The Princess Blog

Rose Crown  by Nina Clare  is a retelling of "Snow White and Rose Red" from the multi-author All That Glitters series. Although I've lost track of how many books I've read from this series, this one was a lovely addition. It covers a lesser-known and rather odd story that doesn't get adapted frequently, and turns it into a beautiful, dream-like tale. The book takes place in the faerie and human realms and includes some of my favorite tropes, such as a lost princess  and mermaids . It borrows just enough content from the original fairy tale to feel like a true adaptation while adding enough original elements to feel fresh and new. The cottagecore and fae imagery throughout the book gives it an overall sense of wonder and nostalgia. Lily and Rose live in a cottage in the woods at the edge of the gateway between the faerie and human realms. Their mother has an unprecedented amount of magical knowledge for their humble upbringing and provides guidance to keep them ...

So far, I have not read a single book by Abigail Manning that I haven't enjoyed.  Insomniac's Curse  is no exception. This "Sleeping Beauty" retelling is a creative reimagining that takes the story in a bold new direction. I have never read a book that reminded me so much of the dichotomy in the video game  Slay the Princess , which is really saying something because that game makes you think. It has lots of surprises with a hero and heroine that are easy to love. This book is a magical escape from the world we know, with a sweet romance and a few subtle references to the Disney movie. I found it a relaxing read with plenty of thrills along the way. Kaliope is an innocent maiden living in the woods, being raised by her three spinster aunts. She has a hard time sleeping at night, and for good reason. When she falls asleep, she has episodes where she loses control of her body and launches into violent attacks on the villagers. Her aunts have done their best to hide h...

I received an ARC of Claiming the Princess  by Charis Michaels through NetGalley . Although I usually read clean romance books, I was intrigued by the concept behind the Hidden Royals series , which involves exiled members of a royal family who live in hiding until they fall in love. This is the third and final book in the series, and it made me want to read the other two. The story reminded me a lot of Anastasia , which is one of my favorite movies. Even though there were three brief passages that I needed to skip over, it was surprisingly sweet, adventurous, and relaxing, with charmingly flawed characters and an enticing plot. When Captain Luke Bannock saves a prized member of the royal court from a vicious nobleman, he is offered a reward of his choosing. He selects the hand of the princess that his enemy wishes to marry as a form of revenge. Little did he know that Princess Danielle was raised by surrogate parents who never told her of her royal roots. When he realizes that he...

It's been ten years since LoliRock  first took the stage on Netflix, and rumors of a potential third season  inspired me to watch the show again as I did with Winx Club , which recently previewed its upcoming reboot in Italy . LoliRock is a French  Magical Girl show about a lost princess  who must master her new powers while trying to liberate a mysterious faraway kingdom. It hits all the right plot notes to fit the Magical Girl algorithm, but poor writing prevents it from being a memorable entry in the genre. One thing that makes LoliRock unique is its focus on music. The three main characters aren't only magical princesses from other worlds but members of a hit rock band that performs full-length music videos at the end of each episode. Unfortunately, the overly synthesized sound of these songs is not very appealing to me, and I ended up skipping over them during my rewatch. The main character in LoliRock is Iris, a beautiful girl who loves to sing that was r...

MerMay is still in full swing! For my second mermaid book this month, I decided to check out Of Seafoam & Saltwater  by Kay Leyda . This is a "lost princess" archetype story about a seemingly ordinary girl who discovers she's a mermaid and dives into a new world of undersea adventure and intrigue. Although this plot has been done many times before in books such as The Tail of Emily Windsnap , movies like Barbie in a Mermaid Tale , and independent works like Nerissa Sanderson, The Part-Time Mermaid , it's presented differently each time. This book is the author's premiere novel and the first in a series called The Piscea Chronicles. It's easy to see that she intended for it to be a series because there are a ton of characters, kingdoms, and concepts thrown at the reader to the point where the book can be difficult to follow at times. The first thing that drew me into this book was the beautiful artwork on the cover. I read many indie novels about fairy t...

I am more than halfway through the Sacrificed Hearts multi-author series of books about maidens falling in love after being sacrificed to "monsters." The third book in the series is Mask of Deception and Sacrifice by Callie Thomas . This book is a perfect blend between The Phantom of the Opera and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde . It follows the premise of the series more closely than Pearls of Salt and Sacrifice but not quite as literally as Mountain of Dragons and Sacrifice . The story boasts a compelling romance full of drama and passion between two characters who were forced to hide their faces from the world. Its gorgeous artwork is a tribute to the drama and mystery within. This is the darkest story from this series so far, but the author provides a considerate trigger warning at the beginning of the book to prepare readers for the more disturbing parts of it. Fiona is a lost princess from a kingdom that was conquered by prejudice against those with the ability to use illu...

I have a special place in my heart for Melanie Cellier's Four Kingdoms books. Her first novel, The Princess Companion , pulled me down an endless rabbit hole of independently published fairy tale adaptations and author collaborations that resulted in the past seven years of book reviews for my blog. The Abandoned Princess  is the final book in the Return to the Four Kingdoms series , concluding an impressively long and successful run of interconnected fairy tale retellings about princesses. Though there is one more  tie-in duology on the way, this book felt very much like a homecoming from an extended vacation full of adventure, romance, and magic. The Abandoned Princess is also a wonderful and creative reimagining of "Rapunzel"  on its own merits. This book is a heartfelt and emotional journey that is an absolute must-read for anyone familiar with Melanie Cellier's fairy tale retellings. With Easter eggs galore from the other Four Kingdoms books, The Abandon...

The Shore of Sun's Afterglow  was an ARC I received from Madison McAuley , a relatively new author who promotes her books as historical fiction. I am far from a history buff , but I noticed that this book had very few details to set it in a specific place or time. It contained more of a general knowledge of royalty and kingdoms that could be derived from any fairy tale or Disney movie. Those details don't matter to me, personally, but I would want any historical fiction fans who pick up this book to be aware of that before reading it. It is more of a character-driven story focusing heavily on the lost princess trope  and the universal human desire for love and family. The book is scheduled for release on July 7th, so there is still some time left before it will be available for purchase. It is the second book in a series called Fallen Stars, but it worked fine as a standalone. Amira is an ordinary farm girl who is relatively happy with her life when her friend, Emily, tak...

After taking a brief hiatus from the weirdly specific genre of girls from the real world who find out they're actually faery princesses , I decided to take a risk and dive into  The Thorn Princess  by Bekah Harris . This wasn't the worst book I've read with this plot, but it had all the usual suspects of paranormal YA fantasy romance novels. There's the average down-on-her-luck teen protagonist who's so unremarkable that any reader can place themselves in her shoes, the quirky best friend, and the oh-so-sexy supernatural love interest who comes into her life like a whirlwind to whisk her away to a fantasy land. Despite all of these stereotypes, the story was enjoyable enough for what it was. There were no major plotholes, and the characters remained consistent throughout. However, it was so similar to other books in this genre that I felt no motivation to read more of the series once I completed it. The Thorn Princess  centers around Ivy Hawthorne, the lost heir ...

Reclaiming Ryda  by Rachel Rossano  is a book I've had on my backburner for a while after I saw a recommendation for it in an author newsletter. Now that I've finally gotten around to reading it, I just wish I had done so sooner. This is the second book in the Once Upon a Duchy series  that worked just fine for me as a standalone. It is an original romance story even though the cover claims that it is based on the fairy tales  "Rapunzel" and "East of the Sun, West of the Moon."  My only complaint is that it is a little longer than it needs to be, but that is a small price to pay for such a beautifully crafted love story. The book doesn't have any magic in it, which allows the plot to devote itself entirely to its characters and their relationships. Any lover of romance would be sure to devour this book. Reclaiming Ryda is a "lost princess" story that doesn't follow the traditional modern-day narrative. Ryda has no need or desire to recla...

After reading so many fairy tale adaptations , you might think I've been obsessing over the same stories again and again. Oddly enough, the fairy tale books I've read have proven to be more imaginative and diverse in content than the original  faery princess  stories that I've switched to as of late. Each one seems to have the same plot. An ordinary girl with a difficult life discovers that she is a lost princess  of a magical land that she is magically transported to, often by a handsome young man, and overcomes a number of insurmountable odds to take back her kingdom from a greedy and powerful villain. I loved the way this story was presented in Selina Fenech's Memory's Wake  trilogy , but it started to lose traction after I read another book with the same plot. Fae's Deception  by Michelle Lynn  and Melissa Craven  suffers from a similar lack of originality along with inconsistent characters that made me disinterested in reading the rest of the ser...

I had been a fan of Selina Fenech's fantasy artwork  for many years before I learned that she is also an author . After I discovered one of her books in a fairy tale anthology , I started reading the first book in the Memory's Wake Trilogy and was instantly hooked. This series contains all the things I love about princess stories--a magical fairy tale kingdom, romance, a strong cast of characters, a dash of real-world perspective , and gorgeous illustrations from the talented author/artist. I haven't been this excited about a book series in a long time. I am halfway through the second book,  Hope's Reign ,  and can't wait to find out what will happen next. Memory's Wake  has two distinct protagonists, who are both appealing in different ways. Eloryn is the traditional fairy tale princess with flowing golden locks who is kind to everyone she meets and maintains a positive outlook  in spite of the danger that has been following her since birth. Memory is a ...

Tangled  wasn't the first movie to feature a mistreated girl who learned she was a princess, but it was the first to popularize the "lost princess" archetype. Why is this trope so appealing throughout so many recent books and films? Secretly being a princess is a fantasy that many little girls have when they're growing up, especially when they face difficult times. This popular story narrative gives a literal interpretation Sara Crewe's philosophy from A Little Princess  that every girl is a princess even if they don't know it. One of the reasons this is such a common theme in princess stories is that it goes along with one of the seven basic plot archetypes , the "Rags to Riches" trope. In the past, that trope was used more often for stories based on  "Cinderella,"  but the "lost princess" trope has become more common in modern media due to the lack of dependency on a man that the "Cinderella" trope  requires. The first...