The Princess Blog

One of the most intriguing stories in the Enchanted Kingdoms anthology  was Naiya's Wish  by Astrid V.J. , which retold a beautiful fairy tale that I was not previously familiar with. That was no coincidence as this author has built her career around obscure adaptations. Among her other works, I was most intrigued by Gisela's Passion , which is inspired by the ballet Giselle , a story I knew next to nothing about except that it was featured in the Barbie movie The Pink Shoes  and inspired the name of the heroine (but not the story) from Disney's Enchanted . That was just enough to make me want to know more. I trusted Astrid's beautiful descriptive storytelling after reading Naiya's Wish , and this book did not disappoint me in that respect, though it did in others. No matter how the story is told, Giselle is a classic love triangle between one woman and two men from different backgrounds. It is also a real downer, which is probably why the ballet was never ada...

Saga of Viera is the latest visual novel that the Time Princess app released as part of their massive one-year anniversary update. The story takes place in a high fantasy RPG world of elves, curses, and gods. It is about as short as  their Swan Lake visual novel  and contains a number of unsatisfying "good" endings like Helen of Sparta and Shadows of London . Though I enjoyed the story in Saga of Viera more than Helen or Shadows, I was disappointed to see it end abruptly with no resolution for the downtrodden protagonist. I've always been a fan of fantasy video games  and even wrote a book inspired by them , so the elven kingdom setting and aesthetics were very appealing to me. It was also nice to have another original story , so I didn't feel like I was missing something by not being familiar with the original work like with Little Women . In Saga of Viera, you play as a fortune-teller named Zoya whose bloodline is cursed. Due to magical reasons beyond her knowledg...

Every few years, the Disney Princess brand updates its official anthem . This year's addition came out in honor of Disney's Ultimate Princess Celebration . "Starting Now"  is performed by Brandy, who recently made a comeback of her 1997 role in  Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella . It is the fourth song to represent the Disney Princess brand since it began in 2000. Brandy continues the tradition of the anthem being sung by an actress who played a princess in a Disney movie. The only outlier is 2012's "Hall of Fame,"  which was performed by a popular band, The Script. "Starting Now" has some similarities to the very first Disney Princess anthem, "If You Can Dream,"  in that both songs contain references to classic Disney Princess song lyrics. I have to admit that I prefer the soothing lullaby instrumentals of "If You Can Dream" to the generic synthesized pop vibes of "Starting Now." Give it a listen below to...

To celebrate  500 posts in The Princess Blog , I'm participating in the Book Owl Word Search (BOWS) along with many other talented writers. Each author has a secret word hidden somewhere in their blog. If you can find and collect all the secret words, you get a chance to win a prize! I'm on the orange team. You can learn more about the challenge on the Snowy Wings Publishing website . For my entry, I decided to release the bonus chapter from my book, The Stolen Slipper , which had only been published in the Kindle box set for The Stolen Trilogy until now. This chapter is from the perspective of James, the "Prince Charming" character from my reimagining of  "Cinderella,"  who is also  Lily's brother from The Stolen Queen , the second book in the trilogy .   After you read the chapter, you will find a link to the next blog in this challenge. I hope you have fun learning about these talented authors and searching for their hidden words.

The Mystery Princess  is the latest installment in Melanie Cellier's Return to the Four Kingdoms series . It contains many references to characters and events from her other fairy tale adaptations including The Princess Fugitive , A Dream of Ebony and White , and The Secret Princess . This book follows the same format as Melanie's other books in which a capable young lady intercepts a royal conspiracy, saves the day, and falls in love with a prince. Though it might be a bit predictable after all the other books she wrote that take place in this setting, that doesn't mean that it isn't interesting. Not only is this the first of Melanie's books to feature a dark-skinned heroine on the cover, but it is also a unique take on "Cinderella"  that changes many elements of the timeworn fairy tale to keep it fresh while remaining true to the heart of the story. Like all of Melanie's fairy tale books, The Mystery Princess  has a protagonist that long-time reade...

Princess parodies  may have been all the rage throughout the 21st century, but you've never seen one quite like this. Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle  is an anime comedy that explores what happens to a kidnapped princess while the hero is off trying to rescue her. However, Princess Syalis couldn't care less about being rescued. All she wants to do is get the most comfortable sleep she can possibly muster in her new castle. After all, what else is there to do when you are whisked away from your royal responsibilities and left alone in a nice room with lots of friendly demons as neighbors? Though Princess Syalis may have been kidnapped, she is no damsel in distress . In fact, the innocuous demon inhabitants of her new home soon become more like servants to her than captors. My favorite thing about this anime is that it rips apart the conception that kidnapped princesses are helpless victims who can't do anything but sit around and wait to be rescued. Not only does Syali...

Barely even a week after their Phantom of the Opera visual novel came out, the Time Princess app released Taishō Adventures, an original story set in Japan that could not be more different than Phantom. This is the first new story that had more than one chapter since I started playing Time Princess, harkening back to its original three visual novels . It takes place during the Taishō era , a period of Japanese history that lasted from 1912 to 1926. Since this the same time period that Gotham Memoirs takes place, there is some overlap of the clothing styles. The setting in Taishō Adventures also incorporates some classic Japanese fashions including colorful kimonos and beaded floral accessories as well as many Japanese cultural references including idioms, fairy tales, and architecture. It delivers a satisfying resolution no matter which story path you take, which is more than I can say about Helen of Sparta or Shadows of London . It takes a little while to grasp the story in Ta...

In about a month and a half, I completed all 20 books from the Enchanted Kingdoms anthology . It was not easy to read this many novels in such a short period of time. I learned about a lot of terrific authors and some that I probably would not have been interested in reading otherwise. Each of the four sets of books I reviewed follow vague themes. The first five books  were contemporary retellings of well-known fairy tales. The second five  were horror and paranormal romance. The third set  included more traditional retellings, and these last books placed a spotlight on disabled characters  overcoming seemingly impossible odds. I thoroughly enjoyed this last set of books and even learned about some new fairy tales. Silent Melody  by Alice Ivinya This is a creative and beautiful retelling of "The Pied Piper of Hamelin."  It's one of the best books in this entire anthology and incorporates new ideas that fully flesh out the characters and settings in an other...

Every so often, someone makes a silly complaint about a Disney Princess movie instilling poor morals, and I am always ready to defend it. The latest silly accusation stems from the opening of Snow White's Enchanted Wish  at Disneyland Park . This refurbished dark ride is a reimagining of the former  Snow White's Scary Adventures  with new animatronics  in honor of Disney's year-long Ultimate Princess Celebration . Amongst the new animatronic showcases is a pivotal scene from the classic 1937 animated film  in which the prince gives Snow White true love's kiss , reviving her from a deathly slumber so that she can be free to live out her happily ever after. A few days ago, two journalists from a publication called SFGATE released an article  complaining about this non-consensual kiss that has put the internet into an uproar. Let's discuss the moral ethics of true love's kiss. The concept of true love's kiss is not unique to "Snow White and the Seven Dwar...

Though I wasn't sure what to expect from Camille Peters'  new fairy tale book after reading the last one , I am pleased to say that Awaken  is now my favorite book in The Kingdom Chronicles along with  Identity . It may be no coincidence that these two books are connected by a recurring character, Archer, who was the brother of the protagonist in Identity  and the love interest of the protagonist in Awaken . This is a creative retelling of "Sleeping Beauty"  that focuses on a specific aspect of the 1959 Disney adaptation  rather than anything from the original fairy tale. It never ceases to amaze me how many creative ways  authors have found  to retell this story in a way that allows the sleeping princess to be more active  while remaining true to the heart of the original. The heroine from  Awaken  suffers from a bad case of amnesia. She refers to herself as Primrose even though she knows it isn't her real name. When she first enco...