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seraphjewel 's review for:
The Princess Spy
by Melanie Dickerson
This one is a little hard to rate. I sort of wish there was more spying going on; it really only consisted of Margaretha listening in on one conversation. I also feel like the villain and his motives made no real sense. First, why did he kill his first lover for having his baby? Why wouldn't he want an heir? Second, what was his ultimate goal in taking over the earldom if he made a habit of killing off his pregnant wives? I'm also not entirely sure why he was targeting this earldom specifically except for greed.
I'm a bit disappointed that this one wasn't too much like the fairy tale it was influenced by, other than calling Colin "frog boy" and having him go down the well to retrieve something of Margaretha's. I'm not sure how it could've been done in a non-magical way, but still. It felt most like it when they were just talking to each other and him learning her language; the stuff with the villain felt like an interruption.
Sometimes the author repeats story beats a bit too often. This one had a similar "the female lead is going to be married to someone horrible" plot that the last one had. And while I do like that the author actually gives the romantic leads time to get to know each other and fall in love, the "traveling together and encountering dangers" thing is getting a bit repetitive as well. I actually liked the chemistry more when they were in the castle and Margaretha was teaching him German.
But once again I did grow fond of the main characters. I liked how Colin constantly struggled with the language barrier and how single-minded he was about things. He sometimes had a harsh view of things, but I liked that he wasn't perfect. I liked that Margaretha had a loose tongue and knew that as a flaw of hers to speak more than listen to other people. I like how she was fierce and intelligent and brave. I felt that for the most part their chemistry was built up nicely.
These books aren't anything amazing, but they're nice stories and I like the characters. I'm curious now how the author will handle the Rapunzel story.
I'm a bit disappointed that this one wasn't too much like the fairy tale it was influenced by, other than calling Colin "frog boy" and having him go down the well to retrieve something of Margaretha's. I'm not sure how it could've been done in a non-magical way, but still. It felt most like it when they were just talking to each other and him learning her language; the stuff with the villain felt like an interruption.
Sometimes the author repeats story beats a bit too often. This one had a similar "the female lead is going to be married to someone horrible" plot that the last one had. And while I do like that the author actually gives the romantic leads time to get to know each other and fall in love, the "traveling together and encountering dangers" thing is getting a bit repetitive as well. I actually liked the chemistry more when they were in the castle and Margaretha was teaching him German.
But once again I did grow fond of the main characters. I liked how Colin constantly struggled with the language barrier and how single-minded he was about things. He sometimes had a harsh view of things, but I liked that he wasn't perfect. I liked that Margaretha had a loose tongue and knew that as a flaw of hers to speak more than listen to other people. I like how she was fierce and intelligent and brave. I felt that for the most part their chemistry was built up nicely.
These books aren't anything amazing, but they're nice stories and I like the characters. I'm curious now how the author will handle the Rapunzel story.