What Comes of Attending the Commoners Ball

I adored What Comes of Attending the Commoners Ball. For most of the book, the story was charming and held my interest. Then at the 80% mark, the pace picked up and I couldn’t put it down.

Hester is a seamstress who is trying to save money to bring her aging parents to live in the city with her. She is from a rural region where people still believe in “the Folk” who trick humans into bargains, and this makes her wary of accepting help from anyone, which makes her life more difficult.

She attends the Commoners Ball for the free food, thinking she can eat and leave, but she attracts the attention of both princes. One is a big flirt who keeps trying to court her (there’s a lot of frustrating non-consent but nothing awful) and the show more other is responsible and trying to clean up the mess his brother makes.

Hester stays focused on her goals (working, paying the rent) and remains down-to-earth; she is not swept up by the idea of a prince, which I loved. The feelings develop slowly and naturally. There’s no “steam” but I felt the simmering tension between the two main characters. (It’s not really a love triangle because Hester is continuously rejecting the second prince.) show less

A combination of an author rec and the wonderful cover art - plus Kindle Unlimited - tempted me to read this novel, but I am quite clearly nowhere close to the intended demographic (hint: I'm an adult). Some YA novels work across the board, while some are purely for under thirteens. The story, characters and dialogue were giving bastard child of teen sitcom and Hallmark movie vibes, while the dual first person narration did not work. And I'm not really sure why the author went for a sort of AU Victorian England with shades of American puritanism, apart from the excuse to have a prince for the hardworking independent heroine to fall in love with. Finally, the names are beyond ridiculous - Inglebert Chesingwick? Cutesy pseudo historical show more romance for the kiddies, but not my cup of tea (to be taken with crumpets in the carriage, what ho!) show less

Ahhh this was so fun!! Lucas and Hester were just adorable, and I loved how the plot twisted and turned. What a refreshing take on a classic Cinderella story! I will definitely be picking up more of Brown’s books in the future.

Omw, this was so much fun to read! I literally laughed out loud at several points.

Brown is a new-to-me author, so I wasn't really sure what to expect--but I absolutely loved the read. Funny, inventive, creative, and original!