Book Review: 12 Dancing Princesses

I've really never done book reviews on my blog before...maybe I have and I don't remember...hmmm, but anyways, I mostly have been keeping track of my thoughts on goodreads.com but there have been some books that I've liked enough and had more to say then I wanted to put in a goodreads review so here I am, writing a review :)

I'm not a poet with words, neither am I funny or witty but I have read a butt load of books in the past handful of months and I wanted to highlight the ones that stood out.

So without further ado the 12 Dancing Princesses series!

First of all just look at how positively scrumptious these covers are.  I was sold before I even read what the books were about.  Rest assured the story more than lived up to the wonderful covers.

The Princess of the Midnight Ball is the first book in the series.  A small confession, I accidentally started reading Princess of Glass first not knowing it wasn't the first book and then about 1/3 of the way in realized that a lot of things weren't being explained so I thought to check the other book to realize that I had started on the second book first.  Ooops!  I stopped immediately and started on Princess of the Midnight ball and things became infinitely more clear! :)

I loved this first book.  The story is so charming and captivating and the main characters are so likeable, especially Galen.  Through a series of events brought about by the King Under Stone the 12 Princesses of Westfalin find themselves trapped in a devilish yet thrilling curse with half human princes, midnight balls and suitors that find themselves dead from every attempt to discover why every morning the princesses brand new dance slippers are completely worn through.  Then along comes the lovely soldier and commoner Galen who finds work in the palace gardens and after meeting the lovely eldest daughter Rose, becomes determined to break the curse himself, for her.  Is Galens loyalty, kindness and determination enough to save the 12 lovely princesses?

All the 12 princesses are named after flowers that their mother loved.  Oldest to youngest they are; Rose, Lily, Jonquil, Hyacinth, Violet, twins Daisy and Poppy, Iris, Lilac, Orchid, Pansy and Petunia.

Princess of Glass is from the point of view of Poppy.  Now I know I accidentally started reading this one first so that may bear a small impact on my feelings but I just love Poppy.  Of the 3 books she is my favorite princess.  She is headstrong and determined.  She has a witty sense of humor, is not afraid to be herself(which at times can be a little indelicate but very endearingly so) and is just a loveable character.

In this second installment of the 12 Dancing Princesses a handful of the older princesses find themselves taking part in an exchange program of prince and princesses to help unify all of Ionia which is especially important after the unfortunate deaths of the princes involved in the attempt to break the princesses curse.  Poppy finds herself in her mothers homeland of Breton staying with relatives.  Though Poppy has sworn off dancing she attends the balls and plays cards with the men putting them all to shame.  Christian, the prince of Danelaw, befriends the princess and they find themselves tangled up in the evil doings of a witch of the Corley who is determined to take revenge for a wrong committed long ago.

The Princess of the Silver Woods is the final book in this series and was the perfect end to this lovely story.  Petunia, the youngest and smallest of the princesses was but 2 years old when the midnight balls began.  Most of her sisters harbor many bad feelings over these, some of which refuse to dance ever again, but not Petunia.  She loves to dance and though she has nightmares about the half human princes it is what she has known almost all her life.  On her way to visit the Grand Duchess Volenskaya Petunia finds her carriage surrounded by a band of two legged wolves, a group of roguish bandits known to prowl the forest of Westfalin stealing gold and jewels from the unsuspecting passerby.  After this unexpected encounter Petunia finds herself being abducted by the young and handsome leader of this pack, Oliver.  Petunia learns that Oliver and his family are the unfortunate victims in more mischief wrought by the King Under Stone and is determined to cover for Oliver and his people so they can avoid punishment by death from their crimes.  Petunia makes it to the Grand Duchesses estate to spend time with her and her grandson, the devilishly handsome Grigori.  The nightmares that haunt the princesses are becoming increasingly more real and they find themselves once again trapped in the Kingdom Under Stone.  But does Petunia believe the rumors about the Grand Duchess?  Does she trust Grigori or Oliver, the bandit who abducted her and seems to have feelings for her?  Will the princesses be stuck in the Kingdom Under Stone forever or will they be rid of it once and for all?

On my blog here I like to give ratings out of 10.

For Princess of the Midnight Ball I give it a lovely rating of 9.5.
For Princess of Glass I give it the rating I rarely give, a 10.  It was set up so well by the previous book and it just got better with Poppy's point of view.
For Princess of the Silver Woods I give it a happy and endearing 9.  It was a fabulous ending to a great series!

If you are looking for a good series to read check this one out.  I recommend this to all my friends and family.  It is clean, romantic, funny and full of adventure.