The Prince Who Loved Me by Abigail Sharpe

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Sharpe brings the childhood fantasy to life in the most adult of ways. Brandi and Sebastien are a fairytale in progress hoping to find a happy ending. Their quest is as emotional as it is funny, but what a ride it is. The Prince who Loved Me has heart. What more can any romantic ask for?



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Penthouse Prince by Kendall Ryan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ryan has a way of opening your eyes to the real world, while putting a smile in your heart. Penthouse Prince steps out of cheesy, childhood fantasy and into the emotions that make us into who we are. Lex and Corrigan dare to be beautiful by facing the ugliest heartache head on. Hold on to your hearts, it's going to be a bumpy ride.



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Prosper Redding has obtained a fragile understanding with the demon inside him, but now he has to rescue his sister from the demon realm. The second book in the 'Prosper Redding' series is as convoluted as the first volume, with less grounding.

The demon realm seems to have suffered and changed during Alastor's centuries away. The old order has been shaken up under his sister's rule and status is no longer based on birth or form. Alastor is horrified. To him, only slightly worse is the fact that the realm is falling to the Void. His home world is slowly dissolving into nothing after having squandered its magical resources. Prosper and Alastor must team up with friends old and new to rescue Prosper's sister and perhaps save the demon realm from collapse.

The book did its job, and a younger reader may enjoy it, especially the humor. For me, though, it lacked spark.

Prosper Redding

Next: '?'

Previous: 'The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding'

Title: The Prince and the Dressmaker

Author: Jen Wang

Published Date: February 13, 2018

Publisher: First Second

Format: Print

Page Count: 277 pages

Source: Library

Date Read: June 16, 2020

Review

What I liked: Frances. She was awesome and accepting of others and opportunities to come her way. She also stands up for herself again and again. For the most part I really enjoyed the storyline; however, I thought this book felt more in line with end of the century France rather than the 1830s - the ideas employed in the storyline didn't read to me as early to mid 1800s but the more bawdier late 1800s Paris. I loved the fashion France comes up with for Lady Crystallia - the lines, the details were just beautiful. I really like how the Prince Seb is just - yeah, this is just a part of my self expression/partly to escape the duties of his position. There was no real label to what he was doing or who he was. 

What I didn't liked: the art was a bit too middle-grade for an older YA audience; also some of the art is very gendered - lots of pink. Prince Seb was so determined to keep his secret guarded that he would throw Frances under a bus, after pages and chapters of his budding friendship with the one person who accepted him from the moment the two met. Also, Prince Seb is the son of King Leo - that would be King Leopold, who was a brutal colonizer of parts of Africa (Congo I know for sure). King Leo seems at the end of the book to accept his son's gender fluidity and became a sort-of hero for gender expression. That is some historical revisionism there author. Because of his dad's acceptance, Prince Seb seems more comfortable taking on royal duties in support of his dad's reign at the end of the book. Ew.

Meh. I am glad I read this so I can see gender expression separate from sexuality. But the story could've used some work so that it wasn't harmful to other marginalized people.