The Princess Companion
One dark and stormy night, lost and alone, Alyssa finds herself knocking on the door of a castle.
After a lifetime spent in the deep forest, Alyssa has no idea what to expect on the other side.
What she finds is two unruly young princesses and one very handsome prince. When Alyssa accepts the job of Princess Companion she knows her life will change. What she doesn’t know is that the royal family is about to be swept up in unexpected danger and intrigue and that she just might be the only thing standing between her kingdom and destruction.
This retelling of the classic fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea, reimagines the risks and rewards that come when one royal family goes searching for a true princess.
Danger and romance await a woodcutter’s daughter in a royal palace.
About the Author:
Melanie Cellier grew up on a staple diet of books, books and more books. And although I got older I never stopped loving children’s and young adult novels. Cellier always wanted to write one myself but it took three careers and three different continents before she actually managed it.
The Princess Companion is the first princess retelling that I felt drawn to. After reading The Spoken Mage series I was saddened to see it come to an end. Cellier had a way with words that drew me to each of her books, so after reading The Spoken Mage I decided to try Cellier’s Princess retelling. I was a bit nervous because most retelling seems to be for younger crowds or simply just do not interest me, but The Princess Companion was not like any retelling I had ever read.
I loved the way that Cellier’s set up this book in a way that we got to read Alyssa’s every thought felt like my every thought. Most authors will give you a few thoughts here and there but I absolutely loved how brave Cellier was in writing a full book filled with Alyssa’s every thought. Reading her thoughts helped me to fall in love with this retelling.
Cellier took a lot of risk writing this book but those risks are what helped me to fall in love with princess retelling’s. One risk I have already discussed was writing a book all about a that is written through the lens of Alyssa’s every thought. Another risk Cellier took was risking writing a retelling about the Princess and the Pea. Her take on this book was amazing. I absolute enjoyed this book more than I could have imagined.
Never before in a book have I connected better with a character as much as I have with Alyssa. Her thought process is so much like mine that I had to reread somethings to make sure I was not just imagining it. She seemed to handle situations exactly as I would have or she opens her mouth and says an idea that seemed to be a good idea until she says it out loud. This did cause her to get in trouble a lot but she always found a way out of it. The way she is able to study those around her reminds me of how I would rather stand back and watch how that person interacts with others before befriending them. Last, the way that she is able to hang out with Princess Lilly and Sophia reminds me of how I enjoy interacting and babysitting little kids. You can learn so much from a child if only you chose to listen to them and try to understand what they are going through. I know I said last thing but….I just love the way that Alyssa proclaim;
Sometimes I have good ideas, sometimes I have bad ideas, and sometimes I have colossally bad ideas.
Page 228
In so many ways I understand like no other what it is like to have great idea but colossally bad ideas at the same time. It makes me laugh thinking of all the stupid ideas that I have come up with that seemed like a good idea until I do these said “good ideas.”
Overall this was an amazing read but it was a little bit too predicable for my liking but that might be do to the fact that Alyssa reminded me so much of myself. This is probably the only fairy tale retelling that I have read in awhile that I have truly fell in love with.
Every good story I’ve ever heard has involved a prince. And usually a handsome, intelligent one. Now I have nothing against being handsome or intelligent, but I don’t want my life to be a story. I want to be free to make my own choices.
Page 145
After all, if I didn’t know the woods, I didn’t know anything. Turns out I didn’t know anything.
Page 236
My delight grew as I gazed around at all the books. So much knowledge in one place! I breathed in deeply and smiled at the smell of paper, leather and that indefinable ‘book’ smell. If every book I had ever seen in my whole life were placed together they would fill only one of these bookshelves. What a perfect place, and what a perfect answer to the question of where to spend my free hours. Each of the windows had a small but comfortable looking bench, lined with cushions. I could foresee many happy hours spent curled in a window, reading.
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