Melanie Cellier - The Princess Companion (Review)

When I realized that this story was a retelling of 'The Princess and the Pea,' I was a little worried—after all, I just finished A. G. Marshall’s wonderful retelling of the same story (reviewed in last week’s blog).  How could this book possibly measure up?  But the two stories couldn’t be more different.

A woodcutter’s daughter, Alyssa loses herself in the forest, soon finding herself on the doorstep of the king’s winter residence.  The butler originally assumes that she’s a princess and shows her to a room with a very lumpy bed.  However, Alyssa isn’t one to take advantage; when she realizes the mistake that’s been made, she quickly explains who she is.  (She doesn’t mention the lumps in the bed to the queen.  She may not be a princess, but she is polite.)

Alyssa expects to be sent on her way, and is astonished to be hired as a companion for the mischievous twin princesses Lily and Sophie.  She likes them immediately despite their bad behavior, but their older brother Prince Maximilian doesn’t seem to like her at all.

Unfortunately, trying to tame the twins and make friends with Max aren’t Alyssa’s only challenges—for the king and queen have decided that it’s time for Max to marry, and some of the foreign princesses are determined to win the crown, no matter who has to die to make that happen.

I was surprised at how little magic there is in this story.  Maybe the pea is magical?  The characters believe that a love match between a king and queen will magically make their country prosper, but we don’t know whether this is true or not.  The tone of the first two-thirds of the book is most similar to that of the historical country-house romances by Christian authors like Julie Klassen, with the adventure part of the story coming in mostly at the end.  So don’t go in expecting lots of magic.  Still, if you enjoyed the ‘courage and kindness’ of Disney’s live-action Cinderella, this book will be a perfect fit for you.

High Points

There is a lot of depth to this story.  All of the main characters have something to learn, from Lily and Sophie to the king and queen to Max and Alyssa, but Cellier is never preachy.  The secondary characters like Mathilde the maid, Lady Marissa, and Max’s scapegrace friends are also well rounded and fun.  Alyssa has realistic and satisfying relationships with each one of them.  I can already tell that this book will stand up well to re-reading—and I definitely plan to re-read it.

I love the echoes of other fairy tales in this story.  'Cinderella' is ever present in the backstory of the king and queen, and Alyssa is constantly telling fairy tales to Lily and Sophie, trying to teach them about compassion.  A few moments reminded me of Beauty and the Beast as well—when Alyssa first finds the royal library, for example.

I really, really appreciate the way that Cellier prepares Alyssa for her future.  Yes, it might be a good idea for someone connected to the royal family to understand economics, politics, and history!  This truth is often neglected in fairy tales.

Critiques

It’s hard to find anything to criticize…  Alyssa might be a too wise to be a seventeen-year-old.  I definitely wasn’t wise at that age.  I think it would have been all right if Cellier made her nineteen (Max’s age in the book), even though seventeen is a more traditional fairy tale age.  Then Max could be twenty-one, which would make the “Marry off Max” thing a bit less disturbing.

There aren’t any spelling or grammar errors that I could find, but the text is missing quite a few commas by both US and UK standards, especially in the first fifty pages.  I glanced through another book by Cellier that’s on my TBR pile, and the same thing was true there.  So that’s the most serious critique I have: not enough commas. *cleans off desk, retires from criticism business*

And so…

This was an excellent book—both fun and edifying.  Something I would donate to a church library.  I’m excited to read the next book in the Four Kingdoms series, as it looks like this book’s villain is going to be experiencing some tough love!

Find the Princess Companion here.

Review - The Princess and the Pea by A.G. Marshall

I picked this book up during the National Fairy Tale Day festivities last week, and I’m so glad I did!  I’ll definitely be reading more books by Marshall.

 

This full-length novel retells “The Princess and the Pea” with an epic twist.  Waking up from an enchanted trance in which she battled invading goblin forces and sealed them away from the world of men, Lina finds that a hundred years have passed.  She arrives at the Aeonian capital just in time to be accidentally included in a Princess Test.

This generation’s Princess Test is very important to the kings of Aeonia.  The royal family came to the throne under suspicious circumstances about eighty years ago, and now the King of Gaveson is threatening to annex the country unless they marry into an old royal family from one of the other nations.  Now twenty princesses and noble ladies—all under strict orders not to reveal who they are or which countries they came from—have arrived to meet Crown Prince Alaric and undergo the Tests.

Being included in the Tests gives Lina access to the Council of Kings.  She needs to speak to them, as her magic has revealed that there is still danger of a goblin invasion.  Unfortunately, no one believes in goblins any more…

High Points

Lina is competent, smart, and determined, and she quickly makes friends with the other princesses.  I loved her!

When I read the blurb for this story, I noted the “prince must marry for the good of the kingdom” plot trope and groaned internally.  It wasn’t a surprise—this is “The Princess and the Pea,” after all—but I’ve gotten very tired of it.  The princes usually moan and groan about their situation, but instantly forget their resistance when they first see the eyes/smile of that special someone…  But Marshall’s story was not like that AT ALL.  Instead, we have Prince Alaric, who is determined to do the responsible thing and marry for the good of the kingdom despite the protests of his father, brother, and stepmother, who all think he should marry someone that he actually likes.  He’s actually way TOO responsible, which is something I’m have a lot more sympathy for than the usual princely (or princessly) whining.  He’s great!

There are also half a dozen secondary characters who add a lot to the story.  Alaric’s brother Stefan and stepmother Marta, the valet Bastien, Carina and the other princesses in the Princess Test.  I’m so glad that this book is part of a series—I just know we’ll get to see more of these characters.

Critiques

Sometimes I felt like the fairy-tale tropes and the epic fantasy tropes were a little too obvious.  But for the most part Marshall does a good job of weaving them together into a single plot in a coherent setting.

Bottom Line

Well worth reading!  I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.

One quick note in my role as a copy editor: I didn’t find a single typo or grammatical error while reading.  (This has never previously been my experience with a self-published book.)  As someone who compulsively checks grammar and has been known to pencil in corrections for the grammar/spelling mistakes in library books (…sacrilege, I know…), this makes me very happy.

You can find the book here.

January Readings

I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions, but this year I sort of resolved to write a review for every Christian book I read.  Of course, I then spent January dealing with one crisis after another, and of the few reviews that I did write, several were eaten by Amazon.

So for your amusement, here’s a list of the Christian books I’ve read since the beginning of the year… at least, those I can remember.  ;)

The Land Tamers, by Stephen Bly.  This might be his first published novel—and you can definitely tell—but the heart and the joy and the Western dust are already there.

The Marquesa and Miss Fontenot, by Stephen Bly.  Much-desired Christmas presents.  I love the fact that even when he was writing Western romances he never let romance expectations get in the way of the story.  I always finish his books feeling edified and ready for more.

The Last Roundup, by Stephen Bly.  Frank Fortune doesn’t just have cattle rustlers, traitorous employees, and angry neighbors to deal with, he has a vengeance-seeking senorita and a stubborn schoolteacher looking for her runaway students on his hands.  My favorite Christian book this month.

The Pepper in the Gumbo by Mary Jane Hathaway.  Part Pride and Prejudice, part You’ve Got Mail, but with a Creole flair all its own.  I love the fact that the heroine, a bookstore owner, is totally and believably immersed in less-known literature and can quote the Romantic poets at will.

Blizzard at Three Bears Lake, by Rachel Kovaciny.  A short, funny Western retelling of the Three Bears.  It’s free!  Go read it!

Love, Snow, and Mistletoe, an anthology of Christmas-themed romances by Victoria Lieske, Michelle Pennington, Tamie Dearen, and Annie Houston.  I’m not much of a romance reader, so I wouldn’t say that I fell in love with any of these stories… (see what I did there?) but I did enjoy them.  (Three of them use the “good man who loved her when they were younger comes unexpectedly back into her life” trope, so don’t read them back to back.)  My favorite was Michelle’s “Second Chance for Christmas”—the heroine’s daughter and hero’s dog really made me smile.

At Your Request, by Jen Turano.  This novella clearly exists to set up the Apart from the Crowd series.  I enjoyed some of the characters, but the mismatch between the setting and the characters’ speech/behavior really threw me.  Still… I’ll probably read the series.

A Sensible Arrangement, by Tracie Peterson.  A mail-order bride book about two people who misrepresent themselves to one another and stumble into trouble, only to fall in love.  Gotta say, the main characters set themselves up for almost every problem they have in this book.  Was pastoral counseling a thing in the 1800’s?

Gentleman of Her Dreams, by Jen Turano.  I have no memory of what this was about.  (As I said.  It was a hard month.)

Accidental Guardian, by Mary Connealy.  Her books usually make me laugh, and her characters are starting to act more consistently like real people, which is good for my blood pressure.  (Did y’all read the one with the lady spelunker who keeps wandering off to look at fossils while in imminent danger?  She even thinks about getting married so she can keep looking at the fossils.)  And I love the kids in her books.  They always steal the show.

And in my TBR pile:

The Tethered World, by Heather FitzGerald.  An award-winning young adult SF/F book by a very creative writer.  I’m looking forward to it!

The Lovely Deep and A Tree for the Billionaire by Michelle Pennington.  My Spindle sister is an amazing writer… not least because she publishes so quickly that I can’t keep up!

Marthellen and the Major by Stephen Bly.  One of the few in his backlist that I haven’t read yet!

Throw the Devil Off the Train, also by Stephen Bly.  A reread.  I bought this for myself when I was having a bad day; it might be my favorite Bly book.  Or… at least one of my ten favorites.  (They are great books.)  I think it’s the fact that both main characters have long conversations with the hero’s saddle that really gets to me.

The Poet’s Homecoming, by George MacDonald.  I’m part of the way through.  It's probably my fourth time reading this book.  It doesn’t draw the soul quite as much as some of his books—The Curate’s Awakening comes to mind—but the main character’s struggle to learn what it really means to be a writer and reflect the Author of the universe really resonates with me.  (For some reason!)

So that's my reading list.  Have you read any great Christian books in the last month?  Are there any you're really looking forward to reading?