Princess of Thorns by Stacey Jay - ESSENTIAL

Jay, Stacey Princess of Thorns, 388 p. Delacorte (Random), 2015.  $18.  Language: PG (11 swears, 0 ‘f’); Violence:  PG (fighting); Mature Content: PG-13 (body words, deflowering described mildly).

Aurora’s brother has been captured by her enemy, the queen, and now she must disguise herself as a boy and race to raise an army to rescue him and defeat an undefeatable foe.  Prince Niklaas is about to succumb to a family curse and can only avoid it by marrying a princess – Aurora is his last chance.  Because he thinks that Aurora is her brother, his clumsy attempts at learning about Aurora do nothing to help his cause.  The race is on to save lives and to save two kingdoms.  Love just doesn’t look like a possibility.

I still adore Jay’s early work, Of Beast and Beauty.  She is excellent at portraying star-crossed lovers with added depth and interest.  Your fairy tale crowd will love this and not realize that it is so much more.  

MS, HS – ESSENTIAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher