The Princess Companion: A Retelling of The Princess and the Pea

With the blustery wind and rain at her back, Alyssa seeks refuge in the first shelter she can find, but it just so happens to be the Winter Palace. Put into the Princess room by a misconception, Alyssa gets a restless night sleep and then the opportunity to be the Princess’ companion. With threats lurking in the shadows and a budding, forbidden relationship pulling at her heart, Alyssa much navigate the uncharted waters of nobility, and she just might discover who she wants to be.I’m so torn on my opinion of this book. I love the concepts of this book and the entire series. I’m a sucker for reimagined fairy tales, and I kept wanting to love this book, but I just didn’t. It was just okay in my opinion, but let me explain…Melanie Cellier knows how to be descriptive. This is a plus and a hinderance. Sometime I loved how she expounded on some aspects of the story, but in other areas is just made the pacing of the book drag. When I started the book, it took me a while to get used to Melanie’s writing style, but once I got used to it, I became fine with it.The plot dragged for the majority of the book. I wasn’t bored per se, but I wasn’t always entrapped by everything that was going on. The concept of the book was interesting enough that I didn’t put the book down, but there were moments when I was tempted to. The real action and interesting part of the book was the last 15% or so. That last section of the book helped redeem the book as a whole, and helped my opinion of the it.For characters, I really did like Alyssa and I was glad we took the journey with her rather than anyone else. I enjoyed seeing how she thought and helped everyone around her. She was resourceful and didn’t depend on anyone to fix everything. I admire her bravery that isn’t limited by her low pain tolerance.All the other characters can sometime be a little flat. I could never remember the differences between Lilly and Sophie. Eleanor was more defined and I really felt for her. The main things I remember about Max are how he complains about his future and has intense moments of jealousy.The setting this book took place in was jarring. With fairy tales, I often assume it will be set in some variation of medieval or renaissance times. This book seemed to follow that, until guns and bathrooms were suddenly mentioned. I can get on board with this taking place in some fantasy land that is a mix of kings and queens and somewhat modern bathrooms, but I just wish there was more explanation of the world or warning before just dropping more modern elements in.Overall, I’m glad that I read this book. I did enjoy it, but there were some moments where it felt like a big pill to swallow. Melanie is a good storyteller and has great ideas, which made this book enjoyable. I just got a little too bored too often.I’m really torn on reading the next books in the series. Based on some reviews of the next book, I’m thinking some of my complains about this book won’t be resolved in the next one, especially the pacing. I love the concepts and ideas Melanie has come up with are very intriguing, but I just don’t know if that’s tempting enough for me to continue.

Excellent read! As a young adult, I found this book refreshing and breath-takingly whimsical! I loved how it was clean!!! Few books nowadays have a clean yet beautiful structure, and Ms. Cellist has achieved these distinguished qualities with flying colors! At the same time, she has instilled a well-set moral compass within her main character, Alyssa, one of which is even more rare to find in modern-day books. If anyone has any qualms over trying this book or believes it might be dark (the cover is a wee bit on the dark side), know that this book is bright yet realistic. The sappy moments aren't tar-thick heavy, they float on the tongue like a delicious pastry, being light and delicately sweet all the same. There is enough action to keep one perched on the edge of suspense and the values that Alyssa holds true to are inspiring and great for self-reflection. I hold this book in the same light as I would another one of my favorite series: King Arthur and Her Knights by K M Shea. Both writers are incredibly gifted in writing clean, amazing historical fiction. It is with great heart that I confidently recommend the Princess Companion! Hope this helps someone! ;)

This book is almost perfect for what it is--a lighthearted fairy-tale. I only caught a couple errors ('wondered' instead of 'wandered' and the like), but I loved the characters so much it hardly mattered. There was good, consistent character development for all the main players and their relationships; I loved Alyssa, and her chemistry with Max was sweet.There were unbelievable bits (the King's ongoing dependence on a teenage peasant for diplomatic intelligence; how friendly most of the nobility was in accepting a woodcutter's daughter; etc) but I honestly just enjoyed the ride. The ending felt rushed and still managed to give me more information than I wanted, somehow--it might have been better as an epilogue tying up loose ends after the HEA, rather than a headlong gallop of details from the 'big reveal' to the end, but I still got what I wanted out of it! This one's staying on my kindle.I'd recommend it to anyone except analytical literature professors, who enjoy nothing fully and are cursed by their own educations.

I absolutely loved this story. The setting, the characters and watching them grow into a beautiful true love was so heartwarming. A good dose of tension and suspense to make the story amazing without making it heart wrenching or terrible. A definite feel-good story. Did I mention that I loved it?And I absolutely loved The Four Kingdoms Series. The stories are intertwined. You could enjoy each individually (they kind of could stand alone) but you need to read all of the amazing, clear, downright brilliant stories so it is best if you read them in order because there are a lot of spoilers in each subsequent book. Make sure you read the novellas in the right spots.Book 1: The Princess Companion: A Retelling of The Princess and the PeaBook 2: The Princess Fugitive: A Reimagining of Little Red Riding HoodNovella: Happily Ever Afters: A Reimagining of Snow White and Rose RedNovella: The Coronation Ball: A Four Kingdoms Cinderella NoveletteBook 3: The Princess Pact: A Twist on RumpelstiltskinNovella: A Midwinter's Wedding: A Retelling of The Frog PrinceBook 4: The Princess Game: A Reimagining of Sleeping BeautyBook 5: The Princess Search: A Retelling of The Ugly Duckling