Book Review: The Secret Princess

The Secret Princess by Melanie Cellier

Fairy Tale. 317 Pages. 4 Stars

Synopsis:

Princess Giselle is excited to be leading her first royal delegation–until everything goes wrong before they even reach their destination. With her rank and authority stripped away and her people scattered, she’s left with nothing but a gaggle of geese.

Giselle is determined to prove herself a true princess–in action as well as in name. But to do so she must uncover a conspiracy that threatens far more than her own future. With her life in danger and only a talking horse and an irritable goose boy at her side, she needs assistance. One of the servants is willing to help her, but Philip’s attractive smile hides yet more secrets, and Giselle is running out of time.

In this reimagining of the classic fairy tale, The Goose Girl, the wronged princess must prevail in a deadly game of identities with the fate of kingdoms at stake.

My Review: 

This was such a fun read. I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump. Additionally, I’ve been doing a lot more beta reading and been in a season where I’m ingesting a ton of educational content, so my brain’s been kind of full and I haven’t been the in mood for reading for fun lately. But I got tired of being behind on my reading goals, and tired of audiobooks and ebooks (translated: I missed physical books and just wanted to read something without analyzing it!), so I plucked this one off my shelf because I knew it would be a light read, but that it would be uplifting and good.

I’ve been meaning to get to this new spin off series of Cellier’s for a while now, so I’m really glad I did sit down with this one. I read it in about four nights just making some time before bed each night, and it served just the purpose I knew it would! Cellier always has such a nice balance in her stories of fun, entertainment and that thread of hope and deeper roots in her faith.

Also, the Goose Girl is one of my favorite fairy tales, so I was super excited to see what Cellier did with it! And, guys, that cover!! Isn’t it gorgeous! I enjoyed Cellier’s take on the tale. At first, I thought she was going to go off-script with a really cool twist on the classic story, but then I realized she just had a really clever villain that totally duped the MC. It made me laugh, but also, it was neat to see how Giselle chose to handle the situation and move forward. And I loved her horse!! I hope we get to see more of him! Cause he was awesome! It was also fun to see some of our beloved characters from previous books before, too.

Phillip was a lot of fun. I thought he kinda fell for Giselle a little quickly, but her perspective didn’t feel rushed at all. And Damon was really neat, too! I loved the part he played–and I’m absolutely intrigued by how his plotline ended up. I hope to see a lot more of him in the future! Stoked for book 2! Bring on the Cinderella!!

The book is a clean YA fairytale retelling/romance, so no foul language, mild violence, and clean romance. I’d give it to a preteen.

More:

Book 1 in the Return to the Four Kingdoms series is The Secret Princess (4 Stars)

Book 2 is The Mystery Princess

Book 3 is The Desert Princess

Book 4 is The Golden Princess

Book 5 is The Rogue Princess

Book 6 is The Abandoned Princess

I‘m still working through this series, but you can learn more on Goodreads. This series doesn’t have to be read in order, necessarily, but I would anyway cause there might be minor spoilers between stories. They stand on their own, but the characters carry over from book to book. This is also the second spin off series from The Four Kingdoms, so you may want to go back and read those and the Beyond the Four Kingdoms books before reading these – if you prefer to read things in order.

On GraceBought:

If you missed it, check out my thoughts on the previous series here! 

The Four Kingdoms and Beyond the Four Kingdoms