The WriteReads Blog Tour: Undercover Princess by Connie Glynn

About the Book

The Rosewood Chronicles #1
Genre: YA Fantasy
Length: 441 Pages
Published: 2^nd November 2017
Amazon / Goodreads

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.

Review

This book was such an absolute delight – I would like to read the others in the series like, now, please.

14-year-old Lottie is accepted at Rosewood Hall, and leaves Cornwall to attend school with the type of people she’s only read about in fairy tales. To top things off, Lottie’s roommate is a real-life princess, though undercover at the school and trying to live a normal teenage life. Luckily for Ellie, there’s already a rumour that Lottie is the mysterious princess, and Lottie strives to do everything she can to make sure Ellie can live a more normal life.

Like similar books, it’s the relationships that at the core of this book. Ellie and Lottie become friends, but there’s others around them, too, though it quickly becomes clear they can’t trust everyone in the school. I liked the school setting, and the different characters populating it, especially with the teachers at a slight remove from the pupils – they don’t really get involved, and it feels realistic with this age group dealing with adults.

Ellie wants to experience freedom, and Lottie is delighted for a glimpse into the world of royalty, even with the dangers this presents. Their friendship was really sweet, and the characters grow alongside each other, navigating various issues that crop up, and learning more about each other and the school as they do.

I have to admit, outside Ellie and Lottie, my other favourite characters were Jamie and Binah. Jamie is stern and protective, willing to go to any lengths to protect the princess in his charge. And Binah was a joy whenever she was on the page, doling out her facts and knowledge in a really non-pretentious way, and trying to guide her friends without being overbearing.

The writing is really engaging, keeping things hidden from the reader without it feeling forced. The friendships are really lovely, especially as Ellie and Lottie grow closer, and there’s no true ‘bully’ character who seems determined to drive them out of the school – which is good, because between the king who doesn’t want his daughter to attend the school in the first place, Jamie’s determination to keep them safe, and mysterious messages left for Lottie, there’s plenty of other things conspiring to get them out of Rosewood!

Again, this book was a delight, and I was smiling the whole way while reading it. I will absolutely be trying to read the next few in the series, too!

Thank you to The Write Reads for including me on this tour, and Penguin for providing the arc.

About the Author

Connie Glynn has always loved writing and wrote her first story when she was six, with her mum at a typewriter acting as her scribe. She had a love for performing stories from a young age and attended Guildhall drama classes as a teenager. This passion for stories has never left her, and Connie recently finished a degree in film theory. It was at university that Connie started her hugely successful YouTube channel Noodlerella (named after her favourite food and favourite Disney princess). After five years of publicly documenting her life and hobbies to an audience of 900,000 subscribers on YouTube, Connie closed the book on the Noodlerella project in a bid for more privacy and to pursue her original passions in the performing arts. Connie now writes music and fiction full- time. Follow Connie on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr @ConnieGlynn