emmiekay's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Despite my rating this is a great book. I was able to get lost in it finally after not picking it up for a while. The setting and characters were quite unique. The writing was good, I just would have appreciated this book in my early teens which is no fault of the author. I might pick up the others in the series at some point.
A note on the chatacters, Ellie was such a fun take on "not like other girls".
A note on the chatacters, Ellie was such a fun take on "not like other girls".
Spoiler
The sports scene with Lottie was kind of painful to read. Run god damn it, don't just stand there! Haha That was not the same girl who left clues of her capture.dearsara's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
faith_ryde's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
It was an enjoyable read despite the characters feeling and being young. Would have love reading this a few years ago but past my time.
izzyxrose's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
mxjunebug's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
blissyreads's review against another edition
4.0
Apparently I like stories with princesses a lot more than I thought.
I loved the friendship between Ellie and Lottie.
Rating: 4.2
I loved the friendship between Ellie and Lottie.
Rating: 4.2
cosycinephile's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
liralen's review against another edition
2.0
Untagged spoilers below the fold!
The princess most definitely does not save herself in this one.
Well, that was...disappointing. It starts with fairytale-retelling potential, as it's sort of a cross between a Cinderella retelling and a Princess and the Pauper story: when Lottie wins a scholarship to Rosewood Hall, she's ecstatic. She's always loved the idea of princesses (she literally wears a tiara around the house)...so when it transpires that her roommate, Ellie, is a real-live princess, it's like her dreams have come true. But Ellie doesn't want to be in the limelight, and when a rumour starts going around that Lottie is the princess, Lottie takes on a more formal role as a fake princess.
Now. There are some problems here.
First: Lottie is at Rosewood on a scholarship because she's poor but also very, very special. She's so special, in fact, that she's the first student in twelve years to be offered an 'exceptional circumstances' scholarship (which seems to translate as 'you're too poor for us but you're so smart that we'll let you in anyway). But, like...guys, this says pretty lousy things about Rosewood. They're really not into equal opportunity, are they? They're more into collecting a very steep tuition from their very wealthy students. And if Lottie's supposed to be so special and smart, she should probably be doing better in her classes. (She doesn't do badly: when her marks come back, she's between the top 5 and the top 15 for her classes, but that's not the same as being the Best Student Ever, you know? And Ellie, who doesn't like school or studying, is within the top 20, which suggests that the academics aren't actually all that.)
Second: How dumb are the other students? Lottie (who is from Cornwall) presumably has an English accent, and she's there on scholarship...while Ellie is from Maradova, is not on a scholarship, and presumably has a Maradovan accent. Which of the two of these would you expect to be a Maradovan princess...? Obviously the student body all assumes that it's Lottie, because it makes so much more sense to think that 'Lottie Pumpkin' is secretly 'Eleanor Wolfson' than to think that 'Ellie Wolf' is actually 'Eleanor Wolfson'.
Third: What kind of school doesn't mind or notice when three students randomly take an overnight trip by private plane to another country? What kind of adults (in this case, Ellie's parents) agree that it's a great idea for an underage stranger (Lottie) to sign her life over to protect the monarchy of a country she's barely even heard of, all without any kind of permission from her guardians? Wouldn't this whole story make even a little more sense if it took place in Maradova (wherever that is) instead of England, and Lottie and Ellie were both Maradovan and at least sort of looked alike? Oh, and what kind of parents are like, 'Well, our kid doesn't want to go to state events, so over fifteen years she'll only be allowed to meet twenty people'?
Fourth: Who is the audience supposed to be here? Age-wise (Lottie is fourteen, I think, and Ellie fifteen), this could be YA, but Lottie is naïve enough that this reads as middle grade to me...except when there are creepy-as-all-get-out romance novel elements. But let's come back to that.
Fifth: There seems to be a male love interest for Lottie, but there are some weird Sapphic undertones. Now, I am all for Sapphic undertones, although frankly I would prefer Sapphic overtones. But given the middle-grade feel to the book, it's a little uncomfortable that those Sapphic undertones include things like Lottie rinsing Ellie's hair while Ellie is clad in nothing but underwear (when they've just met), and...it's not outrageous, but it's weird.
Sixth: Jamie. Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh. Jamie is the aforementioned male love interest. He shows up midway through the book as a teenaged bodyguard. This pretty much translates to 'shouts at the girls a lot and tells them that they can't do things'. It's very reminiscent of heterosexual romance novels in which the (adult) hero is a bodyguard or otherwise takes on responsibility for the heroine, whether she likes it or not. There are literally no reasons for Jamie to exist in this book beyond there being 1) somebody to brood over Lottie and 2) a big strong male to take charge. Ugh.
Seventh: Lottie has no agency here. None. She's whisked off to Maradova and convinced to be a stand-in princess without knowing what's going on. Every time she wants to blow her nose, she has to ask Jamie if it's okay. (Every time she does something he doesn't think a princess should be doing, he yells at her.) When she's kidnapped, does she save herself? No. Does Ellie save her? No. The big strong (angry, shouting, jerkface) boy swoops in and takes charge and saves them both.
NOPE.
The princess most definitely does not save herself in this one.
Well, that was...disappointing. It starts with fairytale-retelling potential, as it's sort of a cross between a Cinderella retelling and a Princess and the Pauper story: when Lottie wins a scholarship to Rosewood Hall, she's ecstatic. She's always loved the idea of princesses (she literally wears a tiara around the house)...so when it transpires that her roommate, Ellie, is a real-live princess, it's like her dreams have come true. But Ellie doesn't want to be in the limelight, and when a rumour starts going around that Lottie is the princess, Lottie takes on a more formal role as a fake princess.
Now. There are some problems here.
First: Lottie is at Rosewood on a scholarship because she's poor but also very, very special. She's so special, in fact, that she's the first student in twelve years to be offered an 'exceptional circumstances' scholarship (which seems to translate as 'you're too poor for us but you're so smart that we'll let you in anyway). But, like...guys, this says pretty lousy things about Rosewood. They're really not into equal opportunity, are they? They're more into collecting a very steep tuition from their very wealthy students. And if Lottie's supposed to be so special and smart, she should probably be doing better in her classes. (She doesn't do badly: when her marks come back, she's between the top 5 and the top 15 for her classes, but that's not the same as being the Best Student Ever, you know? And Ellie, who doesn't like school or studying, is within the top 20, which suggests that the academics aren't actually all that.)
Second: How dumb are the other students? Lottie (who is from Cornwall) presumably has an English accent, and she's there on scholarship...while Ellie is from Maradova, is not on a scholarship, and presumably has a Maradovan accent. Which of the two of these would you expect to be a Maradovan princess...? Obviously the student body all assumes that it's Lottie, because it makes so much more sense to think that 'Lottie Pumpkin' is secretly 'Eleanor Wolfson' than to think that 'Ellie Wolf' is actually 'Eleanor Wolfson'.
Third: What kind of school doesn't mind or notice when three students randomly take an overnight trip by private plane to another country? What kind of adults (in this case, Ellie's parents) agree that it's a great idea for an underage stranger (Lottie) to sign her life over to protect the monarchy of a country she's barely even heard of, all without any kind of permission from her guardians? Wouldn't this whole story make even a little more sense if it took place in Maradova (wherever that is) instead of England, and Lottie and Ellie were both Maradovan and at least sort of looked alike? Oh, and what kind of parents are like, 'Well, our kid doesn't want to go to state events, so over fifteen years she'll only be allowed to meet twenty people'?
Fourth: Who is the audience supposed to be here? Age-wise (Lottie is fourteen, I think, and Ellie fifteen), this could be YA, but Lottie is naïve enough that this reads as middle grade to me...except when there are creepy-as-all-get-out romance novel elements. But let's come back to that.
Fifth: There seems to be a male love interest for Lottie, but there are some weird Sapphic undertones. Now, I am all for Sapphic undertones, although frankly I would prefer Sapphic overtones. But given the middle-grade feel to the book, it's a little uncomfortable that those Sapphic undertones include things like Lottie rinsing Ellie's hair while Ellie is clad in nothing but underwear (when they've just met), and...it's not outrageous, but it's weird.
Sixth: Jamie. Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh. Jamie is the aforementioned male love interest. He shows up midway through the book as a teenaged bodyguard. This pretty much translates to 'shouts at the girls a lot and tells them that they can't do things'. It's very reminiscent of heterosexual romance novels in which the (adult) hero is a bodyguard or otherwise takes on responsibility for the heroine, whether she likes it or not. There are literally no reasons for Jamie to exist in this book beyond there being 1) somebody to brood over Lottie and 2) a big strong male to take charge. Ugh.
Seventh: Lottie has no agency here. None. She's whisked off to Maradova and convinced to be a stand-in princess without knowing what's going on. Every time she wants to blow her nose, she has to ask Jamie if it's okay. (Every time she does something he doesn't think a princess should be doing, he yells at her.) When she's kidnapped, does she save herself? No. Does Ellie save her? No. The big strong (angry, shouting, jerkface) boy swoops in and takes charge and saves them both.
NOPE.
titanic's review against another edition
1.0
A book was written by a Youtuber, and it was bad, am I surprised?
I wasn't aware Connie Glynn was a Youtuber, and if I knew that before I bought the book, I know I would have passed this up. In my opinion, and so my others, YouTubers cannot write. I think it's because they know they'll have fans who'll buy the book just to support their favourite creator, so it doesn't have to be a best-seller, because it'll get on that list just from their subscriber count.
But enough about the author, let's talk about this book. At first, I started reading it and my immediate thoughts were 'Zoella'. It had this ghostwriter vibe that all of Zoella's work has (which I've never read, just heard other people read passages aloud) so I was worried, yet I continued. Annnnd, I wish I hadn't. I should have just listened to my sister and dnfed the book.
I found many problems with the book, from the author wanting us to pity a princess to this unrealistic vibe of the princess' life. Let's start with Ellie, who is my main source of problems. Maybe because I'm British and have grown up with a monarchy, I know how royals are supposed to act, and I know it's a big deal when they act out, so when you have a book trying to act like her dying her hair or choosing her own school is not that big of a deal, well it kind of pulls me out of the moment. I know I shouldn't compare them as one is a book about a fictional princess but it felt so unrealistic
Throughout the book, we have statements about how Ellie has only met twenty people in her life but that is literally the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Just from the characters, we're introduced to in the castle we meet nine. (two maids, her partizan Jamie, her parents the king and queen, her (dead) grandfather and grandmother, the royal advisor, and her uncle.) but you're telling me she's never met cleaners, chefs, security guards. Buckingham Palace hires about 400 people, and you're telling me that Ellie would never have bumped into any of these extras? Or do these people not count because they're not on a first-name basis?
Another major plot hole that I found super unrealistic is the fact that Ellie was not announced to the public as the princess of Maradova. New prince and princesses are photographed the hell out of the moment they leave the hospital with British royals, and even Prince Archie is paparazzied and he's seventh in line for the throne, so for her to write Ellie as this being who can have so much privacy and secrecy bothered me.
I wasn't a big fan of the way the author wrote about characters either. She wanted to show a smart character and what's the logical way of doing that? Have them casually say "That's quite a prominent idiopathic craniofacial erythema you suffer from." Who talks like that? Then she mentions one more medical term and then it's never mentioned again, at least be consistent and keep the medical talk throughout the book or just mention that Lottie blushes a lot, like an actual person.
Now let's move on to brave and incredible Lottie. My favourite scene featuring her was when she was shouted out in front of the King, Queen, former Queen, royal advisor, princess and her partizan during some sort of 'trial' they were having about her becoming a portman, demanding to know what was going on. None of this is believable. Shouting out loud, demanding to know what's going on, it's unrealistic and that's just the constant vibe throughout the book.
Besides the characters, we have the storyline and weird subplots. One character gave them a bunch of maths questions to solve, leading them to a portrait of the founder of the school (who may be transgender but that's never touched on again in this book). Lottie also gets a death curse put on her which causes insomnia, which makes me confused as if this book is an alternate reality or not because a piece of paper with a cross isn't going to cause you to lose sleep, but there we are. Then you have Ellie being upset because she's a princess which she also compares to Jamie's struggle of being a partizan (which is basically a person who is trained as an assassin from birth).
But the true cherry on the cake was the fight scene. This whole book is led up to this moment. Three hundred and fifty-odd pages, time for the fighting moment. I'm ready for it-oh. I got my hopes up. It was three pages. Three. Not even three full pages, sixty-two lines if my counting is to be correct. That's it. The entire moment is solved in sixty-two lines.
Add in some boring storyline about Leviathans (which gives me major Supernatural vibes) wanting the princess and there, you have yourself a book. Congratulations if you made it to the end of this review, this was probably better than anything in that book. Well done.
I wasn't aware Connie Glynn was a Youtuber, and if I knew that before I bought the book, I know I would have passed this up. In my opinion, and so my others, YouTubers cannot write. I think it's because they know they'll have fans who'll buy the book just to support their favourite creator, so it doesn't have to be a best-seller, because it'll get on that list just from their subscriber count.
But enough about the author, let's talk about this book. At first, I started reading it and my immediate thoughts were 'Zoella'. It had this ghostwriter vibe that all of Zoella's work has (which I've never read, just heard other people read passages aloud) so I was worried, yet I continued. Annnnd, I wish I hadn't. I should have just listened to my sister and dnfed the book.
I found many problems with the book, from the author wanting us to pity a princess to this unrealistic vibe of the princess' life. Let's start with Ellie, who is my main source of problems. Maybe because I'm British and have grown up with a monarchy, I know how royals are supposed to act, and I know it's a big deal when they act out, so when you have a book trying to act like her dying her hair or choosing her own school is not that big of a deal, well it kind of pulls me out of the moment. I know I shouldn't compare them as one is a book about a fictional princess but it felt so unrealistic
Throughout the book, we have statements about how Ellie has only met twenty people in her life but that is literally the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Just from the characters, we're introduced to in the castle we meet nine. (two maids, her partizan Jamie, her parents the king and queen, her (dead) grandfather and grandmother, the royal advisor, and her uncle.) but you're telling me she's never met cleaners, chefs, security guards. Buckingham Palace hires about 400 people, and you're telling me that Ellie would never have bumped into any of these extras? Or do these people not count because they're not on a first-name basis?
Another major plot hole that I found super unrealistic is the fact that Ellie was not announced to the public as the princess of Maradova. New prince and princesses are photographed the hell out of the moment they leave the hospital with British royals, and even Prince Archie is paparazzied and he's seventh in line for the throne, so for her to write Ellie as this being who can have so much privacy and secrecy bothered me.
I wasn't a big fan of the way the author wrote about characters either. She wanted to show a smart character and what's the logical way of doing that? Have them casually say "That's quite a prominent idiopathic craniofacial erythema you suffer from." Who talks like that? Then she mentions one more medical term and then it's never mentioned again, at least be consistent and keep the medical talk throughout the book or just mention that Lottie blushes a lot, like an actual person.
Now let's move on to brave and incredible Lottie. My favourite scene featuring her was when she was shouted out in front of the King, Queen, former Queen, royal advisor, princess and her partizan during some sort of 'trial' they were having about her becoming a portman, demanding to know what was going on. None of this is believable. Shouting out loud, demanding to know what's going on, it's unrealistic and that's just the constant vibe throughout the book.
Besides the characters, we have the storyline and weird subplots. One character gave them a bunch of maths questions to solve, leading them to a portrait of the founder of the school (who may be transgender but that's never touched on again in this book). Lottie also gets a death curse put on her which causes insomnia, which makes me confused as if this book is an alternate reality or not because a piece of paper with a cross isn't going to cause you to lose sleep, but there we are. Then you have Ellie being upset because she's a princess which she also compares to Jamie's struggle of being a partizan (which is basically a person who is trained as an assassin from birth).
But the true cherry on the cake was the fight scene. This whole book is led up to this moment. Three hundred and fifty-odd pages, time for the fighting moment. I'm ready for it-oh. I got my hopes up. It was three pages. Three. Not even three full pages, sixty-two lines if my counting is to be correct. That's it. The entire moment is solved in sixty-two lines.
Add in some boring storyline about Leviathans (which gives me major Supernatural vibes) wanting the princess and there, you have yourself a book. Congratulations if you made it to the end of this review, this was probably better than anything in that book. Well done.
sparksinthevoid's review against another edition
2.0
wow that was just ... not good
everything of the book - from the characters to the plot - was unoriginal.
our main characters only have two characteristics that make them these characters and the development throughout the book is just non-existant. i get it, lottie is naive and ellie is badass. there's nothing more to them. jamie apparently needed a sad background and why do all of these names end with -ie, what the hell is that all about.
the writing style was just bad bad bad
i still don't know what the characters look like or the rosewood hall
why is the boarding school a weird copy of hogwarts and what was the point of binah's puzzle, it's never mentioned again (not that i was interested in it, but some kind of closure on that would've been nice)
the ending? i honestly laughed out loud because it sounded so much like a bad murder mystery film and it was just stupid. the villain had no clear motive and her plan was also really weird and bad and no wonder it didn't work out
and our dear friend edmund? what was that about? lottie, how stupid can you actually be?
idk it just really wasn't good
and whoever thinks this is ya: you're wrong, this is clearly middle grade
and whoever thinks this is fantasy? why
i'm just really angry about it
ellie's and lottie's friendship was also weird. there is clearly more going on between them, but the possibility was never even addressed even though there were clearly scenes where some thoughts or questions about their behavior towards each other could've been raised
the only thing i like about this book is jamie and even he was kind of destroyed for me in the end
i'm happy to leave this book behind me and never think of it again
everything of the book - from the characters to the plot - was unoriginal.
our main characters only have two characteristics that make them these characters and the development throughout the book is just non-existant. i get it, lottie is naive and ellie is badass. there's nothing more to them. jamie apparently needed a sad background and why do all of these names end with -ie, what the hell is that all about.
the writing style was just bad bad bad
i still don't know what the characters look like or the rosewood hall
why is the boarding school a weird copy of hogwarts and what was the point of binah's puzzle, it's never mentioned again (not that i was interested in it, but some kind of closure on that would've been nice)
the ending? i honestly laughed out loud because it sounded so much like a bad murder mystery film and it was just stupid. the villain had no clear motive and her plan was also really weird and bad and no wonder it didn't work out
and our dear friend edmund? what was that about? lottie, how stupid can you actually be?
idk it just really wasn't good
and whoever thinks this is ya: you're wrong, this is clearly middle grade
and whoever thinks this is fantasy? why
i'm just really angry about it
ellie's and lottie's friendship was also weird. there is clearly more going on between them, but the possibility was never even addressed even though there were clearly scenes where some thoughts or questions about their behavior towards each other could've been raised
the only thing i like about this book is jamie and even he was kind of destroyed for me in the end
i'm happy to leave this book behind me and never think of it again