Two things always surprise me about Melanie Dickerson’s books:
1. They’re considered young adult fiction (and I, a not-very-young adult, LOVE them).
2. They’re creative retellings of familiar fairy tales, often done so well that I don’t immediately recognize the original fairy tale!
Such was the case with her new release, The Princess Spy. (Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book from Zondervan through the Booklook Blogger program.)
When I first started reading Dickerson’s books, I was intrigued by the idea that she could take the basics of fairy tales like Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Sleeping Beauty, set them in the Middle Ages with princesses and knights and castles, and make a whole new story out of them. That’s what started me reading them. Now, it doesn’t even matter to me if they’re retellings, and when I read The Princess Spy, I wasn’t even thinking about The Frog Prince, a fairy tale I sometimes forget about.
Basically what I’m trying to say here is that even if these were stories without a fairy tale association, they would still be good, still worth reading.
In The Princess Spy, Margaretha is being wooed by Lord Claybrook, a man she hopes will be the true love she’s been waiting for. Until she meets an injured stranger, who is brought to the castle’s healer for tending his wounds. The man claims to be an English lord with dangerous information about Claybrook. He enlists Margaretha to spy for him, and soon, she is thrust into a daring plan to save her family and kingdom.
There is adventure, banter, danger, romance, chivalry and unexpected turns of events. Before I knew about The Frog Prince elements of the story, I caught influences of scenes in the movies The Princess Bride and Ever After. In short, it was everything a good fairy tale romance should be. (And the heroine is no weakling. I love a good strong heroine.)
You should know, if you read this, that there are characters from previous novels connected to this one. I now want to go back and re-read the ones that came before and make a family tree of some kind so I can follow along to how everyone is related. But, if you haven’t read her previous books (and WHY haven’t you?), you won’t be lost in this one.
I have to put Melanie Dickerson on my list of favorite authors, and I almost can’t wait (yes, I can) until my daughter is old enough to read these stories. For me, one sign of a good author is that I’m already looking forward to the next book as soon as I’ve finished the current one. That is how I feel after reading The Princess Spy. (Also, her book covers are some of my favorites ever.)
You can take a look at all of Dickerson’s books here. And if you’ve read one of her books, or if you do, let me know what you think!