The Princess Game by Melanie Cellier

The Princess Game: A Reimagining of Sleeping Beauty by Melanie Cellier ISBN-13: 9780648080183 Paperback: 316 pages Publisher: Luminant Publications Released: March 6th 2019

Source: Amazon Unlimited.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
They call her the Sleeping Princess, but Celeste is far from asleep… Celeste has been cursed since her sixteenth birthday--just not in the way the rest of the kingdom thinks. All they see is her breath-taking beauty, marred by her foolishness. Only she knows that she retains her brilliant mind. And it’s a secret she must keep at all costs.

Over the years she’s grown accustomed to the necessary deception. After all, her life depends on it. And she’s even found a way to protect her kingdom, working from the shadows. But now a dangerous new threat has emerged, one that Celeste can’t defeat alone. She needs the help of a newly-arrived prince. One who’s altogether too handsome and too charming. Somehow she needs to keep her secret, save her kingdom and find a way to free herself from the curse. The last thing she has time to do is sleep.

In this reimagining of the classic fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty, it’s only the princess’ mind that is asleep. And sometimes appearances can be deceiving.


My Review:
The Princess Game is a young adult fantasy novel with a romance. Though the fourth in the series, this works as a standalone novel. Due to a curse, Celeste can't outwardly let people know that she's intelligent and runs the kingdom's spy network. Everyone assumes that she is beautiful but empty-headed. However, when her identity is hidden, she can work as the spymaster and show her true interests and personality. But how can the curse be lifted with true love's kiss when no one knows what she's really like?

The author did a good job of showing how Celeste used her cleverness to intrigue the Prince and how she uncovered a plot against the kingdom. The Prince helped her save the day (rather than being the one to save the kingdom). The main characters were engaging and reacted realistically to events. The world-building was light, mainly a medieval feel but with curses and godmother magic items. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this fantasy to fans of fairytales and heroic fantasy.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.