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Review: Magical Princess

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Princess parenting simulators have been a niche genre even since they were popularized in the early '90s by Princess Maker . It's a unique concept that combines the decision-making format of visual novels  with the stat grinding of classic JRPGs . The player typically takes on the role of a father who is tasked with raising a daughter in a magical world to lead a happy and successful life. The daughter is often gifted with mysterious powers that can be unlocked by making certain choices throughout the game. Successful playthroughs result in her inheriting a throne or saving the fantasy world, and unsuccessful ones result in her becoming a recluse or degenerate. I usually find the stat grinding of these games to be pretty tedious, but the latest release,  Magical Princess , successfully modernizes the format with beautiful visuals and voice acting to make it an overall rewarding experience. With a full Japanese voice cast, beautiful animation and graphics, and secret endin...
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Review: The Tale of Capri

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It goes without saying that most princess fans also love mermaids . So when a new book released this year in honor of MerMay , the annual online mermaid art competition, I was intrigued. The Tale of Capri  by Kathleen Solis  is a cozy contemporary romance between a mermaid and a lifeguard. The eye-catching cover was inspired by a series of artwork that the author created for various MerMay prompts, which are included in the back of the book. It's a quick, clean read with sweet vibes and strong environmental themes about ocean conservation. Good mermaid books  can be hard to find, so this one is definitely worth diving into if beachy vibes are your jam. The Tale of Capri  opens with a scene similar to the one depicted on the cover of the book. A lifeguard named Eden inspects the beach and finds an injured mermaid washed up on the shore with her tail caught in a net. He cuts her free and offers to let her stay in his pool while she recovers from her injuries. She choos...
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The Enchanted Book Faire Is Here!

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In today's technological era , many of the activities that we enjoy outside can also be done at home from our magical towers . Today, we can add the Renaissance Faire  to that list. A large group of indie fairy tale authors got together to form the Enchanted Book Faire , a special online event that lasts all weekend long. This faire is just like a real Renaissance Faire. It has a variety of different pavilions and activities to partake in. The only difference is that you don't need to worry about parking, crowds, or sunburn! The event is similar to some of the National Fairy Tale Day  that many of these authors have participated in before, complete with a hearty prize of discounted ebooks for those who visit every booth. The Enchanted Book Faire is hosted by Alesha Adamson  and has 15 participating authors, each of whom provides a letter to unlock the secret code needed to access the sale at the end. The authors' booths have some wonderfully whimsical names, such as "D...
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Snow White and Me Has the Best Fairy Tale Musical Soundtrack You've Never Heard!

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In 2023, two "Cinderella" inspired musicals  made their way to Broadway and promptly closed within less than a year. On the other side of the world, a different fairy tale-inspired musical was enchanting audiences across Europe. Snow White & Me  is a portal fantasy like Between the Lines  with self-aware fairy tale characters who want to change their pre-written destinies, similar to Ever After High and Once Upon a Time . The story shares elements with the Britney Spears jukebox musical, Once Upon a One More Time , but its original soundtrack is vastly superior, as are the costumes and plot, which thankfully doesn't have a forced feminist agenda . According to the show's official website, it was commissioned in 2018 for European productions and seeks to find its way to the American stage in the future. As of last month, the English soundtrack for Snow White & Me became widely available online and can be listened to for free on YouTube . Like  with all good mu...
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Review: Ties of Legacy

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Ties of Legacy  by Melanie Cellier  is the fifth book I read  from the Tethered Hearts multi-author series. It serves as an introduction to Melanie's  Kingdoms of Legacy series, in which the characters live in a world governed by a complex system of rules that binds them to their kingdoms and forces them to relive classic stories for generations. Although this book is not based on a fairy tale, it serves as a loose retelling of "Aladdin," or more specifically, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland , because it focuses on a man who is bound to a lamp that is possessed by a woman he must travel with and develops feelings for. The book's pacing occasionally lags, but it culminates in a thrilling climax. Avery is a traveling merchant who lives in a world that prevents many people from leaving their homes and values her freedom. Elliot wishes he could settle down, but the magical laws that govern their world bound him to always be near a specific candelabra. When his precious ...
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Masters of the Universe Is the Lost Prince Portal Fantasy You've Been Waiting For!

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The "lost princess" trope  is among the most popular when it comes to princess stories, but due to the last decade's rise of princesses as powerful warriors , it's fallen a bit out of fashion. With the decline of princes as love interests  and their lack of opportunities to defend their now stronger female counterparts, there isn't much left for men to do in fantasy movies . That's where the latest Masters of the Universe  movie comes in. Based on the '80s toy line and cartoon franchise , this movie is a throwback to a time when fantasy films were meant to be pure escapism and not about delivering an agenda . Its hero, Adam, takes on a similar role to classic princesses of the past, while his female counterpart, Teela, embodies the stoic warrior role that modern female characters have been relegated to. The movie tells the story of Prince Adam of Eternia, who was sent through a portal to Earth by the Sorceress for his safety after his kingdom was conquere...
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Review: Wings of Starlight

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Disney Publishing  books tend to be hit or miss for me. When I heard that there would be a prequel to the Disney Fairies  movie, Secret of the Wings , focusing on Queen Clarion in her early days and her forbidden relationship with the Lord of Winter, I was immediately intrigued. Wings of Starlight  by Allison Saft  is everything you could want from a Disney Fairies prequel. It enhances the lore that began in 2005 with  Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg  by Gail Carson Levine , without contradicting any of the established worldbuilding for Pixie Hollow. This book has been so beloved since its release in February 2025 that it even launched its own webcomic , which provides striking visuals to match the descriptions in the text. Born from starlight, Princess Clarion is the only governing talent fairy to emerge in Pixie Hollow since Queen Elvina, whose reign is nearing its end. According to the Disney Fairies franchise, every fairy in Pixie Hollow is born w...
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Review: Ashfall

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I received an ARC of Ashfall  from authors Dalton and Emily Bequette , the second book in the Flameheart Chronicles. It is a direct sequel to Flameheart  that would not work as a standalone due to the heavy exposition and backstory requiring readers to familiarize themselves with the first book. Since it is written in a similar style, people who enjoyed the first installment will likely enjoy this one as well. As an older reader, I had a bit of a rough time with it. The concepts introduced in Flameheart  were fascinating and unique, yet as a sequel, aside from a few surprising revelations,  Ashfall was a bit tedious for me. In Flameheart , Aurelia learns that she has the ability to travel to fictional worlds and to bring characters from her imagination to life, particularly Prince Kayce, her imaginary lover. However, the book contains little exploration of the psychological effects of falling for a fictional character . Instead, it is assumed that the reader automat...
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Review: Sofia the First - Royal Magic

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It's been four years since the announcement of a new Sofia the First series. Today, that series is finally available to watch on Disney Jr.  and will be coming to Disney+ tomorrow. Sofia the First: Royal Magic  is everything I hoped it would be, with callbacks to the original show and most of the original cast and crew returning alongside many new faces. Sofia is back with her iconic purple dress, magic amulet, and the same sweet and cheerful personality that we all know and love. The show's pilot included a cameo from Rapunzel that referenced a "council of princesses," but this hint to additional Disney Princess  adventures is not mentioned again in the rest of the eight episodes that premiered today, so we will have to wait and see how she encounters other classic princesses in the future. Sofia the First: Royal Magic does an excellent job of blending new characters and settings with the ones from the show's initial, welcoming new audiences without alienatin...
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Review: All the Queen's Horses and All the Queen's Men

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All the Queen's Horses and All the Queen's Men  is the thrilling conclusion to Abigail Manning's Once Upon a Rhyme series  of nursing rhymes rewritten as original fairy tales set in a fantasy world powered by magic jewels . I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC of this final installment. Though the author recommends reading the rest of the books in the series first, I had more than enough context from the first book and the most recent book  to enjoy this one without feeling like I was missing anything important. The story is loosely inspired by "Humpty Dumpty"  and uses a shattered soul stone as a metaphor for the famous broken egg. Amirah has been known as the "blood princess" because of a horrible tragedy that occurred in her childhood, causing the death of most of her family due to their obsession with soul stones, magic gems that they believed would allow them to control their emotions. Her shattered soul stone, which she wears as a set of jewel...
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Ella Enchanted Joins a Growing List of Upcoming Cinderella Streaming Series

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In a surprising announcement from Deadline yesterday , we learned that Disney+ is planning to turn Ella Enchanted  into a streaming series. Before you get excited about seeing a new adaptation of the beloved Gail Carson Levine novel that many of us grew up with , keep in mind that the press release specifically states "a TV series based on the 2004 Miramax film." This is troublesome considering that the movie has many flaws that prevent it from topping a list of live-action "Cinderella" adaptations , as well as the fact that the streaming services are currently oversaturated with new adaptations of the classic fairy tale . Since the project is still in its early stages, there is also a possibility that it won't even, considering Disney's track record of announcing new princess projects that never see the light of day. Whenever a movie gets adapted into a series, the biggest issue is whether there's enough additional content to stretch into an episodic...
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Review: Flameheart

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I was initially drawn to Flameheart  by Dalton and Emily Bequette  by the beautiful concept art they shared on their social media pages , as well as the obvious plot similarities to Between the Lines , my favorite musical (that I recently did a piano cover of ), which is also based on a novel . Flameheart  is currently a steal at 99 cents on Amazon , and ARCs are out for the sequel, Ashfall , which I received and will be reviewing in the coming weeks. Like Hope and Love's Legacy , the Flameheart Chronicles is a series of portal fantasy books that take place between the real world and a fantasy kingdom called Norenth. Flameheart  is about a girl named Aurelia, or Lia for short, who is obsessed with a fictional prince named Kayce, who served as her imaginary friend since childhood. Her grandfather published a series of books about Kayce and his fantasy world of Norenth with moderate success. After her father left her, Aurelia became emotionally dependent on Kayce,...
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Review: Time Princess - Princess Sissi Part 2

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Time Princess  has so many visual novels out now that they've been focusing more on sequels to the ones they already released than on new ones. While there's nothing wrong with a good sequel, they already concluded most of the stories that ended on cliffhangers . I was surprised to see that their latest continuation was for Princess Sissi , a historical visual novel they released five years ago that I don't particularly remember feeling unfinished. Still, Sissi is a popular character who has had many animated adaptations , so it seemed like a "safe" choice for the developers to continue if they didn't have the resources for an entirely new story. The story picks up shortly after Sissi's engagement to Franz, the emperor of Austria, when he unexpectedly chose her after a proposed alliance between him and Sissi's sister, Helene. Their happy lives are immediately disrupted by an assassination attempt on Franz. The majority of the visual novel revolves arou...
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Review: Winx Club Reboot Video Game

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To coincide with the recent Winx Club reboot, Winx Club: The Magic Is Back ,  a multi-platform video game developed by  Iron Frog , was launched  under the same title . The studio used a grassroots marketing campaign for this game by reaching out to influencers to help promote it, including me, but did not respond to my request for a review copy, so this is my honest review. They also released the game at a discounted rate, which is usually not a good sign. It seemed they needed all the help they could get because Winx Club: The Magic Is Back feels more like a '90s PC game than a modern-day console release. The controls are simple, the world is limited, and the plot is practically non-existent. For me, the primary appeal of playing a video game inspired by the Winx Club franchise is the ability to transform into a fairy and use the girls' unique powers in battle or to perform various tasks. Did it satisfy this expectation? Technically, yes, but only at the bare mini...
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Review: Dancing with Gold

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I eagerly received an ARC of Dancing with Gold  by Sara Farnsworth , the latest book in the Realms of Caelia series . Each book in the series combines two different fairy tales to create a new original story, a concept that has inspired me in some of my own writing . This book, which combines "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" with "Rumpelstiltskin,"  is different from the other Realms of Caelia books in that it does not have the protagonists take on the roles of both stories. Instead, the book is split between the story of Princess Jadia, who lives out the popular curse version of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses,"  and her mother, Queen Amythest, who lived out the story of the miller's daughter in "Rumpelstiltskin" before Jadia was born. I personally preferred it when the characters in this series took on multiple fairy tale roles to add more depth to their stories, but that makes this book a unique entry. The premise of this book is one that m...
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Story Saturday: The Sorceress and the Farmer's Legacy

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*Note: It's been an insanely long time since I've done a  Story Saturday , so long that some of my newer readers might not even know what it is. My short stories don't get as much attention as my reviews and news posts, so I've been focusing more on my books  when it comes to creative storytelling. Since I recently released a new book , I've been devoting these last few weeks to expanding upon the realm of Imperium with a sequel to Hope and Love's Legacy . For a while, I considered the possibility of a prequel about how Amoura's parents met. However, I don't think it would be long enough for a full novel. Instead, I decided it'd be a fun bonus to share it with my readers here on The Princess Blog. I hope you enjoy this short prequel, along with the rest of the books in The Legacy Chronicles. "The Sorceress and the Farmer's Legacy" William grabbed his sickle and joined the small workforce of tenant farmers on Lord Thomas's expansive ...
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