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A review by lyderature
A Farewell to Charms by Lindsey Leavitt
If I had to use one word to describe the Princess for Hire trilogy, it would be: fabulous .
Spoilers. Spoilers. Spoilers. You have been warned.
Honestly, these books aren't as shallow or superficial as you would expect them to be. And you can go ahead and yell at me for automatically assuming that this series would be just frou-frou and frilly, but have seen the covers? Have your read their blurbs? Magical make-up that turns you into a princess...am I justified now?
No?
Fine. I give.
And don't you point your finger and preach at me, "No judging a book by its cover!"
Back to my main point. These books aren't pure fluff. They actually have a surprising amount of depth to them. Well, they're not extremely profound or anything, but one can glean a message from their words. There's a point that gets across to you.
And this point just gets stronger and stronger as the series goes on, which is perfectly parallel to how Leavitt is improving as a writer. Because let's be honest here, Princess for Hire was really... "la-la land". Desi gets to essentially be a princess, she falls in love with a prince, crazy best friends, girly moments, etc. every girl's dream come true. It was a very fluffy read, that made me hesitant on whether or not I should continue the series.
Boy am I glad I did. Because in Royal Treatment, we finally start getting some "grit". The facade is cracking. Literally. Facade the corporation may not be all goodness and gumdrops. Desi starts getting wary, and that piques our interest.
Then in Farewell to Charms, Desi is planning to revolt against Facade.
It's just amazing to see how far this series has gone in character and plot development. And how much "tougher" it's become, if that's the word for it.
So in A Farewell to Charms, Desi's suspicions are not longer just suspicions-they're facts. She knows that Facade is corrupt and she continually finds evidence that justifies her cause in trying to go against this company. It doesn't matter that the company lets her play dress-up and twirl around as a princess, who cares if this is every girl's dream job, the company thrives off of stolen magic and that's bad. Plain and simple.
Desi just has such a strong and unwavering sense of right and wrong, and we continually see that displayed throughout the entire book. And I love it.
Every attempt she made to undermine Facade's corrupt regime and uncover and reveal the dirty truth, I rooted for her. This wasn't one of those books where the heroine is dead set on achieving something but we as readers are just going, "Why? There's not point in that."
So yeah, Desi vs. Magical-corporation-that-hides-some-very-key-things-to-know-from-its-employees was just awesome to read.
And then there was the whole Floressa Chase ordeal. I really enjoyed how that played out in the end. Floressa finally got the reality check she's desperately needed, and maybe she's still a royal brat, but as least Desi has opened her eyes in seeing how selfish she was before.
Oh and another bit that I loved was the thing about how Desi's parents were starting to become worried and suspicious about what their daughter actually is doing. Active parents in their children's lives isn't something we see nearly enough nowadays in YA literature. But I felt like it was very realistic, and something that would definitely happen in real life.
Overall, I just devoured all the conflict in this book. None of it was heavy, but that's okay in these kinds of fun, girly books.
And props to Lindsey Leavitt for maintaining the perfect balance between conflict and the fluff.
Oh yes, there still was a LOT of fluff. Not that I'm complaining. Reed Pearson and Desi Bascomb, they are just too adorable. The ending! The ending! The sleigh ride and the kiss...sigh, too cute. Too cute.
Kylee. I loved that character. She was HILARIOUS, (especially when interrogating Reed), and played the role of a supportive best friend really well.
My one main qualm with this book was its predictability at times. For instance, Kylee having magic. Reed being Barrett's match but also subbing for Karl that one time. Desi's match being Floressa. I can't have been the only one who saw these things coming.
And I guess I wanted to see more resolution. Such as in Desi's mom's pregnancy. That was such an interesting point to introduce--but it was never fully fleshed out. Also, what became of Floressa and Barrett now that they don't have matches? I actually sort of wanted Desi and Reed to continue subbing for them, because it's just too perfect! And it makes my fangirl bookworm heart all happy when I think about how they can still be all cute together even when acting as royalty.
But that's just a personal reader wish.
Overall, good, fun, fluffy series, Perfect for summer reading, and tween or early-teen girls.
Spoilers. Spoilers. Spoilers. You have been warned.
Honestly, these books aren't as shallow or superficial as you would expect them to be. And you can go ahead and yell at me for automatically assuming that this series would be just frou-frou and frilly, but have seen the covers? Have your read their blurbs? Magical make-up that turns you into a princess...am I justified now?
No?
Fine. I give.
And don't you point your finger and preach at me, "No judging a book by its cover!"
Back to my main point. These books aren't pure fluff. They actually have a surprising amount of depth to them. Well, they're not extremely profound or anything, but one can glean a message from their words. There's a point that gets across to you.
And this point just gets stronger and stronger as the series goes on, which is perfectly parallel to how Leavitt is improving as a writer. Because let's be honest here, Princess for Hire was really... "la-la land". Desi gets to essentially be a princess, she falls in love with a prince, crazy best friends, girly moments, etc. every girl's dream come true. It was a very fluffy read, that made me hesitant on whether or not I should continue the series.
Boy am I glad I did. Because in Royal Treatment, we finally start getting some "grit". The facade is cracking. Literally. Facade the corporation may not be all goodness and gumdrops. Desi starts getting wary, and that piques our interest.
Then in Farewell to Charms, Desi is planning to revolt against Facade.
It's just amazing to see how far this series has gone in character and plot development. And how much "tougher" it's become, if that's the word for it.
So in A Farewell to Charms, Desi's suspicions are not longer just suspicions-they're facts. She knows that Facade is corrupt and she continually finds evidence that justifies her cause in trying to go against this company. It doesn't matter that the company lets her play dress-up and twirl around as a princess, who cares if this is every girl's dream job, the company thrives off of stolen magic and that's bad. Plain and simple.
Desi just has such a strong and unwavering sense of right and wrong, and we continually see that displayed throughout the entire book. And I love it.
Every attempt she made to undermine Facade's corrupt regime and uncover and reveal the dirty truth, I rooted for her. This wasn't one of those books where the heroine is dead set on achieving something but we as readers are just going, "Why? There's not point in that."
So yeah, Desi vs. Magical-corporation-that-hides-some-very-key-things-to-know-from-its-employees was just awesome to read.
And then there was the whole Floressa Chase ordeal. I really enjoyed how that played out in the end. Floressa finally got the reality check she's desperately needed, and maybe she's still a royal brat, but as least Desi has opened her eyes in seeing how selfish she was before.
Oh and another bit that I loved was the thing about how Desi's parents were starting to become worried and suspicious about what their daughter actually is doing. Active parents in their children's lives isn't something we see nearly enough nowadays in YA literature. But I felt like it was very realistic, and something that would definitely happen in real life.
Overall, I just devoured all the conflict in this book. None of it was heavy, but that's okay in these kinds of fun, girly books.
And props to Lindsey Leavitt for maintaining the perfect balance between conflict and the fluff.
Oh yes, there still was a LOT of fluff. Not that I'm complaining. Reed Pearson and Desi Bascomb, they are just too adorable. The ending! The ending! The sleigh ride and the kiss...sigh, too cute. Too cute.
Kylee. I loved that character. She was HILARIOUS, (especially when interrogating Reed), and played the role of a supportive best friend really well.
My one main qualm with this book was its predictability at times. For instance, Kylee having magic. Reed being Barrett's match but also subbing for Karl that one time. Desi's match being Floressa. I can't have been the only one who saw these things coming.
And I guess I wanted to see more resolution. Such as in Desi's mom's pregnancy. That was such an interesting point to introduce--but it was never fully fleshed out. Also, what became of Floressa and Barrett now that they don't have matches? I actually sort of wanted Desi and Reed to continue subbing for them, because it's just too perfect! And it makes my fangirl bookworm heart all happy when I think about how they can still be all cute together even when acting as royalty.
But that's just a personal reader wish.
Overall, good, fun, fluffy series, Perfect for summer reading, and tween or early-teen girls.