A Princess stands on the brink of a Midwinter’s Wedding turning into a Midwinter’s Tragedy.
A Midwinter’s Wedding is a young adult fantasy novella by Melanie Cellier, it is a retelling of The Frog Prince. It is a part of The Four Kingdoms series along with another novella, a novelette, and 5 full- length novels. I recommend reading in order starting from The Princess Companion, the experience is way better, and the world-building is amazing.
Princess Cordelia is used to living in the shadow of her many siblings, so when she is given the chance to attend her brother’s wedding in a faraway land, she couldn’t have been happier. Still, the moment her carriage reaches its destination the observant princess hears something unsettling. Something sinister is brewing and the worst part is nobody is taking her seriously, except for a man with a rather frog-like appearance.
This was a good twist on The Frog Prince I think having a human love interest who has a rather ugly frog-like appearance emphasizes the theme of ‘appearances don’t matter and inner beauty does’ better in comparison to a different species. Safe to say The Frog Prince isn’t my favorite tale with a spoiled princess and a rather annoying frog(prince). but Melanie took out the bad parts and kept the good ones.
Cordelia wasn’t somebody I’d call spoiled, she wanted a romance with the handsome prince and took her time looking past Ferdy’s appearance. But the good thing was she accepted that looks mattering was wrong, honestly if she hadn’t taken her time, I would have found it a bit strange, because that is human nature, humans judge, and looks do matter to most people that is how attraction works, then we get to know people and fall in love with their personality or the opposite.
That is exactly what happened here, friends to lovers again, I love Melanie for this. Cordelia was so self-aware, she knew her qualities, her flaws, her emotions, and most importantly what she wanted, this was a Novella but it didn’t feel like they fell in love too quickly.
Ferdy was so lovable and dependable and cute and a major, his character had depth, the inferiority complex was shown nicely and then the scene where he realizes he deserves a happily ever after and he would fight for it, I was grinning like an idiot all through it.
This book was finished pretty quickly, and the plot was good I was tense at some points the reason being that this time Melanie decided that the characters her readers already love were going to be in danger (again!). Yes, you read that right lots of old characters in this book, it was fun reading about them from Cordelia’s eyes. I was satisfied with how it ended, meaning that despite being short the story was complete. It also gave me a Christmas-y feel.
(Spoiler ahead)
I didn’t expect the curse at all, I thought she was going to be with him as he was.
(Spoiler ends)
17 chapters long with an epilogue and a prologue, it’s about 120-130 pages. 12 and up age rating nothing too graphic. Also, the prologue has got me really excited for the next book
Melanie posts extras of her books on her website, there is one for this one as well, a chapter from Ferdy’s point of view.
Overall, a good, short, and cozy read, with good characters, sweet romance, and a good sometimes slow plot(not the ending that wasn’t slow in the slightest), 4 stars, pick it up if you are looking for something semi-light, holiday feeling and quick.
Until the next post.
Yours,
A Fellow Bookworm
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