Aya Ling

The era of princesses as demure ladies with nothing better to do than sit around getting rescued is long gone - modern princesses learn combat and go on heroic adventures! To her mother’s despair, however, Princess Valeria is not one of those modern princesses. She’s a fat, leisurely young woman who’s more interested in desserts than anything else, and it’s starting to look like she’ll never find a husband. The queen packs her daughter off to the Royal Riviera Academy of Fighting show more Arts in the hopes that they’ll force her into shape, but the plan backfires - Valeria ends up spending every moment she can in the royal kitchens, putting her culinary knowledge to good use and dazzling the chefs. And it’s there in the kitchen that she catches the prince’s eye.

I’m kind of on the fence about whether this is good body positive representation or not. On one hand, Valeria is a fat princess who gets her dream job and a happily ever after and a handsome prince who falls in love with her smile without any kind of redemption-through-weight-loss arc. On the other hand, the narrative really makes a huge deal about her weight - there are mulitple mentions of her size on every page, she gets into some embarrassing situations because of it and some people (especially her mother) are very unkind about her looks, and I can easily imagine that bothering some readers.

I read this book during a very stressful time and it was exactly what I needed in that moment: quick, undemanding and fluffy as a cloud. I flat-out adore it, but for reasons that have nothing to do with its quality as literature and everything to do with the buttons it pushes in my id. show less

4.5 Stars
A fun and light-hearted YA Cinderella adaptation that's a quick and easy read. This novel is very enjoyable. The plot and characters are dynamic and creative. The writing is witty and entertaining (there's even a few pop culture references), but the author also manages to incorporate child labor laws and other serious themes into the storyline. The romance is cute and can be read by younger readers too. This author's works have independent leading ladies that illustrate empowerment show more and a youthful innocence that is encouraging to its readers. Recommended for YA fans, people who love retellings of fairy tales, and Aya Ling followers.

LT Member Giveaway show less

For more reviews go to: http://best-of-ya.blogspot.com/

When Kat accidentally transports herself into one of her old fairytale books as Cinderella’s ugly step-sister, she finds herself in quite the predicament. The only way to get home is ensure that the story ends as it should—with a happily ever after. Unfortunately for her, the rest of the characters don’t seem to be playing along; she has no idea where the fairy godmother is hiding, the handsome prince seems to hate all the show more attention that comes with his status, her beautiful sister is dead set on becoming queen, and if all of that weren’t enough, Cinderella has her eyes set on someone else. How is Kat supposed to make sure the story runs smoothly and still learn how to navigate the social season as a highborn lady?

I am not a huge fan of retellings because I feel like they all end up being the same so I almost didn’t bother reading this. And omg, how horrible would that have been? Because I honestly loved everything about this! I think that just the small change of making this from the ugly stepsisters perspective added so much to the story. But that isn’t even the best part. The characters were so well-written and amazing. I loved every single one of them—even the actual evil, stepsister.

Kat predictably started off as shy and clumsy but quickly turned into the brave heroine. It was great seeing her grow and become assertive and bold. She challenges various issues in the fairy tale world including child labor and sexism. I thought it was funny how everyone is either impressed or scandalized by her behavior and was happy that she felt the need to do something about these injustices despite knowing she wouldn’t be in Athelia long. Prince Edward is very down-to-earth and passionate about his position, despite the fact that he doesn’t like all the attention that comes along with being the crown prince. He was so cute and sweet and understanding—I just loved him.

Another thing I really liked was the distinction between Kat’s voice and that of all the other fairy tale characters. They really sounded like they came straight out of a fairy tale while she had a modern vocabulary—it was very comical at times. Eventually she kind of starts to sound like them, but there was always that modern slang that confused the hell out of everyone else.

This is by far one of my favorites and I hope Aya continues to write such amazing and strong female characters! The only thing I would change about this is the cover. The current one does not do this justice and I think this is definitely deserving of a prettier and more magical one. show less

Valeria is a non-traditional princess, and not in a trendy way. No, while her peers are all learning to fight and going off on adventures and eschewing marriage, Valeria is fat and wants to stay home and enjoy the fine cuisine provided by the excellent royal kitchens. Her mother despairs, and decides she's going to do something about it, whether Valeria likes it or not.

This is short story playing nicely off some more modern self-rescuing princess stereotypes. It's nice seeing Valeria go from show more going along with whatever her mother orders to slowly finding her own path. It's an ugly duckling/cinderalla story where the duckling in question does *not* get a makeover, lose weight, lie about who she is, or change herself -- she just figures out where she belongs and adapts her world to work with her. It's a refreshing little tale about how success doesn't have to start with being ashamed of yourself and changing to suit the world, but rather finding a niche where your talents are appreciated and useful. Definitely seems like a lesson that many children, especially girls, need to hear.

Full disclosure: I received this book for free through LibraryThing's Member Giveaways in exchange for a review. show less