The Princess Blog

We are two days into World Princess Week , the annual celebration of the Disney Princess brand , which takes place from August 25th to 31st this year. The beloved brand has moved on from its Ultimate Princess Celebration campaign  to begin a new marketing campaign called "Create Your World." The campaign kicked off at the beginning of the month with a commercial entitled  "The Magic Within"  in which little girls imagine Disney characters and symbols popping into their ordinary lives so they can live the modern princess life . This particular brand campaign seems more consumer-based than "Live Your Story,"  which encourages incorporating princess traits like kindness and bravery in everyday life. "Create Your World" sounds like an invitation to buy lots of Disney merchandise and turn your home into a castle , which is on brand with modern  Disney's questionable decisions that favor corporate greed over good storytelling. Although World Princ...

It's been a bit of a wait, but Rainbow SpA  has delivered on their promise of an original animated mermaid show ! From the creators of Winx Club ,  Mermaid Magic  premiered on Netflix a few days ago with ten fun-filled episodes. Although the show didn't have quite as much underwater content as I was hoping for, it's a solid new Magical Girl series with beautiful animation and a female-empowering plot. I was thrilled to dive into the world of Merlinda, Sasha, and Nerissa and learn about their incredible powers on their journey to save Mertropia (originally called Mertropolis) pirates, witches, and toxic waste. The first season ended on a satisfying note with the potential for new adventures in future seasons. Merlinda is the sheltered princess of Mertropia who leaps into action when she overhears a conversation about her father using up his life force to protect the kingdom. If she can travel to the dangerous surface world through a magic portal and recover five Neptune P...

It has been three years since the Time Princess app released its Shadows of London visual novel that ended on a massive cliffhanger. Since then, fans have been demanding a proper conclusion, but it wasn't until last year that they released a second part  to Saga of Viera , and it would still be another year before this one. Well, folks, the wait is finally over. Shadows of London Part 2 dropped earlier this week with a massive conclusion to the gothic vampire story that included a new companion and four new craftable outfits. After downloading the latest Time Princess update, Shadows of London became three times longer with two new chapters to explore. Was it worth the wait? Let's dive in and find out! Shadows of London follows the story of Caroline Rayes, an inquisitive Victorian woman under pressure from her aunt to get involved with the social season. In the first chapter of this visual novel, she learns about a mysterious epidemic spreading throughout London. Two of the m...

Mission complete! The Beggar Prince  by Kate Stradling was the final book I had to review from the Once Upon a Prince series of fairy tale retellings completing my quest to finish this series by the end of the summer. This book is a retelling of "King Thrushbeard,"  which was a great choice for a series focusing on male fairy tale protagonists since the male lead in this story takes more of an active role than in some of the other stories this series has covered . Still, the source material has some questionable elements  including a husband who lies to his wife about his identity and a spoiled princess with an overly controlling father. Although this book is primarily a beat-for-beat retelling of the original fairy tale, it does a good job of humanizing both characters and handles the controversial aspects of the story with grace. If you're looking for an in-depth and accurate adaptation of "King Thrushbeard," this book is an excellent choice. Thorben is a st...

Almost two years ago, Disney announced  that they were working on a spinoff series to Sofia the First . The best place to reveal new updates about this mysterious series would have been the D23 Expo , which took place in Anaheim last weekend. Instead, Disney Jr. quietly posted on Instagram  today that we can expect to see the new series, Sofia the First: Royal Magic  on Disney+ in 2026. This is fantastic news if it's true, but Disney has broken promises on many  other upcoming shows  over the upcoming years, so it's a good idea to take all their announcements with a grain of salt until there is something more substantial like a trailer or release date. Still, it's exciting to have a title and more information about the series. Unlike the original announcement about it being a spinoff like Elena of Avalor , the show will now be a direct sequel that continues Sofia's adventures after graduating from Royal Prep . The official summary is as follows: "Sofia the Firs...

There aren't many arthouse movies that incorporate fairy tale or princess themes since Disney holds the monopoly on most of them. When one of my readers recommended  A Fairy Tale After All , a film that was released by Premiere Entertainment Group , I was curious what an original fairy tale-inspired indie flick might look like. This movie stands apart from the 2018 indie adaptation of The Little Mermaid  and its spiritual sequel, Anastasia Once Upon a Time , because it tells an original story using different creative mediums including animation , puppets , and music . The overall quality is on par with other indie attempts at adapting fairy tales, but I appreciate that the filmmakers tried to do something different with commonly used princess tropes. The story has an important message about grief and accepting loss. Sky is an imaginative teenage girl suffering from the loss of her father and struggling to fit in at school. To cope with these struggles, she escapes to a fantas...

Disney fans from all of the world are gathering at the Anaheim Convention Center this weekend to celebrate the D23 Expo , the ultimate Disney fan event. The Expo contains all the biggest announcements about upcoming Disney shows, experiences, and merchandise, and it is an absolute blast to experience in person . Its most anticipated event, the Disney Entertainment Showcase, took place Friday night. A whole slew of trailers, performances, and exclusive footage was revealed for all of the upcoming Disney movies over the next three years. Three of these included Disney Princess franchises – Snow White , Moana 2 , and Frozen 3 and 4 . However, the vast majority of the announcements consisted of sequels, remakes, and spinoffs , meaning there is still no update on the Penelope movie that was announced two years ago. The Snow White trailer was one of the last to be revealed during the Disney Entertainment Showcase due to it being one of the most heavily anticipated ( or dreaded , depen...

I'm close to my goal of completing the Once Upon a Prince series , and I can't believe it took me this long to get to The Shoeless Prince by Jacque Stevens ! This has quickly become my favorite book in the series, encompassing everything I was expecting out of the premise. It is a retelling of a classic story with a princess that is told primarily from a male perspective and filled to the brim with magic and romance. It takes many familiar elements of "Puss in Boots" and blends them seamlessly with new lore creating a fresh take on a popular story with twists and turns around every corner. "Puss in Boots" was already a great contender for this series because it is one of few famous stories that has a male lead but still contains a love story and other elements that appeal to princess lovers.   Archie is a humble miller's son who never expected much out of life. When his father passed away, he wasn't surprised to learn that most of his family inheri...

There's one day a year when every girl has the right to be treated like a princess – her birthday. That's why I like to find something fun each year that allows me to bring out my inner royal. Last year, I was regaled with a wonderful performance of Beauty and the Beast . This year, I decided to branch out and visit a local castle. Since  my home castle  is no longer within driving distance of any of the kingdoms , I discovered that there is another castle in Twxas that does tours. It didn't hurt that the town of Bellville happens to share the same name as the fantasy kingdom from  Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella , which I am a huge fan of. Newman's Castle is a hidden gem about two miles away from Austin that gives tours six days a week as well as private events. It isn't a true historical castle as it was completed in 1998, but it is built with 13th-century style medieval architecture. I did my research in advance and had no issues with my visit, but there ar...

In my quest to complete all the books in the Once Upon a Prince series , I decided to read its version of  "Snow White,"   The Poisoned Prince  by Kristin J. Dawson . With a title like that, I was hoping for a gender-bent retelling , which would have been the first I'd read for this fairy tale, but it was more of a traditional retelling . Although the roles of the main characters were not reversed, it was an original and imaginative take on the story. The story alternates between Snow White and her love interest, who is the son of the huntsman, and takes place in a high fantasy setting with fae and dwarves like the ones you would find in DnD . I found the book charming and romantic overall, though,  like others in this series, it places a lot of focus on the princess despite being called Once Upon a Prince. This is one of the most unique interpretations I've read of "Snow White," focusing on tropes that are not typically incorporated into retellings of this...