The Princess Vow by Erika Everest Review

 For Christmas I was delighted to receive the books The Scarred Prince, The Golden Ball, and The Princess Vow all by Erika Everest. The funny thing is that I was already reading her latest book The Princess Vow on my kindle having finished reading the previous two. Since I prefer to read physical books instead of electronic ones, I stopped reading it on my kindle and enjoyed flipping the pages of an actual book rather than tapping on a screen. And I enjoyed this story almost as much as its predecessor. Erika Everest once again worked her magic on this Sleeping Beauty and Puss in Boots retelling. 

The story begins on Princess Aurora’s birthday where the curse placed on her since birth takes effect and she falls into an enchanted sleep. Her selfish parents complain about how annoying it will be to reach out to princes to wake Aurora up while her younger sister Rosebud is truly worried about her. However, to Rosebud’s horror, Aurora’s unconscious body suddenly disappears leaving her more scared for her than ever. Aurora wakes up to find herself in a palace and soon discovers she is in a dream world. It is there she meets a strange man who calls himself O who had taken her sleeping body to a safe location until someone could wake her. Aurora soon finds herself falling for O, but how can he reciprocate her feelings when he won't even tell her his real name? Meanwhile Rosebud finds herself in the same dream world every night with ten other princesses and they work together to find clues to where Aurora is hidden. Determined to find her sisters Rosebud runs away from her home disguised as a boy and soon befriends a talking cat along the way called Puss. Together they seek out Carabosse, the fairy who cursed Aurora in the country of Carabas to get answers on where she is and how to save her. Joined along the way by Sienna and Sebastian (the main characters from the Scarred Prince) she will do all she can help awake her sister. But will she succeed? And are there more secrets long kept dormant waiting to be discovered? 

One plot element I enjoyed was how Aurora used a certain feature of the castle to her advantage to discover secrets to do different people's pasts. There is clearly something big happening behind the scenes and the reader won’t know the full extent of it even by the end of this book. The mystery was really intriguing and is probably my favorite part of the book for me. I am very curious to learn more about the villains and they are truly up to similar to A. G. Marhsall's Fairy Tale Adventures series. Their plans are not obvious, but you know they are sinister and that they must be stopped. I also hope to see more characters who are part of the fae. While some characters are fae there isn’t a lot of information about them so far and I look forward to the possibility of learning more about them and why they shouldn't get involved with human affairs. There is no doubt a lot to look forward to with this series and I look forward to reading all about it. 

Although I enjoyed reading about Aurora, Rosebud and O I felt more invested in Sienna and Sebastian story. I was glad to see their story wrapped up nicely since it felt a little unfinished in The Scarred Prince. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy Aurora and O’s romance. It was sweet since Aurora who had been around so many men who only wanted her crown and not her finally found the right person for her. O was exactly the kind of man she needed in her life who didn’t care just about her beauty or royal status. Their romance was sweet, but I wouldn’t call it outstanding. Rosebud was such a kind and loving sister who wanted nothing more than to save her sister but still suffered with her insecurities. It really made my heart go out to her. I am sure there are many siblings out there who love their siblings but may feel a bit overshadowed by them. Although she could be reckless at times her determination was so endearing, I wanted to give her a big hug several times

Overall, Erika Everest has delivered once again with a fantastic book full of tough choices, love and friendship, and girl power. I give this book four out of five stars. Until next time. E. V. A.