The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: The Princess Search: A Retelling of the Ugly Duckling

Series: The Four Kingdoms #5

Author: Melanie Cellier

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Retelling, Clean Romance

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review:

An outcast.
A prince.
And a deadly rebellion…

After a lifetime of rejection, seamstress Evie can’t trust Frederic, the crown prince of Lanover—not his words of friendship or the way the warmth in his eyes seems to ask for even more. But when they end up on a tour of his kingdom—one filled with increasing danger—Evie’s mistrust might doom them all.

In this spin on the classic fairy tale, an ugly duckling must discover her true worth in order to save her kingdom and maybe even find true love. – summary from Goodreads

This was probably my favorite book of this series!

Everything about this book had me so happy, and I need more! There were multiple love stories, travel, and really great characters!

This is an Ugly Duckling retelling, and my first Ugly Duckling retelling. I thought this was done in a really neat way and I liked how it was wrapped up. I liked that the reasons Evie couldn’t fit in with the different subsets in the kingdom, was actually what saved them.

This book was a little more suspenseful than the other books in this series. There was a definite switch in book three where there was a rebellion, and this book follows the lead. However, this is an undercover rebellion that seems more dangerous than the rebellions in the previous two books. I will say that I think the rebellion could have gone much deeper and pulled in Cassian and Rafe’s experiences. I know that sounds really weird, but when you read the book, it will make more sense.

Evie was so great. I have probably said it before, but I love Cellier’s main characters. I typically don’t love main characters, but all of them are so different from each other and are so real. Evie was a lot of fun to read, and she went through some nice character growth. She had the hardest childhood out of all of our Four Kingdom princesses, but she was still very kind and accepting of people.

Frederic was definitely my favorite! I know I typically share about how the MMC is fun or kind or sweet. Frederic was all of those things, but he was also responsible and respectful, which are two things we need to see more of. Frederic was very caring, but he also took his job to his kingdom seriously and he didn’t just forget that when Evie entered into the mix. Back to the respectful thing- he was incredibly respectful towards Evie, and I loved it! He always listened to her and took her advice, and he made sure she was comfortable with doing away with certain proprieties beforehand! This was a completely clean romance, so the proprieties mainly had to do with titles.

Throughout this book we got to explore the kingdom of Lanover, much more than in the previous book. More than any other kingdom, I want to go to Lanover. It sounds so diverse and amazing. I think part of why I loved it is because it is so different from where I live, so I was in a completely new place, while the other book settings are similar to my climate.

There were so many amazing side characters in this book, but two stuck out to me more than anyone else! I loved Cassian and Celine! They were both amazing in their own rights! Cassian was so responsible and stoic, but there were these snippets of the kind heart underneath that I adored. You could tell how much he cared about his siblings, and I loved the moments when he was protective of Celine. I also really liked seeing his brotherhood with Frederic- it has been something I’ve been missing a little bit from these books! Also, his, shocking, romantic moments had me giggling! I hope there is a novella of him in the future, and I hope there is a novella about all of the Lanover siblings someday!

Celine had me laughing out loud! That girl got some ideas in her, and nobody was going to stop her once she got an idea in her head! She was so spunky and fun, while also being caring. I loved getting to see more of her from the previous book, and I’m excited to see her in the future.

The romance between Evie and Frederic was so sweet. I loved their relationship, and watching their trust in each other grow. Frederic kind of reminded me of Mr. Darcy, though I can’t quite pinpoint why. This romance was probably the slowest as far as development goes of all the books, but it was still so, so sweet. I loved how they were just there for each other, and they each brought out the better in the other!

I enjoyed the rebellion side of things, though as I have said I think it could have been better developed. However, I did love the travel aspect of things. I love a good travel book, so this was right up my alley!

I will say this book was a little bittersweet. I have made it no secret how much I love the series, so leaving behind these characters and kingdoms to go on to new stories is both exciting and sad!

The Princess Search was a unique, adventurous Ugly Duckling retelling! With romance, amazing characters, and travel The Princess Search is the perfect book to end off the main Four Kingdoms series!

Quotes:

“‘Everyone has fear. It’s what keeps us alive. But you got to trust your mates. They keep you alive, too.’”