A Woodcutter’s Daughter finds herself standing at the door of a castle, planning to seek a night’s shelter. The royal family has all plans to find a true princess but when true love strikes all plans go right down the drain, don’t they?
The Princess Companion is a young adult fantasy, a retelling of The Princess and The Pea a classic fairy tale. It is written by Australian author Melanie Cellier. It is the first book in a series of 5 books and 3 novellas, All the books can be read as standalone, but for the best experience reading in order is recommended. There are other connected series as well. Melanie has created a world that may not be perfect (What’s the fun in perfect anyway, besides what will our heroes and heroines do if everything is alright) but is beautiful.
On a dark and stormy night, lost and alone, Alyssa finds herself knocking on the door of a castle. After a lifetime spent in the forest, Alyssa has no idea what to expect on the other side.
What she finds is two unruly princesses and one very handsome prince. When Alyssa accepts the position of Princess Companion she knows that her life will change. What she doesn’t know is that the royal family is about to be swept up in unexpected danger and intrigue and that she might be the only thing between her kingdom and destruction
When you think about the tale it is based on there is not a lot to work with so I was excited to see what this author came up with and I have to say It was better than I had expected. Cellier takes the tale and weaves a wonderful story out of it that is not entirely dependent on it, what I am trying to say is that even though the pea plays a significant part in this story, there were a lot of other things going on as well that lead up to the climax.
I personally like to see the main character’s relationships with the other characters as well as the love interest grow and flourish. Additionally, I think the side characters are very valuable to the story as a whole, everything should not revolve around the hero and heroine. Safe to say I was not disappointed, There were quite a few interesting (read: flawed and relatable) characters in the book and we get to see them grow from the start to the end.
Alyssa has her flaws but they only make her more real. Something I really liked was that she was not portrayed as the typical kickass girl who fights ( physically) her way through troubles not that I have anything against such characters but I like reading about characters with different types of personalities finding their way to success. Besides, if you read the same sort of characters again and again it starts to get boring. Alyssa is intellectual and uses her smarts to get out of trouble. She thinks and acts rather than the other way around (most of the time ) She is somewhat of a nerd which makes her even more relatable to me at least.
I also realized I had overestimated my understanding of people and their motivations. A whole new world was opening up before me, and my brain felt like a sponge. Whichever way I turned, I was absorbing something new.
Melanie Cellier (The Princess Companion)
The hero confused me a bit at first but that gradually gets better. The plot is not slow at all and doesn’t get boring, though it is not the type of read that you are at the edge of your seat or something it is more of a light read, still, there are moments when your heartbeat might fasten a bit. The climax was pretty good of course we all know there is going to be a happily ever it is a fairy tale retelling after all ( or not 😜) I read the last couple of chapters in one sitting since curiosity just about killed me, how are they going to get there happily ever after?
Something I especially liked is that it promoted commitment and loyalty and it explains the importance of parents’ involvement in childhood. There is another fairy tale (a hint to guess which one is given at the end ) incorporated into the story which goes to show that happily ever after is not the end but is in fact the beginning and effort, understanding and communication are always needed to make any relationship work.
The book is divided into three parts, the middle one is the longest the last one is the shortest, overall there are 33 chapters. The book is about 340 – 50 pages long. It is written in first person from Alyssa’s perspective. There are some chapters from other characters’ perspectives too. I thought it gave a better understanding of the characters & the decisions they made and it was nice to see the situation from new eyes. The English wasn’t hard, I would say it was average. The author writes the words according to Australian English so some spellings might be a bit different.
I would give it a 12 and up age rating. The language is alright, there is some violence, and there is kissing at most on the romantic front. Melanie also posts extras on her website and newsletter.
I give it 4 stars. If you are looking for a clean romance, a strong heroine, adventure, fantasy, intrigue and heartwarming moments then this is the book for you. It is available as an E-Book, paperback, and Audio Book and has a beautiful cover.
Till the next book review.
Yours,
A Fellow Bookworm
P.S. The hint is —->It has a fairy godmother (Comment your guess)
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