'Princess of the Midnight Ball' by Jessica Day George

Book review number one! Wohoo!

Now that I work at a library, I am accosted by flashy book covers on a daily basis and tend to cave into their alluring ways. So I have decided to start sharing which books I like (or don't like, although I tend not to read the whole thing if I find it boring) and share what I thought about it with all of you. My goal is to read a book a week and make these posts every Sunday. Here we go!!

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Title: Princess of the Midnight Ball

Author: Jessica Day George

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Year: 2009

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Pages: 272

Plot (from cover): 

"Princess Rose is the eldest of twelve sisters condemned to dance each night for the wicked King Under Stone in his palace deep within the earth. It is a curse that has haunted the girls since their birth - and only death will set them free.

Then Rose meets Galen, a young soldier-turned-gardener with an eye for adventure and a resolve that matches her own, and freedom suddenly begins to seem a little less impossible. To defeat the king and his dark court, they will need one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and the most critical ingredient of all -true love."

I'm pretty much a sucker for any story containing princesses, magic, and handsome prince charmings, so I was excited to read this book. I had never heard of this particular fairy tale (The Twelve Dancing Princesses) so I was really interested in learning the story.

The concept of this novel was a really great idea, but I don't think the author quite got there. It lacked a lot of detail and often left me bored and confused at the same time.

When I find a book that I like, I tend to put everything down to finish it because I am so anxious to see what happens next. This book... not so much. It took me a little more than a week to get through this one (an eternity when I read considering it only took me a day to both the fourth and fifth Harry Potter in 24 hours.) I didn't become very attached to the characters and the plot just wasn't that exciting.

Jessica Day George really could have made this into a really great story, but the lack of details and explanations left me feeling so-so. It wasn't bad, just not the most interesting book I have ever read.

My Grade: C+

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Next week I'm reviewing two books. I read the first one a while ago and thought it would be lame to review the sequel without the first one. They are by Lauren Conrad from MTV's The Hills.

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