Release Date: January 8th, 2008
Genre:  Fairy-tale, Fantasy, Romance
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 288
Rating:
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Summary: 

A tale of twelve princesses doomed to dance until dawn… Galen is a young soldier returning from war; Rose is one of twelve princesses condemned to dance each night for the King Under Stone. Together Galen and Rose will search for a way to break the curse that forces the princesses to dance at the midnight balls. All they need is one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and that most critical ingredient of all—true love—to conquer their foes in the dark halls below. But malevolent forces are working against them above ground as well, and as cruel as the King Under Stone has seemed, his wrath is mere irritation compared to the evil that awaits Galen and Rose in the brighter world above.

Blurb: Everything a good fairy tale should be. Enchanting from start to finish.

Review: I don't know why it took me so long to get around to reading this. I bought it when it came out, had it signed by the author, and then it sat on my shelf for THREE YEARS. Maybe it was waiting for Utah Author Month.

Well, whatever the reason, I LOVED IT! I read it all in one sitting. This book is so charming and beautiful. If you're a fan of the recently released Entwined then you'll love this book. And if you WANTED to love Entwined but didn't, then you'll probably STILL love this one, because it's shorter and much more action-packed.

But you don't want to hear about Entwined, you want to hear about THIS book, right? Okay.

One thing I adored about this book is that it doesn't make the dancing seem glamorous and magical. These girls are FORCED to dance their feet to tatters every night. It isn't pleasant. This added a great flavor to the story. These princesses don't want to be in fairy tale. One of the little one even cries whenever she has to dance. It was heartbreaking and gripping.

Another great thing was the male protagonist. So many of these fairy-tale books are dominated by female characters, that it was great to hear a male voice. And Galen isn't your typical male. He knits, sews, and is very romantic. At the same time, he knows his way around a sword and isn't afraid of anything! I loved him! I want a Galen.

A fabulous book. I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel Princess of Glass, and Jessica has recently announced that she's working on a third book. Hurrah!
This review is part of Utah Author Month. (was read in May)



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