The Abandoned Princess: A Retelling of Rapunzel by Melanie Cellier – ★★★

As a fan of fairytale retellings, I appreciated the unique spin this story took on the classic Rapunzel tale. The intrigue and action kept the plot moving, making for an enjoyable read. While the romance was light, I found that to be a refreshing change, allowing the story to focus more on adventure and character development. Though it didn’t completely captivate me, I enjoyed it enough to explore more of Melanie Cellier’s fairytale retellings in the future.

I was incredibly impressed with The Abandoned Princess, and I was especially impressed with the audiobook narration by Esther Wane!

I highly recommend checking this book out even if you haven't read the rest of the series. Cellier's magical retelling of the well-known story of Rapunzel is quite unique. There are curses, dramatic escapes and kidnappings, and even an unexpected romance that gives you all the warm, cozy feelings you expect from a fairytale.

When I went into this book, I was unaware it was the sixth book in the series. And although this book is the final book in the series and gave a solid ending that brought all of the stories together, it honestly felt like a standalone book and could easily be read as one.

Wane did an incredible job bringing Cellier's characters to life, and I can't wait to hear her take on the other five novels in this series.

A Captivating and Enchanting Fantasy

Melanie Cellier weaves a magical and engaging tale in The Abandoned Princess, delivering a story full of adventure, romance, and self-discovery. The worldbuilding is rich and immersive, drawing readers into a realm of royal intrigue, hidden secrets, and unexpected twists.

The protagonist is strong and relatable, with a character arc that keeps you invested in her journey. Cellier’s writing is fluid and engaging, blending fantasy elements with heartfelt moments. While some plot points are predictable, the execution remains enjoyable, and the relationships—both romantic and platonic—are well-developed.

Overall, The Abandoned Princess is a delightful fantasy read with a perfect mix of action, intrigue, and emotion. A solid 4-star book for fans of fairytale retellings and strong heroines!

Book Review: The Abandoned Princess by Melanie Cellier

Rating: 3/5 stars

Tropes:
RAPUNZEL RETELLING
STRANGERS TO FRIENDS TO LOVERS
BADASS FMC
FORCED PROXIMITY
ROYALTY

Melanie Cellier’s "The Abandoned Princess" is a delightful romantasy that breathes new life into the classic Rapunzel tale. The story captures the essence of Tangled, one of my favorite movies, through its enchanting retelling. The slowburn romance between the protagonists is another highlight, making the transition from strangers to friends to lovers feel genuine and engaging. The forced proximity trope effectively heightens the tension and connection between the characters. While the book offers a strong female main character and an intriguing royal backdrop, it occasionally falls short in pacing and character development, which impacted my overall enjoyment. Nonetheless, it’s a charming read for fans of fairy tale retellings and romance.

I wasn’t sure when I started that I liked the story very much. Daisy as a young teen was a bit much for me. As the story progressed and Xander arrived, I found the story progressed well. I enjoyed how the each story has built on the last. I enjoyed catching up with the other princes and princesses.
The villainess was interesting and had so many hidden motivations.
I like the narrator. I would recommend this book and the series for those who like teen books. The standards and morals in Melanie Cellier’s book are higher than what is seen in many main stream publishers for the teenage reader.
Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Select for the opportunity to listen to this book.

Thank you to Melanie Cellier, Luminant Publications and Dreamscape Select along with NetGalley for a review copy of this audiobook.

Princess Daisy has been missing for five years! When her party was touring the old kingdoms trouble came and she was separated from all of her party. Prince Xander is on a mission to find her. He finds her invisible and in an invisible tower. He kisses her believing it will break the enchantment. Instead he is added to her enchanted. They figure out what her captor has been up to and start a journey to stop her and find a way to break the enchantment.

This book does a wonderful job wrapping up Daisy’s story which started in the first book of the Return to the Four Kingdoms Series. I have enjoyed all three series of Melanie’s fairytale retellings. I hope she will continue to write more books that have a similar feel.

Esther Wane did an awesome job of narrating this audio book. Her voice is the perfect match for these books. She will be on my list of favorites for sure.

I would recommend this book/audiobook for anyone looking for a clean ya fantasy book. If clean books aren’t your thing then this book isn’t for you.

I Absolutely love Melanie cellier’s books and I was so excited to get the audiobook for this book. Some how her audio books are better than reading the book and I love reading her books. I would highly highly recommend this book!

The Abandoned Princess by Melanie Cellier is part of the four kingdoms series of clean fairytale romances. It is a retelling of Rapunzel with a few twists. It's definitely part of a series but can be read as a standalone.
I would say this book is best suited for younger tween and teens. I would definitely recommend it to my daughter or any of her friends. I appreciate the clean romance and enjoyed the innocence of the relationship between her and her prince.
I liked the narrator it felt like I was hearing her read back her story when she was an adult. Some of the voices particularly of the prince were a little strange and a little similar to the maids or even the villains voices.
Thank you to netgalley for the audiobook. All views expressed are my own and given voluntarily.

I think this is my first retelling of a fairytale and I was not expecting it to be this good.
I haven’t actually given retellings many thoughts but for some reason I chose to give this one a chance.
This book made me want to read the “four kingdoms”, “beyond the four kingdoms” and “return to the four kingdoms”. I basically enjoyed this books, it was a retelling I for sure never would have come up with myself. I liked that the book was in parts I don’t know why but it kind of made it feel like the book was much faster than it actually was.

The book was also funny not laugh out loud funny but still, it was entertaining, and it wasn’t a audiobook that made me look at how much I had left every minute.

I will probably recommend it if somebody want to read a retelling of a fairytale, but I will most likely recommend it as an audio.

3,4 stars

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book was archived before i was able to review it. i'm giving it a neutral rating based off of the description/title/cover.

The Abandoned Princess is an easy read Rapunzel retelling. I loved the atmosphere of adventure with this book. Cellier has a very unique way of retelling fairytales.

The magic system with the enchantment was very original but also hard to piece together at times who could see who etc. I wish the motive for the “witch” was more like the original fairytale, or had a bit more depth. An “experiment” didn’t seem good enough reason for kidnapping a girl for 5 years…

There’s definitely insta love with Xander and Daisy but overall they were still cute.

The writing was a bit too middle grade in this one for my taste. I do like some of the other books set in this world.

The ending was great for this world and the stories of the sisters.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

3 Stars

I loved this book! This series is marketed as linked standalones, so I was nervous going into Book 6 without reading the first 5. I had no problems at all following the story and loved seeing glimpses into other characters that have clearly been in earlier stories. I plan to start the original Four Kingdoms series Book 1 and make my way back to this book. This was such a wholesome clean fantasy with adventure and such fun characters. I loved the nods to the original Rapunzel story and how this retelling deviated from it. I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator had the most incredible accent! She hooked me from the first sentence.

Highly recommend for any fairytale retelling/easy-to-follow fantasy lovers!

I received an audio copy from Luminant Publications via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This is a retelling of Rapunzel. I usually am hit or miss with retelling and this was a hit.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Dreamscape Select for an audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately The Abandoned Princess did not hold my attention. It was a dnf for me. The book started off too slowly in my opinion with too much political talk about characters and kingdoms unknown unless you’ve read the other books. With just a bit more context (or less characters thrown in the very beginning) it would have been better. Also while the plot started off interesting, it quickly lost my interest.