The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: The Princess Companion: A Retelling of The Princess and the Pea

Series: The Four Kingdoms #1

Author: Melanie Cellier

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Retelling, Clean Romance

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review:

One dark and stormy night, lost and alone, Alyssa finds herself knocking on the door of a castle.

After a lifetime spent in the deep forest, Alyssa has no idea what to expect on the other side.

What she finds is two unruly young princesses and one very handsome prince. When Alyssa accepts the job of Princess Companion she knows her life will change. What she doesn’t know is that the royal family is about to be swept up in unexpected danger and intrigue and that she just might be the only thing standing between her kingdom and destruction.

This retelling of the classic fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea, reimagines the risks and rewards that come when one royal family goes searching for a true princess.

Danger and romance await a woodcutter’s daughter in a royal palace. – summary from Goodreads

This book was everything! I am so glad my impulse didn’t steer me wrong!

This book is book one in a series with five main books, and four novellas. This is also the first arc of books in a four-arc world. Rather impulsively, after reading book three in arc three, I decided that the only rational thing to do was buy all of the books. Again, I am so glad that I am loving them so far.

I didn’t quite realize this until I read this book, but I was missing books with strong morals and calmer storylines. At no point throughout the book was I bored, I will add.

I am going to start with the strong morals in this book. At the beginning of the book, our main character, Alyssa, was mistaken as a princess. The next morning, she was going to see the royal family. Almost absently, I predicted that she was going to lie, pretend to be a princess, and three-fourths of the way through the book it would all blow up in her face! I was prepared for this, as this is what always happens. However, Alyssa chose to be honest, and I loved it so, so much! Alyssa, and the other characters, proceeded to act with decency throughout the book. Now there were moments where they were mean or made mistakes, but I loved that these characters acted in a way not too often seen in modern media.

Alyssa was a wonderful character- probably one of my favorite protagonists! She was calm and collected, while also having morals. She felt more realistic than most fantasy FMCs. As a calmer person myself, I felt I related more to Alyssa than I usually do to FMCs. She was very steady, and there wasn’t too much character development, but what development did happen was subtle.

I also loved Max! He was a little standoffish in the beginning, but he quickly grows on you. Not even a hint of love at first sight, which was my favorite. There was certainly attraction at first sight, but it was fought against. Both Max and Alyssa got to know each other and developed a steady friendship before it grew into something more. Max was a strong, protective, kind character, who was also willing to listen to people instead of jumping to conclusions.

The court life part of this book was fun to read. I love some good political drama, so this suited me just fine. I loved the side characters: Mathilde, Aldric, Nate, Felix, and Marie. They are so intriguing, and I hope we see more of them in the future. Speaking of side characters, Cellier didn’t really forget about any character, and they all had their moments and felt realistic despite their limited time on the page.

I also loved Sophie and Lily! They were so much fun to read and were great vessels to impart important lessons. I also think this is a nice introduction to two characters who are going to be a bigger part of the world in the future!

This story was somewhat slow moving, but I think it served this story better than a faster pace would have. I was never bored with this story and was perfectly transported into this world.

The antagonist of this book was well thought out, and there was some suspense. This doesn’t bother me in the slightest because I like to know what is going to happen, but the overarching storyline is predictable. There were still moments that shocked you, and Cellier was able to write an intriguing world and sound characters.

There were also the relationship troubles that were happening between the King and the Queen, which was intriguing and added such depth to the story. I liked this addition to the story, and it showed some of the problems that could have come up from the Cinderella story.

I haven’t read a Princess and the Pea retelling before, with the exception of a small allusion to this story in one of the Land of Stories. So, to read such a rare retelling automatically had me excited. I loved how this was retold and the twists that were involved.

This was a completely clean romance, which I adored. There were some slightly violent moments, but nothing too much. This is a book I think the whole family could read together without too much issue!

The Princess Companion is a lovely retelling of The Princess and the Pea that introduces the Four Kingdoms world. With moral characters, a lovely world, nice pacing, and a realistic romance, it was a wonderfully joyful read and one I see myself returning to for years to come!