The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: The Mystery Princess: A Retelling of Cinderella

Series: Return to the Four Kingdoms #2

Author: Melanie Cellier

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Retelling, Clean Romance

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review:

Daria has spent her whole life caring for others. So when she’s rescued by traveling merchants while fleeing for her life, she’s more than happy to work for them in return for her safety.

But danger follows her, as does Prince Percy. Daria thought she’d left the complications of balls and royalty behind her, but she can’t hide as a servant forever–not when whole kingdoms are in peril. As the threat grows, so do the risks Daria is willing to take. But even as she puts herself in danger, Daria doubts she could ever be enough–for the people who need saving or the prince himself.

In this reimagining of the classic fairy tale, Cinderella, the overworked orphan must face dangers, doubts, and traitors before she can hope to triumph in a ballroom. -summary from Goodreads

The Mystery Princess is one of my all-time favorite Cinderella retellings, with an absolutely amazing premise!

I loved Daria so much! She was so sweet and kind in A Dream of Ebony and White, and in this book she was all grown up.

This book had some amazing explorations of anxiety, and I really liked how it was portrayed and explored. I thought it was super cool how instead of Daria just staying out of the kindness of her heart, it was also because she was afraid. And she went through some amazing character development where she realized her fear wasn’t saving her but holding her back and keeping her from her life.

I also really liked how Daria was so kind and responsible, but she was also a real person and expressed her frustrations.

One of my absolute favorite parts of this book was the “stepfamily.” Her stepfamily is the family that rescued her from the rebels from The Secret Princess. I loved the fact that the mom was so overprotective, and the reason that Daria ended up doing much of the chores wasn’t through any malicious intent but the distractedness of youth from her sister.

Percy was amazing! Definitely one of my favorite MMCs in the series so far. I didn’t quite know what to expect from him since he hasn’t been in any of the other books and what we did know was that he was under the fear curse for many years. So, who he actually was, was a pleasant surprise for me. Percy had such a light, airy personality, who liked to have fun, but also knew when to be serious. He reminded me a lot of Gabe, but he was a character all his own!

Daria and Percy were so cute together, and I loved them together! They were a good match, and I loved when Percy said he started thinking of home more when he met Daria! It was so cute!

Again, I love the morals present throughout this entire series. I enjoyed how Daria behaved throughout this novel. I enjoyed how when she became spy in the rebellion camp she went to the royalty and told them that she didn’t have enough information and knowledge to make a decision, so she was going to listen to them, and this was so important to me. I am so used to reading books where the characters are very rash and just jump into things without listening to people who know what they’re doing. The other thing that I really liked was when Daria told Percy her identity, he didn’t get really angry; he came to her and had a conversation.

Damon’s storyline was continued in this book, but I felt that it ended very abruptly. It felt similar to how Sterling’s story ended in Beyond the Four Kingdoms. I liked Damon’s story and found it very intriguing, but it just ended a little too suddenly for me.

This book didn’t necessarily follow the Cinderella storyline exactly, but I did enjoy what was kept and how it was twisted. There were three balls instead of one and I love the way the shoes were incorporated into the story. There were no impractical glass slippers, but there were still recognizable shoes, that played a part in the story.

We also got to see Ava and Hans, as well as Evelyn and Sarah! We got a little bit of a sense of how these couples are doing, and I loved it. I do wish we got a little bit more of them, but it wouldn’t have fit into the story.

Arvin also made an appearance, which I adore. He took a little bit of a step back in this book than in the previous book, but he has maintained his snarky personality which I can’t get enough of. I loved reading his back and forth with Percy- some of the best parts of the book!

The Mystery Princess is a wholesome, original retelling of Cinderella! With a responsible main character, a fun MMC, explorations of anxiety, and rooting out a rebellion while finding love, this book was so much fun to read!

Quotes:

“‘The beauty of true love is that it’s freely given. You don’t have to earn it. All you have to do is have the courage to accept it.’”