The Princess Blog

Off the Page is the sequel to the novel Between the Lines , which inspired my current musical obsession . Like Between the Lines , it is written by Jodi Picoult and her daughter, Samantha van Leer . It does not work as a standalone or a direct sequel to the musical. For that reason, if you want to avoid spoilers, I would suggest not reading this review unless you've already read Between the Lines . I would also like to take this time to point out that whoever was in charge of marketing these books did a terrible job. The books are fun and entertaining, but they are both listed as YA with realistic-looking covers that do not represent the whimsical and fantastical stories within them. The original cover for Off the Page was better than the current one because it portrays characters coming out of a book. The new one is just some girl's back, which makes it look like a contemporary drama. These books are great fun, but they are very much juvenile stories. I have no idea why t

If there was ever a musical that felt like it was written just for me, it's  Between the Lines . Never heard of it? That's not surprising. The show had a limited premiere for a few weeks in 2017 and a quiet off-Broadway run for a few months in 2022 before disappearing from the face of the earth. Its fall to obscurity was a crying shame until a pro-shot was released this year on BroadwayHD , the official streaming service for live theater. Based on a novel by Jodi Picoult  and her then-teenage daughter, Samantha van Leer , the musical tells the story of a high school book nerd named Delilah who falls in love with a prince from a fairy tale that comes to life. This story is incredibly meaningful to me as both a writer and a reader. Not only have I had many intense crushes on fictional characters, but the plot is nearly identical to the first script I ever wrote for my first screenwriting class in college. Between the Linse is a love letter for princess fans around the world tha

I discovered  Rescuing the Prince  by Meghann McVey  from a Facebook promotion. It looked like a cute story that appealed to my interests, so I decided to check it out. It is the first book from the Leah Heroman series, which appears to be a series of clean romance novels with strong isekai and Disney inspiration. This book started out a little hokey and felt like an off-brand version of the Kingdom Keepers , but it got better as it went along. By the time I finished, I enjoyed it more than I expected to and even found myself curious about what happens next in the series. Although not based on a fairy tale, the story has strong Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper  vibes, along with a magic school, a love triangle, and a relatable heroine from the real world who loves princesses. It's a great escapist fantasy for princess fans of all ages. Leah Heroman is a princess performer at Disneyland  Portalis Park (which definitely would have been sued by Disney if it were a real place).

Deborah Grace White  is quite possibly my favorite modern author. She did an amazing job with her enchanting series of fairy tale retellings in  The Singer Tales , but I think I like her original fantasy romance stories even better. I was blown away by the magic, romance, and worldbuilding in her amazing mermaid tetralogy, The Vazula Chronicles . Since then she's done an excellent job of writing even more original romance stories about curious heroines living in controversial worlds. Her contribution to the Sacrificed Hearts series  takes place in the same magically enriched world as The Singer Tales as does her newest trilogy, Heartsong . To celebrate the completion of Heartsong, she offered an irresistible promotion to read the first book, A Splintered Land , for free. To her readers' delight,  A Splintered Land  contains many of the same elements that I loved from her other books. Marieke (pronounced muh-REE-kuh) is a recent graduate of the Academy of Song, a school that th

The upcoming reboot of Winx Club  has gone through countless delays in favor of bland live-action adaptations  and original animated shows , but a teaser has been released at last for this highly anticipated ninth season. It has been known for a long time amongst fans that the series has fully transitioned to CGI, which has never looked as good to me as the original 2D animation . However, the art form has come a long way since then. Rainbow S.p.A.  has improved its technique over the years to add more magic to its computer animation. The new season looks like an attempt to retell the same story the show released in 2004 with updated animation for modern audiences. There are positive and negative ramifications to this. While they aren't trying to change everything for the worse like Fate: The Winx Saga , it's still at risk of going in the same direction as Disney's live-action remakes , which change so little that it's better to just watch the original again. The teaser

Three is the magic number for this review. To Shatter a Slipper  by Abigail Manning  is the third book I've read from the Shattered Tales series  and the third "Cinderella" retelling  I  read from this author . Despite retelling the same fairy tale  so many times, she still manages to find a new twist that makes the book feel fresh and original. This book has a similar plot to Disney's Cinderella III: A Twist in Time  in which the infamous glass slipper fits another girl who must work together with Ella to reclaim her happy ending. It fits the theme of the Shattered Tales series because the "Cinderella" story is literally shattered when the glass slipper doesn't fit Ella, and it's an unexpected perspective swap that acknowledges and celebrates Cinderella's kind and gentle nature . Kirsi has no interest in marrying a prince. She's more concerned with the restrictions her father placed on her relationship with Caden, a servant at the palace. Ju

This hasn't been the best year in terms of new anime. The past two seasons had a dearth of princesses after the Winter 2024 isekai explosion . Not only that, but the Spring 2024 season was severely lacking in romance. Get your tissue boxes ready because the new Fall 2024 season is here to change all that. Nearly half this season's anime shows have a romantic arc of some sort, which is a great follow-up to the shocking love confession in last week's episode of Wonderful Precure . Two anime shows from this season that stand for having romantic princess-oriented plotlines are Nina the Starry Bride and The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor . These are the types of shows that I never get tired of. Although they follow some stereotypical anime tropes, they are the only way to relive some of the original Disney Princess archetypes  that have been lost to time in Western animation . Nina the Starry Bride is the newest take on the female-oriented rags-to-riches doppelgang

Marian and the Elf  is the second book in the Elves & Legends series by Anabelle Raven . The books in this series are loose fairy tale retellings set in a high fantasy world of humans and elves with magical powers. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, Ella and the Elf , so I decided to give this one a try. Although I don't usually enjoy Robin Hood-inspired stories as much as princess ones, this book had both! This version of Marian is a rebel princess who becomes a pirate in an attempt to escape her cruel father. Generational trauma is something that this book shares with its prequel and will likely be an ongoing theme throughout this series. Another continuing theme is prejudice. Both books tell love stories between a human and an elf in a world where the two races are at odds with each other. This one is more action-packed than the gentle Ella's story, so it appeals to a more adventuresome audience. Although Marian and the Elf  is inspired by the Robin Hood legends, there

I recently had the exciting opportunity to review an ARC of The Cursed Beauty , the newest fairy tale adaptation by Valia Lind . This book is part of her Skazka Fairy Tales series , which is about a Russian-inspired fantasy world with a heavy focus on romance. As the first full-length novel I've read that takes place in this world, I found it refreshingly sweet. The Cursed Beauty  is a retelling of "Sleeping Beauty"  that places more focus on the love story than the magical elements of the fairy tale. It's a straightforward romance about a princess and her bodyguard and the class differences that stand in their way. I liked that the book didn't use unrealistic feminist standards  and gave an accurate representation of how this type of relationship could have played out. The Cursed Beauty  starts out exactly like "Sleeping Beauty." Princess Alyona was cursed by an evil fairy at her birthing ceremony to fall into a death-like sleep that would affect the w

The Time Princess app  recently added a new type of visual novel that has gotten a lot of pushback from players. Traveler's Notes stories are quite possibly the most unanimously disliked new feature in the game. These stories contain fewer clothing items and no companion relics, which have enhanced the player experience in Time Princess since it began. Although I played the first Traveler's Notes visual novel, I didn't bother writing about it because there was nothing in it that piqued my interest. The new one, Alice: Ideal Wonderland, is inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland , a story that is often considered a fairy tale and sometimes even a Disney Princess  story. Although it isn't one of my favorite fairy tales, the Once Upon a Time in Wonderland series  that it inspired in 2013 is one of my favorite television shows of all time. There are so many different ways to interpret this story that there's usually something in it for everyone. Like many A

I don't read a lot of retellings of "Little Red Riding Hood"  because they usually change the wolf character into a werewolf  and eliminate the theme of trusting strangers (which is why I wrote my own version ). However, since I enjoyed The Rose Gate   by Hanna Sandvig  because of the unique modern-day setting and fae worldbuilding, I decided to check out its prequel, The Wolf Gate . This book contains the expected werewolves, but it also does a good job of conveying the theme of trust and stands out from other fairy tale adaptations due to its modern high school setting. It reminded me of Twilight  due to its teenage target audience, so I think I would have enjoyed it more if I read it at a younger age. The last thing Audrey expects after getting chased in the woods is to be rescued by her ex-boyfriend who abandoned her at prom. Nor is she expecting to learn that he is a werewolf from the fae world and that he abandoned her due to his magical responsibilities. However, t

Over the past several years , I have reviewed various princess media . The majority of the shows, books, and movies I've discussed have been rooted in fantasy with a few exceptions . Historically, princesses were the daughters of real-life monarchs and other leaders , but most of their appeal is rooted in legends, myths, and fairy tales . Sometimes, the lines between fantasy and reality can become blurred when using real historical figures as protagonists. In the case of media like Anastasia , Reign , or Six , audiences understand that the primary function of these presentations is to entertain them while throwing in some historical nuggets to do their own research on later if they so choose. It has recently come to my attention that there is a stigma revolving around Disney's Pocahontas , a movie I greatly enjoyed as a child, due to its numerous historical inaccuracies. Is it inherently immoral to enjoy a piece of historical fiction that colors the character's lives in a