P is for Princess
This year I’m taking a break from Faerie and doing an A to Z of my TBR (to be read) list instead. Each letter will have books starting with that letter on my list, a book I’ve read and reviewed (with the review!) and one of my books matching the letter with a link about more info about the book. I’ve decided not to include words like “A”, “The” and “An” during this challenge.
My TBR
About the Book I’ve Read
I read the first two books in the trilogy when I discovered them after the second book was released. I completely forgot that a third book was in the works and accidentally added it to my Goodreads TBR in 2020 when updating my reviews. And though I got the ebook then, I only got around to reading it now.
A fantasy YA series featuring the retelling of three fairytales: The Twelve Dancing Princesses, Cinderella, and Little Red Riding Hood.
Check it out on Goodreads.
My Review
Princess of the Midnight Ball
The story of the Twelve Dancing Princesses reimagined in a dark tale where bargains with creatures beneath the earth curse princesses to dance their slippers to pieces.
Some passages are filled with vivid imagery. The villains are truly awful and terrifying. Galen, the soldier who’ll try to rescue the princesses from the Midnight Ball, is brave and very likeable. Rose, the princess the story is really about, only gets likeable halfway through the book when we start to spend more time with her. The problem, of course, is too much head-hopping between characters in the beginning of the book. The prologue is fine: it sets the mood. But knowing what the king thinks while still trying to figure out if Galen is the one we should bond with and then jumping to Rose’s head and then back was a little tiresome.
Retellings of the Twelve Dancing Princesses are always fun to read: they interpret the original Grimm fairy tale in different and interesting ways while answering the nagging question of worn through slippers. This book is a fun, yet dark, interpretation of the theme and message of the original tale.
I would’ve liked to know more about the other princesses. Their names flow together – all named after flowers – and none of them are distinct except for Poppy who is feisty, Hyacinth who is religious and Violet who likes music (though I’ll be hard-pressed to remember what any of them look like).
I did like that Galen is able to knit and that this skill is useful in defeating the bad guys. The mixture of magic, religion, war and the courage of the princesses and Galen make this a page-turning read (once the head-hopping comes to an end and the story is only told from Rose or Galen’s point of view.)
I’ll recommend this Young Adult adventure for those who love fairy tale retellings with a bit of magic.
Princess of Glass
The tale of Cinderella reimagined where the godmother is a creature of the underworld and Princess Poppy (from Princess of the Midnight Ball) has to use her knowledge of magical bargains to save not just the poor girl caught in the creature’s grasp but also the young prince she has befriended.
Though the head-hopping was better this time, three point of view characters was a bit much to keep track of.
I really like Poppy. She’s feisty, she’s talented, she’d dependable and she cares about those around her. I liked spending time in her head. There’s not much to like about Eleanora and spending time with her wasn’t so great except for visiting her godmother in her spectacular castle of glass. As for the prince: being in his head didn’t really add to the story.
I did like the twist on the glass slippers and the midnight curfew.
I’ll recommend this Young Adult adventure for those who love fairy tale retellings with a bit of magic.
Princess of the Silver Woods
I enjoyed this book immensely. There are a few typos and such that pulled me from the story, but it was an engrossing plot.
I liked that all the sisters were involved and that the bad guys were once more the princes who had haunted their nightmares.
The themes of Red Riding Hood were perfect in the silver woods that grew from magic. Loved the magical plants, the Robin Hood storyline and the conclusion to Under Stone.
Beautiful ending with loads of great description throughout.
Petunia is such a great character and brought boldness that rivalled and even surpassed that of her older sisters. I liked that she played to her strengths – and that her weaknesses were the cause of her problems. I like that she didn’t wait to be saved, but didn’t dismiss a helping hand either.
Oliver is such a sweet guy with an open mind to accept the unfathomable magic around him. And so brave!
A good story and my favourite in the trilogy.
My Book
Tortured Tales
I hope you enjoyed this. For more books I’ve read and reviewed, check out either my Pinterest board about reviews or my Goodreads profile. Alternatively, you can check out my reviews on BookBub. Have you read any of the books? Loved or hated any of them?
*FYI, my reviews are my honest opinion and if something bothers me, I tell it straight. How else will anything change? My opinions are based on being a voracious reader and book buyer, not an attack on the author.*
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Love the how-to-write books! And I have to ask: You have lots of Heather Graham books on all the lists. Are you saving them up to read all at once (which I do with one particular author)?
Yep! I love binge-reading — it helps me to stay in the world and the ongoing story 🙂
Ooo that Princess series sounds interesting.
I really enjoyed them — and have reread them 🙂
Sounds like a very interesting trilogy, although I think head-hopping might get frustrating. Fairy tale retellings are always fun and those are three good choices of fairy tale.
Tasha
Tasha’s Thinkings: YouTube – What They Don’t Tell You (and free fiction)
It is. And it gave me ideas, which is always the best part of reading 🙂
I love stories that re-tell fairytales. It can be so much fun. I have often wanted to try it, but the thought is a bit intimidating.
Stopping in from A to Z: https://brewingcoffeetwistingwordsbreakingpencils.ca/2022/04/19/popcorn/#comment-5733
The key, I have found, is to use the original as source material and do your own thing — you’d be surprised how creative you can get even in the confines of a retelling!
Mummy writes books beginning with P, but they arent fairy books. She’s just finished reading another beginning with P, but it was a fiction story with science.
I think you’re very clever to read so many books.
love
Biggles xxx
Thanks, Biggles!
That does sound like an interesting trilogy, well worth looking up at some stage, when I have gotten further into my own TBR pile! It is nice to give roles to the princesses apart from the one who marries the soldier. Have you come across the fairytale Kate Crackernuts? It’s a favourite of mine, in some ways a reverse Twelve Dancing Princesses. Kate is a princess, whose mother marries a king with a daughter prettier than her. Unlike in other fairytales the two stepsisters love each other and when the Queen sticks her stepdaughter with a sheep’s head, they flee together, and Kate saves a prince, who is forced to go out dancing in Faerie every night, and comes home exhausted, by following and listening to the fairies speak. She also saves her sister. Someone really needs to write this as a novel…
You’re giving me ideas!
Sounds interesting that these aren’t just retellings, but all tied together with shared characters. Would it work to read the third one as a stand-alone, do you think?
I like some things about George MacDonald very much, but you do have to keep in mind that he is of his time!
The Jane Austen mystery sounds fun, too. I really like the Jane Austen mysteries by Stephanie Barron and recommend them to any fans of Austen and cozy mysteries, but they’re historical rather than modernized.
P is for Pygmyism
Each one can be read as a standalone, and though the third one wraps up the whole otherworldly part of book one, there is enough information in the book that you don’t have to have read the first one to enjoy the third one.
Thanks for the recommendations!
I’ve been getting increasingly tempted by those writing craft Thesaurus books. But I really really need to read what I already have. I know I’ll fail though! 😀
Debs visiting this year from
Making Yourself Relationship Ready
I know what you mean 🙂
I’ve been looking through your lists (which look fabulous) and finally found a book that I remember reading. I studied Perrault’s Fairy Tales in college and it is a book that I treasured. I need to look through these lists and add to my TBR list.
About to finish that A to Z Challenge! Finish strong!
Thanks! You too 🙂