A review by vivilikesfr1es
Princess Ever After by Connie Glynn
3.0
As a last book in this series, it made me so so happy. I've essentially grown up with The Rosewood Chronicles because I first started reading the series when I was in my early tween years, maybe 11,12, or 13? it's a bit hard to remember but I was considerably young and it's been a few years since then. It's been a great series to grow up with, and I love these characters.
This book, like all books, isn't without its faults though. My biggest issue with the book, and honestly it's still a minor issue, is that our major characters (namely Lottie and Ellie) have other people essentially bring out their big realization for them. The one that jumps out most is what happens with Lottie. Spoilers: While in Paris for the Partizan meeting Saskia helped Lottie arrange, she breaks down and starts crying when she sees Saskia and Anastacia being kinda PDA around her. They ask Lottie what's wrong and she confesses she's not entirely sure. Then Anastacia and Saskia help bring Lottie to the realization that she's in love with Ellie, and also that Jamie is in love with her but that doesn't matter as much.
I have a problem with this because I have a small thing against characters helping other characters come to big conclusions like this. Obviously as readers we know that Lottie and Ellie have been in love and pining for one another for ages and we can tell that Lottie has been deliberately denying it, and pushing it down. What I would much rather prefer is to have Lottie come to realization herself, after a lot of thinking. I understand that it's a little suffocating to be in the thoughts of a character for too long, but since the book is in third person it shouldn't be the biggest problem. I think I'd rather be stuck in Lotties head for a while and actually experience her thought process and her growth in coming to that realization about her feelings for Ellie. By having Ani and Saskia bring it out for her, it takes away any growth from Lottie because she's not contemplating any of it. Instead, it's just laid out in front of her and we just stare at the page going "FINALLY". I think you can achieve the same effect, like the realization is just laid bare in front of you, by having Lottie run face first into the realization after some thinking. It just would feel more fulfilling.
Another thing I didn't quite buy was the rat twins suddenly falling to Ellie's side instead of sticking with Leviathan. I always knew that Ingrid and Haru were bound to betray Claude (Ingrid because she's just like that and Haru because he loves Jamie) but Julius, Phi, and the rat twins were harder to believe. I think if the relationship between Ellie and the rat twins was built up more, to the point where they seem to genuinely like Ellie and like being her friend, then I would have believed it. But since we know barely anything about Sam and Stella and their backstory, Ellies treatment of Stella having such an effect on Stella is kinda unbelievable. I love that it happened, I love me a third act betrayal, but I think it's just a little unbelievable that EVERYONE in Leviathan suddenly is loyal to Jamie and not Claude.
My favorite arc in the entire series is probably Ellies. I know she seems a stereotypical goth punk girl and that's just who she is. The way I saw it, Ellies arc is about learning how to be completely true to herself and be confident while doing it, in addition to realizing that she's not an awful, inherently harmful person. In this book we see her try and be as Lottie as she possibly can be, but that is just not who she is. Ellie is perfectly incapable of being anyone but herself. The clothes she wears suffocates her, she repeats over and over that she feels like a doll in a dollhouse, made to be looked at but never heard. Her grandma calls Ellie something akin to a "perfect princess" and it completely weights her down. But her arc takes her through a journey that helps her accept who she is and helps her embrace herself. One really important part of the book I think is the conversation she has with her mother. Queen Matilde speaks to Ellie and their conversation boils down to Matilde telling Ellie that she doesn't have to pretend to be anyone she isn't. Ellie is confused, she thinks her mother wants her to be a good princess, like Lottie. But Matilde tells her that all the Queen stuff, the clothing and the etiquette, comes naturally to her. Queen Matilde is the perfect model queen because it's natural to her, and most importantly, she *enjoys* it. It is obvious to everyone that Ellie does not enjoy being a perfect princess, the hair and the clothing feels wrong on her. Matilde tells Ellie that she doesn't have to care about the expectations of her from anyone and when Ellie brings up her grandma Matilde just says that she's dead. There's no reason to care about the expectations of a woman who's dead. It's an incredibly moving conversation and it's just so great and important. Over the course of the book we see Ellie begin to value herself a little bit more, she learns slowly that she's not a burden to the people around her. That she has Lottie and her friends to support her and that they not just like her company, they WANT her to be around. It's just a great arc and though Ellie develops as a character she never changes who she is. I love it.
My last complaint is that we didn't see more of Jamie and Haru together. You're telling me they kiss ONCE in the book and by the epilogue they're partners?? At least I'm assuming it's romantic, I might be wrong but that's what it seems to be so I'm not sure.
Overall, I love The Rosewood Chronicles and I hold these characters very dear to me. My queer heart loved it, it was a great ending.
This book, like all books, isn't without its faults though. My biggest issue with the book, and honestly it's still a minor issue, is that our major characters (namely Lottie and Ellie) have other people essentially bring out their big realization for them. The one that jumps out most is what happens with Lottie. Spoilers: While in Paris for the Partizan meeting Saskia helped Lottie arrange, she breaks down and starts crying when she sees Saskia and Anastacia being kinda PDA around her. They ask Lottie what's wrong and she confesses she's not entirely sure. Then Anastacia and Saskia help bring Lottie to the realization that she's in love with Ellie, and also that Jamie is in love with her but that doesn't matter as much.
I have a problem with this because I have a small thing against characters helping other characters come to big conclusions like this. Obviously as readers we know that Lottie and Ellie have been in love and pining for one another for ages and we can tell that Lottie has been deliberately denying it, and pushing it down. What I would much rather prefer is to have Lottie come to realization herself, after a lot of thinking. I understand that it's a little suffocating to be in the thoughts of a character for too long, but since the book is in third person it shouldn't be the biggest problem. I think I'd rather be stuck in Lotties head for a while and actually experience her thought process and her growth in coming to that realization about her feelings for Ellie. By having Ani and Saskia bring it out for her, it takes away any growth from Lottie because she's not contemplating any of it. Instead, it's just laid out in front of her and we just stare at the page going "FINALLY". I think you can achieve the same effect, like the realization is just laid bare in front of you, by having Lottie run face first into the realization after some thinking. It just would feel more fulfilling.
Another thing I didn't quite buy was the rat twins suddenly falling to Ellie's side instead of sticking with Leviathan. I always knew that Ingrid and Haru were bound to betray Claude (Ingrid because she's just like that and Haru because he loves Jamie) but Julius, Phi, and the rat twins were harder to believe. I think if the relationship between Ellie and the rat twins was built up more, to the point where they seem to genuinely like Ellie and like being her friend, then I would have believed it. But since we know barely anything about Sam and Stella and their backstory, Ellies treatment of Stella having such an effect on Stella is kinda unbelievable. I love that it happened, I love me a third act betrayal, but I think it's just a little unbelievable that EVERYONE in Leviathan suddenly is loyal to Jamie and not Claude.
My favorite arc in the entire series is probably Ellies. I know she seems a stereotypical goth punk girl and that's just who she is. The way I saw it, Ellies arc is about learning how to be completely true to herself and be confident while doing it, in addition to realizing that she's not an awful, inherently harmful person. In this book we see her try and be as Lottie as she possibly can be, but that is just not who she is. Ellie is perfectly incapable of being anyone but herself. The clothes she wears suffocates her, she repeats over and over that she feels like a doll in a dollhouse, made to be looked at but never heard. Her grandma calls Ellie something akin to a "perfect princess" and it completely weights her down. But her arc takes her through a journey that helps her accept who she is and helps her embrace herself. One really important part of the book I think is the conversation she has with her mother. Queen Matilde speaks to Ellie and their conversation boils down to Matilde telling Ellie that she doesn't have to pretend to be anyone she isn't. Ellie is confused, she thinks her mother wants her to be a good princess, like Lottie. But Matilde tells her that all the Queen stuff, the clothing and the etiquette, comes naturally to her. Queen Matilde is the perfect model queen because it's natural to her, and most importantly, she *enjoys* it. It is obvious to everyone that Ellie does not enjoy being a perfect princess, the hair and the clothing feels wrong on her. Matilde tells Ellie that she doesn't have to care about the expectations of her from anyone and when Ellie brings up her grandma Matilde just says that she's dead. There's no reason to care about the expectations of a woman who's dead. It's an incredibly moving conversation and it's just so great and important. Over the course of the book we see Ellie begin to value herself a little bit more, she learns slowly that she's not a burden to the people around her. That she has Lottie and her friends to support her and that they not just like her company, they WANT her to be around. It's just a great arc and though Ellie develops as a character she never changes who she is. I love it.
My last complaint is that we didn't see more of Jamie and Haru together. You're telling me they kiss ONCE in the book and by the epilogue they're partners?? At least I'm assuming it's romantic, I might be wrong but that's what it seems to be so I'm not sure.
Overall, I love The Rosewood Chronicles and I hold these characters very dear to me. My queer heart loved it, it was a great ending.