I really love this book! It seems like such a departure from her other books on the surface. Her other books have been solidly contemporary and NA, and while this is kind of sort of NA it’s also kind of sort of fairy tale-ish. While it’s hard to describe I REALLY enjoyed it! Also – completely in love with that cover, wow!
Brinley is the eponymous ‘Bad Princess’ of this book. And I love her from the first chapter. She can do nothing right. Don’t we all feel like that from time to time? Well, she feels like that pretty much at all times in her life because her older sister is the good princess who will become the good Queen…until she shocks everyone and runs off into the sunset. Leaving Brinley to pick up the pieces of the kingdom and all of those expectations now fall on her. Which were so not in her plans.
Her older sister, Elle, was meant to marry Finn – the Prince that Brinley was actually in love with. Somehow Finn and Brinley wind up in a compromising situation and then find themselves set to be wed to solve all of their problems and their kingdoms problems as well…but of course that doesn’t actually solve Brinley’s problems. Brinley was a complicated character which is exactly why I loved her. Society looked down on her because she wasn’t perfect but there was so much more to her than what they saw. Keyes has a great knack of capturing so much in a character – the flaws, the messiness, the vulnerability but at the same time the strength as well. Brinley exemplifies all of that throughout the story so well. I could easily see royalty in England having these same struggles today.
And her Prince, Finn. He’s so stoic and perfect that no one knows what he’s thinking, including Brinley. I fell for him about halfway through the book and was rooting for him so hard. The only reason this is 4 stars is that I wanted more, more, more of the story. I really love Keyes’ writing style and look forward to each of her releases. She’s quickly becoming an author that I recommend easily! I really liked this modern take on this fairy tale story. Definitely recommend it.
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewer: Melinda
Title: Bad Princess
Author: Julianna Keyes
Release Date: November 27, 2017
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