The Princess Blog

The Winter Prince  by Constance Lopez  is the fourth ARC I have read from the upcoming Once Upon a Prince series. Constance was the frontrunner for the series, so I expected her book to capture the essence of what Once Upon a Prince was meant to represent. It was not my favorite of the ones I've read so far, but it did have some unique elements. The Winter Prince  is a relatively standard retelling of "Beauty and the Beast"  with the main difference being that the Gaston archetype is the prince's cousin instead of a person that the Beauty character knew from her hometown. I was hoping for a gender-bent retelling of the fairy tale since I wasn't too impressed with the ones I've read so far . Still, the timeless classic of "Beauty and the Beast" is always a pleasant read with much to offer to gothic romance and fantasy fans. Revi is a fae prince of the Winter Court whose kingdom suffered under a curse that was enacted by their enemies. Though Revi al...

The twelfth and final installment in The Swan Princess franchise was aptly titled Far Longer Than Forever  in tribute to the romance theme from the original film . As some fans have pointed out, the title accurately represents how long the filmmakers have been milking the series  for almost 30 years with one awful sequel after another. Some of the later sequels had potential , but this movie did not do them any favors as a finale. Written as a direct follow-up to A FairyTale Is Born , the eleventh film in the series,  Far Longer Than Forever  ties up some loose ends after a tedious and forgettable journey that fails to acknowledge many characters and plot points that had been introduced over the course of the other eleven movies. Despite the obvious nod to the famous song that this latest installment uses as its title,  A FairyTale Is Born  seemed more suitable as a conclusion because it contained more tributes to the original film. Far Longer Than F...

When I think of Japanese fantasy media, the first thing that comes to mind is anime . That's why I was surprised to see a live-action Japanese movie centered around fairy tales.  Once Upon a Crime  is a recent Netflix release in which Little Red Riding Hood is a detective who attends the infamous royal ball with Cinderella to solve a murder. The movie uses a similar concept to Once Upon a Time  by combining fairy tales and changing the circumstances around certain characters to add an element of surprise. With its lack of wide shots and cheesy visual effects, it was by no means a cinematic masterpiece. However, it did something different with these characters that I have never seen in any other iteration, which is really saying something considering how many versions of "Cinderella" are out there. The movie presents itself as pure camp from the very beginning when a witch named Barbara asks Little Red Riding Hood if she's impressed by the fact that she's a wit...

Fierce Heart  by Tara Grayce  is the first book in the Elven Alliance series , a love story between a human princess and an elf. Unlike her  Princess by Night series, which only has one book, Elven Alliance has a healthy amount of both primary and tie-in novels. It contains a fully fleshed-out fantasy world with Tolkien-style elves that live hundreds of years. One of the many things I liked about it is that it demonstrates how true love  can be a choice if both parties are willing and isn't something a person needs to sit around waiting for, hoping that the perfect partner will just show up one day. This is the second book I've read by this author in which the main couple falls in love after the wedding. The first is Stolen Midsummer Bride , which focuses on the fae court instead of the elven one and does an equally good job of showing how arranged marriages don't always result in misery for either party. The main character in Fierce Heart  is a princess n...

I was very excited to receive an ARC of the second book in the Runes of Pain and Peace  series by Celeste Baxendell . The Prince's Mage  is the sequel to The Prince's Captive  and the highly anticipated conclusion to Marcella and Gavril's tantalizing love story. The first book had me on the edge of my seat from all the juicy romance and suspense but left me with a feeling of discomfort due to the awful situations that Marcella ends up in because of the feud between her clan and Gavril's. This book resolves those issues so they can have a chance to live in peace. Gavril and Marcella are star-crossed lovers like Romeo and Juliet. The more passionate their feelings are toward each other, the more people seem to get hurt along the way. The Prince's Mage  provides a thrilling conclusion to their love story demonstrating how true love can overcome seemingly impossible odds. When we left Marcella at the end of The Prince's Captive , her worst fear became realized. In ...

At this point, Disenchantment feels like a failed experiment. It sounded like a great idea at first. Using Matt Groening's irreverent humor to deconstruct modern princess stereotypes  could have gone in the way of a cleverly nuanced series like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend . Instead, it tried to recreate outdated techniques from shows like The Simpsons  that were made for syndication. By releasing entire seasons all at once with a year between each one on Netflix, Disenchantment needed to break the mold to match its new format, and it could not do that. Each season or "part" of the series had a bunch of irrelevant or mediocre episodes in between finales that would barely advance the plot and end on cliffhangers , requiring viewers to wait a full year to find out what would happen next. Even though this final installment cleverly included a background character who would pointed out these inconsistencies, it wasn't enough to save the show. Part 5 of Disenchantment begins wit...

The Golden Prince  by Alice Ivinya  is the third ARC I received from the upcoming Once Upon a Prince multi-author series. While it isn't a full gender reversal fairy tale retelling like The Crownless Prince , it is a unique take on the story of "Rapunzel"  that focuses heavily on the prince, making it clear that the author understood the assignment. There are some fun nods to Disney's Tangled  as well as many original fantasy elements that convey a strong sense of worldbuilding. The book delves into fae mythology  as well as the legend of Baba Yaga  with a few subtle nods to "The Snow Queen."  The romance is tantalizingly chaotic with lots of "Will they? Won't they?" moments that dance on the fine line between lovers and enemies. Overall, it is a solid addition to the Once Upon a Prince series that works well as a standalone fantasy novel. When Prince Thomas inherits the legendary Sword of Spring, the only thing that can ward off the deadly po...

The Unlucky Prince  by Deborah Grace White  is the second ARC I've received from the Once Upon a Prince series, an anthology of fairy tale adaptations by different authors from the princes' perspectives. While The Crownless Prince  was a creative gender-bent retelling of "Maid Maleen,"  this book is a basic retelling of "The Frog Prince" with no frills attached. It makes sense that the author chose to go this route since reversing the genders to have the princess turn into a frog would make the story focus more on her like in the Disney version , and it's something that has been done before . For such a short length, this book is somewhat slow and unimaginative, which was surprising coming from Deborah Grace White, who is usually a master worldbuilder . There were some references to her other books, including the dragon Rekavidur, a recurring character in most of her stories. The main character, Ari, is a minor character from Kingdom of Feathers , her ...

I received  Lake Locked  by S.R. Nulton  from an amazing book deal a few years ago that contained many of my favorite fairy tale books. This one stood out to me because it was a retelling of my favorite fairy tale, "The Little Mermaid," and "The Wild Swans," which I had only read one other adaptation of. Both of these fairy tales have a protagonist who must remain silent for varying reasons, making them a natural choice to bring together. However, there are enough differences that a combination of the two would need to favor one over the other, and in this case, Lake Locked  favors "The Wild Swans." In fact, the mermaid element is so downplayed in this book that it makes me question why it was included at all. Aside from the lack of undersea worldbuilding, the main character comes off as immature, making her difficult to relate to. However, her personal growth as a result of these experiences makes her more tolerable by the end of the book. Ariel is a p...

It's been over two years since I shared my review of Saga of Viera , the high fantasy visual novel from Time Princess . At the time, I was excited to see an enchanting fantasy story in the game but disappointed that none of the endings provided a resolution to the protagonist's plight. Since then, the Time Princess app has focused more on urban fantasy  with stories that take place in darker worlds that focus on gruesome topics like murder mysteries in more realistic settings. I was beginning to lose hope that the game would ever return to its elegant historical and fantasy roots when out of the blue, they released the second part of this beloved relic. All long last, all of my gripes with Saga of Viera have been resolved, and I can celebrate it as one of the most engaging and aesthetically pleasing visual novels in the game. In the second chapter of Saga of Viera, our heroine, Zoya, continues her journey right where it left off. She prays desperately for her life as the Sacred...

Today marks Disney's third annual World Princess Week , and it kicked off with a surprise special on Disney+  featuring four of the original voices called LEGO Disney Princess: The Castle Quest . The special featured LEGO versions of Snow White, Ariel, Tiana, Rapunzel, and Moana embarking on a quest to rescue King Triton from Gaston, who used Snow White's Magic Mirror to help him take over an abandoned castle. While his unexpected combination may seem a little reminiscent of Wreck-It Ralph 2 , in which Vanellope got together with a group of all the Disney Princesses, this special takes things to the next level. Since the characters and backgrounds are made of LEGO bricks, it doesn't take itself seriously and goes all out with Easter eggs and references. For instance, Ariel and Moana's quest brings them to a pirate ship where they encounter Smee from Peter Pan , Iago, and the Magic Carpet from Aladdin . The special may have contained an unapologetic amount of fan servic...

When I first received the ARC for The Prince's Captive  by Celeste Baxendell, I thought that it was her entry for the upcoming Once Upon a Prince series . However, I quickly realized that it is the first book from her newest fantasy series, Runes of Pain and Peace. Her gender-bent fairy tale retelling, The Wicked Prince , is yet to come. The Prince's Captive  is quite a bit longer and more intense than a light-hearted fairy tale retelling. It tells an original fantasy story for young adult readers that gives off Romeo and Juliet  vibes in a world with mages who cast spells using runes similar to my own fantasy trilogy . Though it was a riveting book, the circumstances behind the romance were so troubling that it felt like a guilty pleasure. The female lead was a prisoner like Belle from "Beauty and the Beast,"  Yet that story is rather tame compared to the level of torment that Marcella suffers in this book. Marcella's appearance is both a blessing and a curse. Sh...

"Princess Casey's Magic Closet" Once upon a time, there was a princess named Casey. A fairy had blessed her with an enchanted closet that would create any gown she could desire. Each creation would fit perfectly and come in any color or style that she wanted. Casey loved her closet. She was never seen in public in the same dress more than once, and she always had the perfect outfit for every occasion. When she was invited to ride horses, the closet manifested a frilly suede and lace riding outfit that was as beautiful as it was practical. When she was invited to royal balls in other kingdoms, she always arrived in an elegant gown that matched the colors and most popular style of that kingdom. One day, a foreign dignitary came to visit in the hopes of making peace between the two kingdoms. They had been at war for many years, so the relationship between the kingdoms was still rocky. Casey decided the best way to win them over would be to put on a show they would never forg...

Princesses are no strangers to the Broadway stage . With their glamorous gowns and gorgeous singing voices , live theater is the perfect way to showcase these glowing examples of femininity. With the Broadway Princess Party entering its seventh year currently under the guise of Disney Princess: The Concert , it seems like there has always been at least one adaptation of a Disney Princess movie gracing the Broadway stage. However, this tradition did not begin until 1994 when Disney on Broadway premiered their first show, a stage adaptation of the animated masterpiece, Beauty and the Beast . After the success of The Little Mermaid  launching the Disney Renaissance in 1989, Disney movies became known for their Broadway-style soundtracks pioneered by the talent of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman , who came to their animation studio with backgrounds in musical theater. Though this show is no longer running on Broadway, the script is available for other theater groups including  Ma...