Undercover Princess by Connie Glynn - ADVISABLE

Undercover Princess (Rosewood Chronicles #1) by Connie Glynn, 448 pages.  HarperCollins, September 2018.  $16.

Language: G (8 swears, 0 ‘f’); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG (kidnapping, some fighting)

BUYING ADVISORY:  MS, HS - ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Charlotte (Lottie) Pumpkin worked hard and made her goal of being accepted as a scholarship student into the famed Rosewood Hall.  With her real, but ridiculous, name, her fellow students assume that she is the mysterious princess who it is rumored is attending Rosewood incognito and Lottie rolls with it in order to keep her new friends.  But, when she finds out that her roommate, Ellie,  is actually the princess, she has tough decisions to make. When threatening notes start to arrive, Lottie and Ellie are worried what someone wants with the princess. Lottie agrees to maintain her charade in order to protect Ellie.

Glynn could have written a fairly trite incognito princess romance, but she adds just enough flair to make this better than ordinary.  She also manages to tome down the Cinderella elements so that they enhance rather than distract.  A little danger, some romantic overtones help this story work.  There are some odd elements that I am not going to mention that I hope are explored and explained more in a subsequent book (read the fencing scene and you’ll figure out what I mean).  I’m excited to see where this goes.

Cindy, Middle School Teacher