Princess of Glass, by Jessica Day George

Poppy is one of the formerly cursed Westfalin princesses.  She, along with her unmarried sisters, is taking part in an exchange program with several other royal families, in the hopes that many of the young princes and princesses will make suitable marital matches.  Poppy is sent to Breton, where she meets Prince Christian.  As time progresses, the youngsters begin to attend royal balls together, until the mysterious Lady Ella enters the scene, stealing the hearts of all the men who see her.  Who is this Lady Ella, where is she from, and how does one of the local maids play into the whole mystery?

Once again, I have forayed into young adult literature.  This book is intended for ages 12 and up, but I was quite enraptured by it.  The story reads somewhat like a modern day Cinderella, with a sinister twist.  I loved the intertwining of old faery folk lore with more modern story and character development.  Ever a fan of writers using new, imaginative ways to tell tales of old, this book left me believing in happily ever after, even in the most trying of circumstances.

This book is the follow up to Princess of the Midnight Ball, which, sadly, I have not read (though I hope to now), yet it works quite well as a stand alone book.  The pertinent history from the previous book is adequately covered in Princess of Glass, and I was never confused about the backstory.  I loved the twisted take on the sometimes overly benign Cinderella type character.  This book tells you what it would have been like had Cinderella not been quite so nice, and had her godmother been a whackado.  I loved every minute of it.

Clearly, this is a book that is going to appeal more to young female readers.  But I do believe many adult female readers, like me, would enjoy the book.  It is clever, romantic, and captivating. 

While the reimagining of faery tales has lost some momentum within adult literature, I believe it works well in the young adult genre, and hope to see more of these stories from this author.  She weaves these tales very well.


A copy of this book was provided for review courtesy of Traveling ARC Tours.