Blogtour “Undercover Princess” by Connie Glynn

Hello, my friends!

I hope you are all doing okay! I am part of the blogtour for Connie Glynn’s “Undercover Princess” today and can’t wait to tell you guys all about it.

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TL;DR While I really loved how the relationships of the characters grew and the writing style and overall plot surely has a lot of potential, I felt rather bored while reading. It was like there was potential but it was missing the final push to really hook me and drag me under.

I never dreamed of being a princess growing up. (I still don’t.) It was just not my thing. For carnival in school I dressed up as a pirate, a vampire and once, Liza Minelly. I would be lying if I would say that it wasn’t the gorgeous cover that enticed me to read this book. Don’t judge a book by its cover – I know, I know. Still, I tried to be as open-minded about this book as I could. And hey, didn’t hurt that the synopsis actually sounded quite intriguing.

What surprised me immediately after the prologue was that I was definitely getting faint Studio Ghibli vibes from the book. It made me lift my eyebrows in astonishment. Even though the book seems to take place in modern times, there was still this whiff of nostalgia and old-timey feel underneath it all and it made me warm up to the story and curious of what would be waiting for me.

There is a small blue bakery in St Ives with bushy clumps of wisteria growing on the pebbledashed walls. Through the front windows there lies a visible thick coat of dust over the sheet-covered surfaces that glitters in the air when the sun shines.

There are three main characters in this book. First of all there is Lottie, the main main character of this book. She has worked hard to get into Rosewood and is eager to make friends and give her best. She is shy and unsure of herself, likes her things neat and tidy and, if possible, pink. She seemed like a very subdued character, with more feelings on the inside than she shows on the outside. It was nice to see her coming out of her shell more and more with the help of Ellie and Jamie.

Ellie is a princess. A real princess, that has never come out into society and lived her life hidden away from public eyes. She is depicted as a bit of a rebel and a troublemaker, headstrong and the complete opposite of Lottie. She has strong motivations but seemed a bit childish to me at points, like a much younger character.

Jamie is Ellie’s Partizan, a bodyguard with a strong sense of loyalty and duty. He takes his job very seriously, but beyond that he felt rather bland to me. I hope his character will be explored more in future books.

It was a strange sight, watching this mud-covered boy argue with a furious storm of a girl against the pretty rose-decorated background of Lottie’s side of the room.

Honestly, the farther I got, the more the book felt a bit like an Disney Channel Orignial Movie. Not that that’s a bad thing – there are some that I quite enjoy – but they don’t really have a reputation of being very deep. I felt like the book went in quite a few directions but didn’t really dig deep into too many of them. Some things I really would have liked to be explained and explored more, like the school and the lessons itself. Besides that, I’m afraid that I was a bit bored while reading.

What I enjoyed most about the book, more than the mystery and worldbuilding, was the development of the relationships between the three characters. Especially the friendship and loyalty (and maybe even more, there were certainly enough undertones) that was growing between Lottie and Ellie was nice to watch, since I’m always happy when characters have a strong bond.

She didn’t care how scary things became, or what she had to sacrifice, the last year she’d spent with Ellie had been the happiest she’d been since losing her mother.

The book and the series surely has potential and I hope that the other books will show some growth and expansion of the world. I’m certainly curious enough to continue the series and am looking forward to see how the story of the three goes on.

My Rating:

What do you think? Have you read this book or would you want to? Would you want to be a princess?