★★★★★
“We all need our quiet, I think. We all have our unspoken wishes, hopes we cannot mention, choices we may yet regret.”
Princess Alyrra spent her life balanced on the precipice of fear – her brother finds joy in being cruel and her mother could care less.
Her greatest wish is to fade into the background and live her life outside the shadow of her family.
Then one day, a neighboring king visits their small kingdom and with him comes the proposal of the young Prince Kestrin.
With her mother and brother remaining to rule over their kingdom…Alyrra knows this is her only chance to find her own life.
“. . . I’ve found that acting when you are afraid is the greatest sign of courage there is.”
On the way to her betrothed, a sorceress curses Alyrra – forcing her to swap bodies with Valka (a noblewoman in her kingdom that absolutely hates Alyrra).
While Valka stumbles her way through the difficult role of princess, Alyrra sinks into her new identity as royal goose girl…though the prince seems a bit suspicious of her intentions.
At first, Alyrra couldn’t be happier with her new role but this new perspective allows her to see the ugliness of the kingdom in a way she never would have from the palace.
Will Alyrra keep her head down and accept the status quo? Or should she dig deep and learn to speak up?
“Which of us has not made mistakes when faced with more than we can handle?”
Oh my gosh.
The Goose Girl is one of my favorite childhood books and let me tell you – this version of it was stunning.
I am a huuuuuge fan of fairytale rewrites and this one was no exception.
I loved Alyrra’s character – her grit and determination was inspiring. Her cleverness and wit made me love her.
I adored the way Alyrra and the prince circled each other – their relationship was such a slow burn but at the same time, I wouldn’t change a thing.
Every time the two of them danced on page – it made my heart happy. And the big reveal? It had me grinning like no tomorrow.
The plot to this one was lonnnng. The book itself was over 500 pages and yet, there wasn’t a thing I would cut.
There’s so much that happened in this book and the plot itself was paced just perfectly for the 500 pages.
All in all, I am overwhelmingly happy that this is the start to a series. I cannot WAIT for the next one!
A huge thank you to Anela Deen and Intisar Khanani for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review
Miranda Reads 