Melanie Cellier

3.5 | While the first book will always be my favorite, I was not ready to love this novel as much as I did.

This was such a unique retelling. I’d never seen it done like this before and it was incredibly intriguing. In fact, it was so unique that I often found myself wondering what would happen next, instead of figuring it out first. Which is a good thing, of course.

Celeste was one of my favorite protagonists thus far, just beneath Alyssa, who would be hard to beat in my opinion. And show more William was my favorite love interest since Max.

Not to mention, as with the first book, this one had a wonderful atmosphere to it. I didn’t care for the atmosphere in books two and three, but Arcadia in book one felt so cozy, and the dry, tropical regions of Lanover really made this fun. And, of course, I always enjoy a little voyage on a boat. It’s one of my favorite settings a book can have.

With all that said, it still wasn’t anything so incredible as to reach a full four stars, and I have made it quite clear I didn’t love it more than book one.

(Not to mention there were times when William would say something that was supposed to be romantic and it would just make me laugh because it was so incredibly sappy. Or when they would be in danger and the antagonist would yell something about how they wanted to “destroy” the protagonists and I’d kinda lose it.)

So I’m giving it 3.5 stars. There you go.

—Elliana Maselli
Monday, 27th of July, 2020
12:58PM

reviews for books in this universe

The Four Kingdoms:
Book 1: The Princess Companion: A Retelling of The Princess and the Pea
Book 2: The Princess Fugitive: A Reimagining of Little Red Riding Hood
Book 3: The Princess Pact: A Twist on Rumpelstiltskin
Book 4: The Princess Game: A Reimagining of Sleeping Beauty
Book 5: The Princess Search: A Retelling of The Ugly Duckling

Beyond the Four Kingdoms
Book 1: A Dance of Silver and Shadow: A Retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses
Book 2: A Tale of Beauty and Beast: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast
Book 3: A Crown of Snow and Ice: A Retelling of The Snow Queen
Book 4: A Dream of Ebony and White: A Retelling of Snow White
Book 5: A Captive of Wing and Feather: A Retelling of Swan Lake
Book 6: A Princess of Wind and Wave: A Retelling of The Little Mermaid

Return to the Four Kingdoms
Book 1: The Secret Princess: A Retelling of The Goose Girl
Book 2: The Mystery Princess: A Retelling of Cinderella
Book 3: The Desert Princess: A Retelling of Aladdin show less

I love a good Goose Girl retelling. This one ranks up there with Shannon Hale and Alice Ivinya for best in this category. Also so many bonus points for the talking horse not dying. That said the servant-turned-false-princess was slightly less competent than in the other retellings, so that's a plus.

Princess Giselle was very fun. Lots of spunk. Lots of attitude. Lots of secrets. Also involved in a love triangle, which I usually detest, but made sense in this context. I also loved the stable show more boy/not a stable boy who kept randomly appearing in the story. I also loved how the godmother was expected. In some ways, this is a spoof on all fairy tales. After so many stories, how are fairy godmothers still a surprise?

This was my introduction to Melanie Cellier, but I'm so glad I gave her a try. I am excited for the rest of the series. show less

It's absolutely baffling to me how she does this. Everything ties back and forth as neatly as if she's literally weaving the story together following some known pattern.
I was starting to get annoyed with how they were handling a crisis toward the end of the story and then bam. The story smacked me upside the back of the head with, "Haven't you learned to trust me yet? This is how it's supposed to happen and it makes perfect sense." It did make sense, too, after I'd read a bit show more further.
Incredibly jealous of this author's skill. show less

Gah. Sometimes you don't know just how much you need to read a cheesy romance until you actually read that cheesy romance, and everything becomes easier.

I have officially decided this is my favorite book in the first series. Period. That's it.

See, about 70% of the time, I'm not crazy about [a:Cellier's|14830176|Melanie Cellier|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1550816755p2/14830176.jpg] male protagonists. In fact, I usually don't care about them at all.

But Frederic was different. Frederic show more had character. And quirks. And he was unique. And that, I appreciate. So that is why this is my favorite in the original Four Kingdoms series.

Also Evie was great and Celine was in this and any book which has Celine is a good book, in my humble opinion.

The only thing that made this book four stars was the inevitable, and oh, so-out-of-character **Declaration of Love** made by Frederic at the end of the novel. Like, what happened? This guy's biggest quirk is that he's overly serious and hard to read. And then he just... turns into a romantic sap at the end?? Why??? How does that make sense??

All-in-all, this was a solid four-star read. And I can't wait to read the Beyond the Four Kingdoms series to simultaneously rip it to shreds and praise it mercilessly.

-Elliana Maselli
29 October 2021

reviews for books in this universe

The Four Kingdoms:
Book 1: The Princess Companion: A Retelling of The Princess and the Pea
Book 2: The Princess Fugitive: A Reimagining of Little Red Riding Hood
Book 3: The Princess Pact: A Twist on Rumpelstiltskin
Book 4: The Princess Game: A Reimagining of Sleeping Beauty
Book 5: The Princess Search: A Retelling of The Ugly Duckling

Beyond the Four Kingdoms
Book 1: A Dance of Silver and Shadow: A Retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses
Book 2: A Tale of Beauty and Beast: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast
Book 3: A Crown of Snow and Ice: A Retelling of The Snow Queen
Book 4: A Dream of Ebony and White: A Retelling of Snow White
Book 5: A Captive of Wing and Feather: A Retelling of Swan Lake
Book 6: A Princess of Wind and Wave: A Retelling of The Little Mermaid

Return to the Four Kingdoms
Book 1: The Secret Princess: A Retelling of The Goose Girl
Book 2: The Mystery Princess: A Retelling of Cinderella
Book 3: The Desert Princess: A Retelling of Aladdin show less