Princess of the Silver Woods

By Jessica Day George

Petunia is the youngest of King Gregor’s twelve daughters who together battled their way out of a curse that had plagued the family for years. But while on her way to visit an elderly neighbor, Petunia’s carriage is ambushed by bandits and Petunia finds herself falling headlong into another conflict—this one between a hidden forest community and the powerful kingdom that has stripped them of their wealth. With the line between enemies and friends suddenly blurred, and a handsome young thief her only hope at escaping the clutches of the King Under Stone, it will take all of Petunia’s courage, and a little help from her eleven older sisters, to put an end to the curse once and for all and restore their kingdom to right.

This is the third installment from Princess of the Midnight Ball, and we get to hear from Petunia, the youngest of the twelve dancing princesses. This is a sort of Robin Hood/ Little Red Riding Hood retelling in a loose sense that I ended up enjoying more than the previous two books. Petunia is this little petite thing with a wicked aim and a big heart. She meets Oliver and things snowball from there. While I enjoy Jessica Day George’s books, this particular series is definitely not my favorite. From her fairy-tale retellings, Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow is my favorite, and I very much liked her Dragon Slippers books more than these. I do read a lot of fairy-tale retellings and these just aren’t my favorite. They aren’t memorable for me, just fluff and fun.

I give it a 3 out of 5- average 

Princess of Glass

By Jessica Day George

Hopping to escape the troubles in her kingdom, Princess Poppy reluctantly agrees to take part in a royal exchange program. She travels abroad hoping to find better political alliances and perhaps a marriage. But thanks to a vengeful fairy, Poppy’s happily ever after gets complicated.

This is the second installment in Jessica Day George’s fairy-tale retellings about the princesses from Princess of the Midnight Ball, better known as the 12 dancing princesses. This is the story of Poppy, one of the twin girls from the above prequel. She’s sarcastic and snappy, down to earth, and stubborn. Poppy is sick to death of dancing, having just escaped a curse that required her to, even though she’s an incredible dancer because of it. Now, she’s trapped in an upside-down version of Cinderella, and she’s trying her best to figure out who exactly Eleanor, Ella, or Lady Ella is, and she’s trying to get rid of a vengeful fairy-godmother called The Corley as well as trying to help out the prince who is the target: Christian. This is a fun and creative perspective on the Cinderella tale, where the main character is in fact NOT Cinderella. It was fun and cute, though it seemed to end rather abruptly without much problem. Seemed to me that the Corley shouldn’t have been defeated so quickly or easily. Oh well.

3 out of 5- Average. 

Princess of the Midnight Ball

By Jessica Day George

Rose is one of twelve princesses forced to dance through the night in an underground palace. The key to breaking the spell lies in magic knitting needles, and invisibility cloak, and of course-true love.

This story is pretty straightforward. It’s the retelling of the 12 dancing princesses, curses, love, evil monsters, etc. While not being something utterly fantastic and new, this was fun to read. The protagonist, Galen, was easy to like with his knitting and general kindnesses. Rose, the eldest princess is fairly typical for a princess, but is greatly more in depth as a character than any of her sisters, who tend to blend into the background with all their flower names. This is a sweet little love story/adventure. It’s fun for entertainment.

I give it a 3 out of 5-it’s average.