday, the Starz network  released the series finale of The Spanish Princess , concluding  The White Queen  trilogy of miniseries that began in 2013. Based on a book series called The Cousins' War  by Phillippa Gregory , the trilogy covers the women who stood behind the men in power in the English monarchy from 1464 to the 1530s, preceding the first two sovereign queens, Mary and Elizabeth. The White Queen , The White Princess , and The Spanish Princess  grant us a rare opportunity to see what life was like for medieval monarchs. Watching them reminded me of why I prefer the fairy tale versions of royalty. Those stories do not contain the gory deaths, gruesome births, and invasive politics that historical dramatizations like these exemplify. In fact, I had very little interest in watching the second season of The Spanish Princess until I watched some historical videos and learned that the king that Catherine of Aragon was married to was none other than King...
Read more

Review: Time Princess - Mirror of Masks

Image
Since I have a tendency to binge things, it's difficult for me to keep track of newer visual novels in Time Princess  when they keep getting split into two separate releases. Even though I completed the Mirror of Masks story, I had a hard time following it. Still, I have received positive feedback on my other Time Princess reviews, so I will cover this one as well. If nothing else, I love the overall vibe that Mirror of Masks gives off. Its 2D cover is a work of art, and it does a great job of creating a metaphor for espionage under the guise of  fake and pretentious  Hollywood glamour. That said, this story bit off more than it could chew by attempting to cover too many genres at once. Leila Federer is a young ingenue who just got her big break in a major motion picture. Nothing on set is what it seems when an actress is mysteriously murdered, and Leila is recruited to join a secret organization investigating the scandal. Suddenly, her ambitious quest for stardom turns i...
Read more

Disney Announces Sofia the First: Royal Magic!

Image
Almost two years ago, Disney announced  that they were working on a spinoff series to Sofia the First . The best place to reveal new updates about this mysterious series would have been the D23 Expo , which took place in Anaheim last weekend. Instead, Disney Jr. quietly posted on Instagram  today that we can expect to see the new series, Sofia the First: Royal Magic  on Disney+ in 2026. This is fantastic news if it's true, but Disney has broken promises on many  other upcoming shows  over the upcoming years, so it's a good idea to take all their announcements with a grain of salt until there is something more substantial like a trailer or release date. Still, it's exciting to have a title and more information about the series. Unlike the original announcement about it being a spinoff like Elena of Avalor , the show will now be a direct sequel that continues Sofia's adventures after graduating from Royal Prep . The official summary is as follows: "Sofia the Firs...
Read more

Review: Yes, Your Grace: Snowfall

Image
Four years ago, I shared a review of a cozy strategy game called Yes, Your Grace , in which players take on the role of a king who must wisely distribute resources to protect his family and his kingdom. Now, the game has released a sequel called Yes, Your Grace: Snowfall, in which the stakes have been raised exponentially. Snowfall features similar graphics and gameplay to the original, albeit with some small updates, along with a significantly darker tone. Players begin as King Eryk, the protagonist from the first game, but things quickly take a turn for the worse with his circumstances and health, and Queen Aurelea must step in to protect what's most dear to them. The game begins by allowing players to input over their story decisions from the first Yes, Your Grace. For those of us who played it almost five years ago, it might be hard to remember what those decisions were. This task can be bypassed by asking the advisor to make the best decisions, or just give it your best guess....
Read more

Winx Club and Other Upcoming Princess Releases

Image
The transformation sequences  from the upcoming Winx Club reboot were released a few months ago with a tease of the show coming "this fall." Now, the full trailer is available along with the official release date. We can expect to see this new iteration of the 2004 Italian Magical Girl series streaming on Netflix on October 2nd. To the best of my knowledge, this is the fourth time the show has been rebooted in the last twenty years, and hopefully it will be better than the previous attempts . The trailer reveals footage that is more reminiscent of the original series with some modern updates to the animation and characters, such as the transition from hand-drawn to CGI  and the soft-spoken Flora's Spanish accent in an obvious attempt to add more diversity to the show. A lot of the footage in the new Winx Club trailer had been leaked previously over the years that the reboot was in development, but the official trailer shows the finalized animation and designs, which lo...
Read more

The Lost Feminine Aesthetic

Image
There is a certain visual style associated with girly media containing soft pastel color palettes, floral motifs, and lots of sparkles. Although this style hasn't been lost to us entirely, and is still prevalent in magical girl anime  it's never looked quite the same as it did in the late '80s and early '90s when it was first introduced. Maybe this is just nostalgia speaking, but the  soft, tranquil environments  of older cartoons never feel as relaxing as imagery from back then. The sharpness of HD resolution and modern CGI gets in the way of the fuzzy, dream-like feel of older cartoons. Even the wobbly, unrefined animation of older shows added to the charm in a way that we can't get today with crisp CGI models . Pictured above is Lady Lovely Locks , a cartoon series from 1987 that encapsulates the look and feel of feminine nostalgia. Though it had short episodes with a simplistic story, the visuals of this series and others like it inspired a generation of girly g...
Read more

Review: Disenchanted! The Musical

Image
Disenchanted the Musical is a project that began in 2009 and made its way to off-Broadway theaters in 2012. Not to be confused with  the upcoming Disney+ sequel to  Enchanted , this stage show is a parody  of the Disney Princess brand that is in no way sanctioned by Disney, as proven by the public domain-approved character autographs on the poster. The show contains far too many Disney-specific references to be an interpretative musical about fairy tales in the vein of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods . Disenchanted! is far less sophisticated than Into the Woods with a focus on low-brow humor and an overall lack of plot, which explains why it never could have been a contender for the elite world of Broadway . It must instead settle for off-Broadway and low-budget local productions like the one I streamed over the weekend. The show's childish humor about cartoon princesses might imply that it is meant for very young audiences , but the light swearing and song abou...
Read more

Magical Girl Princesses

Image
It's the premiere week of  Mysticons , so let's talk about magical girls and their impact on princess mythology. The magical girl craze began in Japan as a genre of anime called  "mahou shoujo."  No one knows exactly how it started, but it is believed that the first magical girl appeared in 1966 as  Sally the Witch . Though individual stories vary, all the series in the mahou shoujo genre contain grade school-aged girls who receive sparkly trinkets that allow them to transform into pretty superheroes. They fight bad guys by screaming magical words and releasing different types of spells, usually in a pretty sequence of recycled animation. The concept seems rather silly from an outside perspective, but it definitely sells. Not all magical girls are princesses, but it is a common overlying theme, most likely because the genre was created for the same target audience. The most princessy magical girl anime would probably have to be  Go! Princess Prett...
Read more

What It Means To Be a Disney Princess in the 2020s

Image
The first post I wrote in this blog was called "How the Disney Princesses Stayed Modern for 80 Years."  The answer was a combination of creating new princesses to match the times along with branded promotional videos, events, and merchandise that combine the old with the new. The latest example is this year's Ultimate Princess Celebration , which is an attempt to celebrate all of the Disney Princesses, including ones that may feel outdated by today's standards, by releasing imagery that makes it look like they're all friends. This is a wonderful method of keeping some of my favorite childhood characters relevant , but it is also a shield used to cover up a darker truth that many of these characters would not be deemed acceptable by today's standards. We have reached a point in Hollywood in which traditional feminine traits are considered weak or problematic . As such, characters like Raya  are considered the only acceptable way to portray a woman in the medi...
Read more