The Ordinary Princess and Wildwood Dancing

And now, to get started catching up on all the books I've read recently...haha.

The Ordinary Princess, by M.M. Kaye (if you're very spoiler-wary, don't read the Good Reads summary) - a charming, quirky little quasi-fairy tale about a princess who was given the gift of ordinariness at her birth. I really enjoyed the plot...everything that happens, and especially the ending (I sighed happily), is just right.

The characters aren't terribly complex, but Princess Amy is a likeable protagonist if ever I met one, and the courtiers and family members surrounding her are woefully funny in their ridiculousness.

I'd especially recommend it to those who are well-read in fairy tales and fairy tale retellings (i.e. most or all of you, heh).The Ordinary Princess feels to me like a friendly wink or a little nudge at my fairy tale-loving self. Clever and sweet with a charming humor all its own, and at only 120 pages, all it asks of you is an hour and a half or so.

Grade: A-

Juliet Marillier's Wildwood Dancing because so many others have already read and reviewed it...I found it rather slow to get into, but after I made it through the first 150 pages or so I was pretty engrossed. The prose itself didn't strike me as anything special, and I do think it could have been tightened down in terms of length, but it was an exciting story, with especially strong characters (ooh, that Cezar drove me so crazy...) and a nice darkly magical feel. I didn't love it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it after I passed about the one-third mark. An interesting redrawing of a - or rather, several classic fairy tales.
I won't say too much on

Grade: B

Oh, and I found Summermoon's interview with Juliet Marillier very interesting - check it out, if you haven't!