The Princess Blog

If you've been following my blog for a while, you probably noticed that I posted book reviews almost every week for the past couple of years. All of that started when I received the first book in Melanie Cellier's Four Kingdoms series , The Princess Companion , as a Hanukkah present from a friend. That got me started on a long-running obsession with reading every princess ebook I could get my hands on. I've read and reviewed all of her books since then and was a little disappointed when she switched from her fairy tale retellings to The Spoken Mage series . Now, the world of the Four Kingdoms is back with The Secret Princess , the first book in a new series called Return to the Four Kingdoms that takes place in the same world as her other retellings . The book features Princess Giselle, a minor character from A Crown of Snow and Ice , and it just might be the most perfect fairy tale book ever. The Secret Princess  is a retelling of the underappreciated Grimm fairy ...

Reports of recent production delays  made me question whether or not the upcoming Disney+ original movie  Secret Society of Second-Born Royals  was far enough along to premiere this summer as initially promised . Two days ago, I received my answer when a long-anticipated trailer for the action-packed princess flick was finally dropped alongside a release date of July 17th. I was excited about this movie not because I have a preference for princesses who kick butt , but instead because of its lead actress, Peyton Elizabeth Lee , who starred in the brilliant Disney Channel sitcom Andi Mack . Peyton is an endearing and talented actress who will take on the role of Sam, the younger sister of the crown princess of Illyria. Another familiar face in the Secret Society is its teacher,  Skylar Astin , the second actor to take on the role of Greg in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend  that currently portrays the character of Max in another musical drama, Zoey's Extraordinary Pla...

That title is a mouthful, isn't it? The full name of this currently running anime series is My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!  Usually, I stick to Magical Girl anime  for my Japanese princess fix, but this show caught my eye due to my guilty pleasure for visual novels . It follows the adventures of a spoiled noble girl named Catarina Claes who gets hit on the head one day, which causes her to remember her past life as a modern-day high school student. She realizes that she got hit by a bus in the real world and got reincarnated into her favorite visual novel as the villain. The concept seems a little silly at first, but what follows is loads of fairy tale fun as her true personality takes over the villainous princess archetype  that the fates bestowed upon her. The girl living in Catarina's body refuses to suffer the dire fate of the villain, so the voices in her head come up with elaborate schemes to change her fate through visuals that are reminisce...

If you've been keeping up with my author mailing list , you would have seen that I recommended the book Ella and Ash  by K.A. Last  before I had the chance to read it. I decided to remedy that yesterday when I breezed through a copy of this short and sweet "Cinderella" retelling. The book follows the Brothers Grimm version of the story instead of the more popular Perrault version  that  Disney uses , so there was no Fairy Godmother. Ella spends a great deal of time at her mother's grave, where she meets the prince character prior to the ball. Like most modern "Cinderella" adaptations, this book attempts to address the prince's lack of character development  that is so often criticized in older versions, but the romance still feels a little rushed. Overall, it's a fairly standard retelling of the fairy tale with a few new elements. Ella is the same familiar girl we all know who lives with her evil stepmother and two wicked stepsisters, Anna and...

Yesterday was a big day for Give Kids the World Village , a vacation resort in central Florida for children with critical illnesses. Due to the recent world crisis , the village is temporarily closed, so they have found other ways to support sick children by holding fundraiser events online. Yesterday's event was a virtual Q&A with four famous actresses who played Disney Princesses during the Disney Renaissance era. They include Jodi Benson , who did the voice of Ariel, Paige O'Hara , who did the voice of Belle, Linda Larkin , who did the voice of Jasmine, and Irene Bedard , who did the voice of Pocahontas. You can make a donation under any one of their names by clicking on them above. It was a pleasure to be present for this magical princess reunion on Zoom as these talented actresses discussed their experiences with Give Kids the World Village, Disney theme parks, and working as voice artists . The event, entitled "A Royal Evening for Give Kids the World,...

On September 9, 1985,  She-Ra: Princess of Power  premiered as a  He-Man  spin-off with a traditional good vs. evil plot about Adam's twin sister, Adora. At that time, female superheroes and strong women were not seen often on television. Over thirty years later, the tables turned. Now the warrior princess archetype  is dominant, while  damsels in distress  are frowned upon and have become virtually nonexistent in modern media. That makes it the perfect time to reboot this once revolutionary series  through an even more contemporary lens. Instead of being a straight action series like its predecessor, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power  introduces complex studies of character relationships, fleshing out the two-dimensional heroes and villains from the 1985 series. Most characters in the reboot belong to gender and sexual minorities, making it a beautiful celebration of diversity for a today's audiences. This inspired DreamWorks cartoon concl...

Last week, I read Spelled  and brought up some issues with the main character's personality as well as the lack of a direct antagonist. Now that I have completed Identity , the next book in The Kingdom Chronicles , I am pleased to say that my enjoyment Camille Peters ' writing has greatly improved. The book has a fantastic protagonist who is easy to relate to and a deliciously wicked princess who does everything in her power to get between prevent the main character's happiness. The book is inspired by the fairy tale "The Goose Girl,"  in which a wicked handmaiden steals the identity of the princess she serves, but it more closely resembles the novella A Goose Girl by KM Shea , in which a selfish princess forces her handmaiden to take her place against her will. The story of a princess switching places with an underprivileged lookalike is fairly common in movies such as The Princess and the Pauper  or The Princess Switch . It is a story that I never grow tired o...

It's been over a year since I reviewed Pathways , the first book in Camille Peters' Kingdom Chronicles series . Though it wasn't my favorite, I decided to check out the next two books from a box set she released recently with the first three in the series. Spelled  tells the story of Rosie, the best friend of the protagonist in Pathways . I remember I found her mildly irritating for trying to force Eleanor to fall in love after she told Rosie repeatedly that she wasn't interested in a relationship. Unfortunately, reading a book from Rosie's perspective makes her flaws even more irritating than in Eleanor's book. She comes off as so much of a dreamer that it reaches the point of borderline psychosis. The romantic moments were charming, but it often felt like I was watching an episode of Crazy-Ex Girlfriend without the redemption arc where the main character seeks psychological help for her obsession. Rosie is a romantic dreamer who is somewhat full of ...

Disney loves celebrating anniversaries for their animated princesses, especially when they hit a new decade. This year's princess of honor is Cinderella from the 1950 animated classic of the same name. Cinderella  had a major impact on many people's childhoods, including my own. It was released before I was born and went back in the vault before I could obtain it on VHS, so I watched it for the first time on a copy that my uncle recorded for me from a Blockbuster rental, which I suppose was the '90s version of piracy. Of course, I was first in line to purchase it years later when it came out on Platinum Edition DVD. Though it was not my favorite version of this overexposed fairy tale, there were things that made this particular adaptation stand out from the many live-action adaptations  released over the following years. Cinderella's dress transformation sequence  is one of the most famous and beautiful pieces of animation ever made. I remember being enamored as ...

Before I begin, please be aware that the book I'm about to review contains extremely sensitive content that should only be read by adults. If you are under the age of 18, please skip this review and refer to my other book recommendations  for something else to read. I learned about Princess of the Rose  through a promo thread on Twitter for indie authors. Being an indie author myself , I was eager to help promote the work of K.L. Bone . Of course, the title and premise piqued my interest as well. This is the sixth book in her Black Rose series, which I was unfamiliar with. Looking over the reviews, I learned that it is a prequel to the series and that many readers recommended reading it first because the earlier books would have spoiled the ending. With that in mind, I eagerly dove into the dark world of the Muir court. Though it was different from the sort of book I usually read, I was impressed with K.L. Bone's beautiful imagery and gothic storytelling as well as the in...