Princess of Glass (original 2010; edition 2011)

Another wonderful fairy tale re-telling by Jessica Day George. This book follows Princess Poppy (from the Princess of the Midnight Ball) as she untangles the mystery of "Princess Ella" and her godmother benefactor. Along the way, Poppy (who has sworn off dancing because of the curse in Midnight Ball) will be forced to confront royal balls and falling in love with the likeable Prince Christian. All the elements of the Cinderella story are here with new twists and turns! ( )

Plot: 3 stars
Characters: 4 stars
Style: 3 stars
Pace: 3tars


It's a cute story, if predictable and things end up tied a bit too neatly into bows. I would have liked it more if it didn't change POV quite so often, but it's not as bad as some stories on that, so I didn't ding it much for that pet peeve. ( )

After loving the first book "Princess of the Midnight Ball", I knew right away that I wanted to read the next book "Princess of Glass". This book takes place several years after the events in the first book. Poppy still has some traumas left over from that experience and never wants to dance again. She is sent off to live with a family in another kingdom and meets a young prince named Christian who has been sent there to make political connections and hopefully make a wise marriage. Christian is the hit of society and every eligible girl wants a chance to win over the handsome prince. But Christian and Poppy become friends and there is a hint of potential romance. Enter a servant girl with a grudge against the wealthy and a knack for making a mess out of the most basic chores. Something strange is going on with servant girl. One night at a ball, Poppy realizes that the servant is there, pretending to be Lady Ella, a wealthy young woman. She wears an exact copy of Poppy's own ballgown except her's is even more beautiful. And it seems no one else can tell who Lady Ella really is.

This was such a great twist on the Cinderella storyline. I love that the author didn't try to make Poppy herself be the Cinderella type character. I also loved that the Corley was the fairy godmother with evil intentions. What a cool way to mix up this fairy tale! The characters were great fun and I love the sympathetic spin put on Ella, even though I wanted to reach in the book and smack the whiner a time or two. Christian was okay as a hero. I didn't care for the fact that he was so weak willed and mooned around Ella the way he did. I guess every prince can't be a hero. He would be hard pressed to match the hero from the first book anyway. Galen was certainly a perfect male lead. Poppy was charming and fun and direct. She still had her fears left over from the horrible curse she was under from the first book. This made the story more realistic and I really rooted for her.

If you enjoy fairy tale retellings, you should certainly try out this series. Jessica Day George has really impressed me with how she can re-create a fairy tale and make it new again. ( )

This charming fantasy, based on the fairy tale of Cinderella, is the second in Jessica Day George’s series “The Princess of the Midnight Ball”. Of course, in Princess of Glass, she has cleverly twisted the tale using the elements of the fairy godmother, the glass slippers, and the handsome prince to tell her own unique version of the classic story.

Princess Poppy, one of the original twelve dancing princesses, is recovering from her own magical ordeal, but while visiting the kingdom of Breton, discovers a new curse being worked on someone else, a servant girl named Ellen. As she realizes that this curse is also directed at the handsome Prince Christian of Danelaw, whom she is slowly developing a close friendship with, she vows to break this magic spell and release the victims.

I really liked how the author reworked this fairy tale and enjoyed the strong willed, competent Princess Poppy who sets out to right the wrongs and in doing so wins the slightly hapless but nevertheless charming Prince Christian. As in all fairy tales there is a happy ending and in this case we have three young couples finding their “happy ever after”. A light and frothy story chock full of magic, humour and romance. ( )

This is the 2nd book in the Twelve Dancing Princesses by George. This book features Poppy and I actually liked it even better than Princess of the Midnight Ball. It is a wonderful and sweet fantasy read; it loosely retells the story of Cinderella. The third book in this series, Princess of the Silver Woods, is scheduled to be released in December of 2012.

Princess Poppy is unhappy and when an opportunity comes up to participate in a royal exchange program she is happy to do so. While in a neighboring kingdom Poppy begins to develop a tenuous relationship with a Prince. Things gets complicated when her maid Ella is tricked by the evil Corley and ends up vying for the Prince’s attention.

This was a sweet and simple read. If you enjoyed Princess of the Midnight Ball you will enjoy this book as well. I loved that this built on some of the elements in the first book.

I actually enjoyed this book even more than Princess of the Midnight Ball; it is a creative and engaging retelling of the Cinderella story. It involves a lot of the same elements but with a twist. There is an evil fairy godmother, molten glass slippers, and of course a handsome prince and a beautiful princess.

Poppy is the sister that features in this story, and she is a lot of fun. She absolutely abhors dancing, because of the events in the first book, but dances exceedingly well. She is more of card-shark than anything. She is also witty and smart, and very good at investigating the mystery surrounding Ella.

The Prince, whose name I am blanking on right now, was your typical wonderful Prince. He falls for Poppy hard and of course is respectful and supportive of her...at least when he’s not being bespelled by the Corley.

There are lots of descriptions of the beautiful clothing the characters wear. Many of the characters are matched up with each other, making for a large dash of romance in this book as well. So definitely a kind of girly read.

The Corely made for a delightfully evil villainess. Her obsession with all things glass was intriguing and I enjoyed her back story as well.

The story was an easy, engaging read. This is a clean read that’s suitable for all ages; although I would recommend middle grade and older.

Overall a solid fairy tale retelling. This isn’t a heavy read, it is mostly light and sweet. Poppy is a plucky heroine that is fun to read about and easy to engage with. There are some creative twists on the Cinderella fairy tale in here as well. If you love retold fairy tales and princess stories you will enjoy this book. ( )