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Undercover Princess by Connie Glynn REVIEW COPY

By Pamelascott
Undercover Princess by Connie Glynn REVIEW COPY

When fairy tale obsessed Lottie Pumpkin starts at the infamous Rosewood Hall, she is not expecting to share a room with the Crown Princess of Maradova, Ellie Wolf. Due to a series of lies and coincidences, 14-year-old Lottie finds herself pretending to be the princess so that Ellie can live a more normal teenage life.

Lottie is thrust into the real world of royalty - a world filled with secrets, intrigue and betrayal. She must do everything she can to help Ellie keep her secret, but with school, the looming Maradovian ball and the mysterious new boy Jamie, she'll soon discover that reality doesn't always have the happily ever after you'd expect...

A thrilling world of parties, politics and bad ass princesses, this is the first book in the brand-new series THE ROSEWOOD CHRONICLES.

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[There are places in our world in which are wondrous and whimsical things seem more capable of happening than anywhere else]

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(Penguin, 2 November 2017, ebook, copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed)

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This is my first time reading the author and will be my last.

It's been a long time since I disliked a book as much as Undercover Princess.

I feel that nothing worked about this book. I definitely won't read the rest of the series.

Let's start with the characters. They are all flat, one dimensional cardboard cut-outs with the emotional depth of a scone. It's been a long time since I came across such boring, insipid characters. Lottie and Ellie were the worst. Seriously. I've never been so irritated in my life. They acted like such special snowflakes but just got on my nerve. They were so happy and positive all the time. If something upsetting happened they were like oh well, everything is super fine, let's have a cookie/cake/biscuit. Argh. They were tedious. I didn't engage with any character and cared nothing about what happened to them.

Let's move onto the plot. What little there was. Undercover Princess had absolutely nothing original or interesting about it. The book is riddled with clichés that superior authors know how to avoid with a barge-pole. Nothing remotely interesting happens, just Lottie and Ellie being irritating for MANY, MANY, MANY pages. The book is twee and nauseating and not engaging on any level.

Finally, let's move onto the actual writing. Which sucked big-time. If I read one more over-used adjective I'd be tempted to punch someone in the face. Everything is explained. Nothing is shown. The writing is stilted and flat (i.e. Jamie did this, Lottie thought that). Adverbs, adverbs everywhere, please God no more. The dialogue is awful. British and American spelling is used inconsistently. Characters over-reacted. Irritating snowflake girls having a temper tantrum does not make drama. What is the deal with Lottie and Ellie. They acted like love interests at times rather than friends (stroking one another, nuzzling each other's hair, taking the icing from each other's cheek and licking it). This is glossed over in the book and I just found it creepy.

Oh, and a final word about the quality of the ARC. I never comment on this because I accept that I'm not reading the final version. However, Undercover Princess has editorial comments inserted a random in red text (i.e. change slung to strung). This is not okay and really unprofessional.

Undercover Princess Connie Glynn REVIEW COPY

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