*3.5 stars!

I definitely enjoyed this and I was constantly curious about what would happen next, however I would have loved some more world-building! The story was kind of kept a bit simple in my opinion. I'm hoping the sequel will provide more info though, because the plot twist at the end was very interesting!

I...tried so hard to like this book. I love 'The Princess Bride' and anything that is dangled in from of me with that title will get an automatic read. But maybe it was my headspace, but I just couldn't get into this book. I didn't really feel an connection to the characters, but I appreciate so so much that there is a strong willed, independent female as a main character.

(Thanks to Tor & Netgalley for the eARC!)

I’ve been trying to read this book for days but it’s such an effort to do so. This book is... boring. It definitely lacks the charm and humor of The Princess Bride (film), which was the reason why I was excited to read it in the first place.

The Princess Will Save You is a gender-bent retelling of The Princess Bride in which Princess Buttercup takes on the role of Wesley (and vice-versa). The rest is super similar to the original story, except there is no Iñigo Montoya or the lovable lines that are so quotable.

I even asked a friend to spoil me the ending for I no longer wanted to keep reading (I DNF'd at 63%). I was not invested in Princess Amarande’s quest to save Luca which takes up to 50% to even reach him. She leaves her kingdom unprotected to save her “love”, and for a princess that had never left the castle’s walls and only spent time training, she knew a lot about the outside world and how to handle every situation, including politics.

Also, there’s no buildup towards her feelings towards Luca. Everyone just knew they were in love. And that was all it took for him to become someone to hold over Amarande.

Something that did surprise me is that it will have a sequel. I do not know what to think about that except that this just wasn’t a read for me and it makes me sad. But oh well! Hope others do come to enjoy it.

Okay so I absolutely love The Princess Bride. When I found out that this was essentially a retelling of that, I was so excited and knew that I had to read it. I really loved the premise of this story in which it's the princess that has to do the rescuing of the stable boy.

I really enjoyed this book and read it fairly quickly, though there were a few times where I wasn't feeling the pacing in a few scenes. I think the characters were pretty strong and I enjoyed all of them, even the villains, though I do think that my connection to them was a bit less than I would have hoped. I do think that even though the characters were compelling and the plot was fun to follow, I didn't feel the tension or intense need to read the book to see what happens next.

Overall, really enjoyable and a solid fantasy!

3.5 // 5 stars

Such a fantastic retelling of the Princess Bride. A hero not a damsel in distress, I adore Sarah Henning's female empowerment in every story she tells!

DNF 20%

I adored Sarah Henning's SEA WITCH, I adore THE PRINCESS BRIDE, and I thought I was going to love this one. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

This is a great book for anyone who wants an adventure/quest story with a girl power flavor. The conflict was set up in a fairly straightforward manner, and it was definitely in a style reminiscent of THE PRINCESS BRIDE. In the amount that I read, the characters each had a spark that, given Henning's previous works, I fully believe was developed into a beautifully multifaceted personality.

However, I was interested in this book mainly because I was curious about it being a retelling of THE PRINCESS BRIDE. I'm not sure how I feel about that particular work being retold, but I wanted to find out so I picked up the ARC. This certainly did not start out as a retelling, and it didn't demonstrate any inclination of moving in that general direction. From other reviews, it seems as though the "retelling" part picks up in the second half of the book, but the girl-power-adventure concept just wasn't enough to keep me reading, unfortunately.

I would recommend this book to fans of quick-moving adventure fantasy, but would not frame it as a retelling as such.

3.5 stars. I had issues with the spacing. Also, though I really liked the MC’s, I didn’t connect with them as much as I would’ve liked. The ending was pretty shocking; I have to give it to the author for creating such a cliffhanger :) definitely need the next book now!

Leaving reviews on goodreads and amazon.

DNF. Wasn't bad, but I just couldn't get into the story sadly. Just not the story for me! I will be checking out other books by this author however, and hopefully those will be a better fit!

This book was a delightful genderbent retelling of The Princess Bride. I was automatically entranced by the characters and how the story was told. I am a big fan of Sarah’s writing and this book was just as wonderfully written as her previous titles. The twist on having the princess be the heroine of the story that saves the male character was refreshing and we need to see more of it in YA. Strong female characters are something that I will always yell about and this book is no different!

Such a great new series, Henning’s Sea Witch was so exciting with amazing female characters-and this is the same! So good.

"My princess will come."

When Princess Amarande's warrior father dies of what seems to be natural causes, Ama is heartbroken and feels betrayed when she learns that her father didn't make any provisions to see that she inherit the throne. Worse, if she wants to be Queen, she'll have to marry. The pickings are slim, she has her mother's status as the Runaway Queen looming over her head, and the wrong choice runs the risk of war. But none of that matters when she finds that her best friend (and true love), stable-boy Luca, has been kidnapped as a way to force her hand into marriage.

Well. Princess Amarande of Itspi does not like that. At all. And the stars help whoever gets in her path.

Don't worry, Luca. The Princess will save you...

A "Princess Bride" influenced (and gender swapped) story full of strange lands, conniving politicians, quirky characters, and so many twists and turns and surprises, "The Princess Will Save You" is a page-turning adventure perfect for fans of "The Princess Bride" and stories with self-rescuing princesses. Not that Luca is a "dude in distress", either; stable-boy can hold his own (as he should, since he's survived being the princess' sparring partner for so long). Ultimate battle-couple goals there, Ama and Luca... I can't wait to see them in Book 2, reclaiming thrones, ending wars, taking names, and getting that all important happily ever after! (Please, Henning, please let these two have a happily ever after... In the name of True Love!)

Okay, hi, HELLOO lovely people. I know this is a bit later than my usual Wednesday posts (but let's be real, Wednesdays are a bit hit or miss because of work these days), but I couldn't wait until Saturday to talk about this book!

I was fortunate to receive an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher after hearing about how the author pulled out of a blog tour due to some issues with the tour company. This was one of my most anticipated reads because, though I don't talk about it much, The Princess Bride is one of my favorite films and I rarely find any stories based off of or inspired by it.

The Princess Will Save You is a story inspired by The Princess Bride. The author has said this several times in her stories and, after reading it myself, I can see where the inspiration came in. I'm going to say this now, but I had a lot of fun reading this story. The world was expansive, the characters were deeply in love, and the princess herself was a badass main character.

Let me start off by saying that the world building in this story was frankly *chef's kiss*. The author does a fantastic job of describing the rulers of the surrounding kingdoms without doing massive information dumps. She describes one of the rulers as "the blue-eyes, craggy-faced king of iron-veined Basilica" and another as "teeth-achingly traditional...like a painting come to life and as uninteresting as a blank canvas." Both of these gave me pretty clear visuals of the characters they were describing. The author also does a good job of explaining how Ardenia (the princess's home) is essentially the enforcer of the Sand and Sky. I may not be explaining this well, but just trust me that the information is given in an enjoyable, non-boring way.

The characters were another favorite for me. Amarande is a very progressive thinker considering this is a fantasy realm where women aren't necessarily thought highly of in society. Yes, in Ardenia, women can join the military and hold rank (the commander of the army is a woman and she's pretty badass), but you soon find out that they aren't allowed to rule without a husband. Ama, as you can suspect, is totally not okay with that and essentially vows to get that law changed. Her love interest Luca...oh sweet Luca. He's the epitome of a cinnamon roll (who will cut someone if needed). If I were to draw some comparisons as far as characters, I'd say Luca is very much a Buttercup. Very kind, liked by all who meet him, etc. I chose not to draw direct comparisons because, honestly, Wesley and Ama are very different (for now, considering the ending that may change in the second book). I did think that one of the kidnappers, her name is Ula, is very similar to Ignio Montoya because she's pretty handy with a sword, but beyond that this story was solely inspired by the novel and in very small ways (see the As you wish gif because Ama and Luca's phrase is "Always" and it makes my heart gush).


And honestly, I'm happy this wasn't an actual retelling. I feel like, while I would love a retelling of The Princess Bride, I think it wouldn't necessarily translate well for me because I love the movie so much. The author did a good job of igniting that same joy and sense of adventure that the movie brings out whenever I watch it. It has all of the fun elements in books that I really love-- a bit of a heist, a rescue, family secrets, etc. I won't go into more detail because then I'd be crossing into major spoilers and I'm not that type of girl haha. I'm sorry for another gushy review, guys, I've vowed to myself to only read books I'll enjoy, sooooo that's the reason most of my reviews are four or five stars.

Overall this is definitely a book I would buy for a friend to read, especially if that friend enjoyed the essence of adventure and nostalgia and fun that came with watching The Princess Bride and if they were looking for a pair of characters that love each other so much to sacrifice everything for the other.

Characters
I'm not going to lie to you, I borderline hated this book. I finished reading it literally five minutes ago, and I'm writing this review immediately to get rid of my saltiness.

Let's talk about Princess Amarande. She's supposed to be this fierce warrior princess (see the synopsis) but she's just...not. She's all talk. We constantly see her in positions where she's supposed to fight her way out, but she just doesn't. Amarande doesn't drive the plot forward at all, things just happen to her. It was annoying to the point of me skimming the last few pages because I couldn't take it anymore.

Also, Luca. I get it, his only personality trait is that he's in love with Amarande and that he's super kind. Cue one-dimensional love interest.

The side characters were just as one dimensional. We get SNIPPETS of personalities through POVs when it's convenient, but nothing else. I'm highly frustrated.

Characters get a 3.

Atmosphere
I would have liked a map. I can't blame the ARC for not having a map, but it just annoyed me that I didn't know where anything in this world was. The rest of the worldbuilding was alright. The Torrent is interesting enough, and we get glimpses of plot points that would have been WAY more interesting than the plot. But we just breeze past them.

I didn't feel any of the tension this book wanted me to feel, and I also didn't buy the relationship between Luca and Amarande at all. We don't spend enough time building that relationship. The whole time I was wondering why she would give up her country to go after him?

The atmosphere gets a 4.

Writing
The writing wasn't bad at all. It was just not enough to save this book (ha!). There was a good part between 40-60% where I enjoyed the writing, but the rest of the time the other issues just overshadowed it.

I also haven't seen The Princess Bride, so I can't tell how much of the writing comes from it, but I have seen Goodreads reviews that point out the similarities.

Writing gets a 5.

Plot
Okay, look. This book is set in an EXTREMELY sexist world. And it just made me so tired. I'm not saying that we don't need feminist books, we certainly do, but not like this.

The Princess Will Save You beats you over the head REPEATEDLY with the sexism. And the whole "I'm a girl so I can't inherit my crown" trope has been done to death. And I'm tired of it, especially in fantasy.

Also, as I mentioned previously, there were one or two plot points that we just breeze over. It would have been way more interesting to follow those plots than the one we got.

Overall, I'm giving Plot a 4.

Intrigue
The Princess Will Save You was not a page-turner for me. The story didn't keep me engaged and I was wishing for it to be over since the 30% mark.

We also switch between multiple POVs during the book, but there's no rhyme or reason to the switches. If the POV switches were more constant, we could have gotten some better character building, but no. The POV only switches when it's convenient and makes the things that happen toward the end kinda pointless.

Intrigue gets a 3.

Logic
Amarande isn't a very smart character, to be honest. And I'm not saying it to be mean, she just doesn't think (or fight) her way out of any situation. At some point, she literally gives up and the plot just keeps happening to her. She just acts out of character for a large part of the story and I wasn't here for it. Logic gets a 3.

Enjoyment
I think it's pretty clear that I didn't enjoy this book. It could just be me, I mean I do read a lot of YA fantasy and I've read this type of book multiple times. But I feel like we've moved past this type of worldbuilding and character building.

And maybe I was supposed to read this book ironically. Like maybe Luca was intentionally set up to be one dimensional because most fantasy female characters' only personality trait is loving the prince/hero. Once again that just makes me sigh. This book takes itself too serious to be satire, so pick a lane, please. I don't want to rant about women in fantasy and inverted power structures, cause that is a WHOLE other post.

Actually, you know what. As a feminist, I don't want a world where male and female power dynamics are reversed. That's not the point. So when writing feminist books, let us imagine worlds where we are equal, not reversed.

That's what I'll say on that.

Enjoyment gets a 3 from me.

However, if you enjoyed this book then that's great! You are allowed to enjoy things. I try to be as objective as possible, but my own worldviews will always shape my reviews. So for me, this book is a big no.

CAWPILE: 3.5 

Overall Rating: 2 Stars

The Princess Will Save You by Sarah Henning

Let me start by saying I liked it, but I didn’t love The Princess Will Save You. I feel there were a few fundamental flaws with this story, even though the premise was really interesting, and I love the whole Princess in love with the commoner storyline. However, I felt that sometimes too much was going on at once, Amarande kept finding herself in danger, whether it be with wolves, pirates or slave traders, literally everywhere someone was out to get her, which made for good action but lacked world and character building, which is an important aspect in creating a rich read.

I heard this was a Princess Bride retelling, but I didn’t get that feeling personally, which I don’t necessarily see as a bad thing. I enjoyed the true love aspect of the story and how that love was so important to Amarande, her overprotective fierceness for Luca and her bravery makes her a great female role model. I would recommend this book to YA readers who enjoy more action than world-building.

I give this 3.5 stars

So, I went into this book knowing from the synopsis that it's a Princess Bride remix. Previously to this book, I had zero relationship with the PB world so pretty much any comparison is lost on me. That being said, this book spurred me on to watch the classic movie after reading and for that joy alone I have to give this book props.

Regardless of the expectations based on this book's main premise, it's still a fun read for those with zero PB knowledge. Basically, a princess and a stableboy fall in love. Courtly machinations happen. Princess does heroic things for love. The fairy tale satire of the source material is replaced for a more serious atmosphere with complex politics - I do wish that this book included a bit more humor. It looks like there is going to be a sequel to this story and while I'm not withering away in anticipation, I would likely give it a try.

I so wanted to enjoy The Princess Will Save You, and I did like it just not as much as I was wanting to. Amarande father dies and is the sole heir to the throne and because she is a girl she cannot rule without a husband. And so, to force her hand her stable boy love is kidnapped and will not be returned until she marries a neighbouring kingdom prince. I can see the parallels between this and The Princess Bride but there were enough differences to make it seem original. I did like the feminist take on fairy tale sexism and turns it on its head. But I do not know how to put it, it is almost like I was putting too much into the book and ultimately let down. Overall, The Princess Will Save You is good retelling on a classic story but fell flat on my to high expectations.

I liked this book, but really didn't love it as much as I had hoped. Amarande is a strong character and the book does a great job encouraging girls to take charge and solve problems on their own. Stable boy Luca is a bit too damsel in distress for my tastes though and I felt like he was just a really flat character and love interest overall.

I went into the story expecting a strong retelling of The Princess Bride. Instead, it felt like the first half of the book was an entirely different story and then the last half quickly crammed in as many references as possible. I think the first half of the story and the twists at the end would have done well as a story on their own. With that in mind, I still plan on continuing the story and am curious whether there will be more tie-ins to The Princess Bride in the sequel.

The Highlights:

Strong female lead
Gender bent twist on The Princess Bride
Pretty similar to so many other YA fantasies
Very slow moving
Well. That was disappointing.

Look, just because I couldn’t finish The Princess Will Save You it doesn’t mean that I think this book will fall flat for most readers. I think that if I’d picked this one up years ago, before I’d become well-versed in YA fantasy, I maybe could have enjoyed it a lot more. But me now? The whole time I was reading I just couldn’t stop thinking to myself, “This has been done before.”

I love a strong heroine as much as the next gal does, I really do. But I just couldn’t get into Amarande as a lead character. She was so boring to read. Nothing about her screamed unique to me. Yes, she was strong, a fighter, and didn’t want to cave to the pressures of others. All qualities I respect. But I’ve read that same story so many times now. To the point that it frustrated me to realize there was nothing else about this character that made me cheer her on. Plus, the fact that she was a princess who refused to even consider marrying outside of true love drove me a little bit nuts. I mean, I get it, but also, royalty comes with responsibility so maybe think a little before throwing a fit.

Also, Luca, the love interest? Yeah, I really don’t even remember much about him because he was also very bland and boring. *sigh*

So I was bored reading this one. It happens. The thing that really pushed me over the edge was when I got almost a third of the way through, I remembered that The Princess Will Save You is supposed to be a gender bent spin on The Princess Bride. And I felt so let down that I’d gotten so far into the book without feeling even a hint of resemblance to the source material. The quick humor, lovable characters, campy excitement? None of that was there. It was so disappointing.

Do I think The Princess Will Save You was a terrible book? No, not really, but it definitely wasn’t for me. It wasn’t what I hoped for. Nothing about it stood out to me, and I will probably have completely forgotten about it by the end of the year. If you’re looking for a very formulaic YA fantasy, then you’ll actually probably love this one. But I wanted something different, something that grabbed me in a way other books hadn’t, and that just didn’t happen.

This is such a fun retelling of The Princess Bride and I loved it. The main character is such a strong female character and I loved how she was the savior instead of the damsel in distress. I'm really excited to see what is in store in the sequel!

This book is a story about love, identity, and epic girl-power!

In case the title wasn’t a hint, the princess does the saving in this twist on a classic damsel-in-distress story. Since I was a little girl, I always loved the idea of the princess saving herself (or at least taking part in the saving). I dreamed of princesses who could be beautiful in a ballgown but just as calculating and skilled with a sword. And that’s exactly what I got in The Princess Will Save You!

Inspired by The Princess Bride, it should be noted that the plot of this book is NOT a retelling. Amarande and Luca are their own characters in a story that goes beyond one outlined by the classic. With that said, since I grew up watching The Princess Bride movie, there were a few moments where I couldn’t help but think of similarities. (not a bad thing! just a note…)

Now I need to gush about Amarande and Luca! Amarande is every bit warrior princess that her father trained her to be, but I love that her character also acknowledges her limits. She is not afraid to speak up in a world that has constantly told her to stand down. It also helps when your best friend and love, Luca, supports you in every way he can. Luca is so sweet and caring, and I love how he isn’t afraid to admit the princess can beat him in a duel.

I think a huge part of this story’s world-building is the politics of the kingdoms. A map would have been nice to help organize my thoughts on where events were happening, but I wouldn’t say it is absolutely necessary. Also, it may have just been that I read a NetGalley copy for this review, so please don’t skip out on reading this amazing book just for that detail.

The Princess Will Save You is a thrilling adventure of romance that you don’t want to miss. With an ending that I definitely didn’t see coming, I can’t wait to see what happens next!