Review of “The Princess Pact” by Melanie Cellier

 Review of “The Princess Pact: A Twist on Rumpelstiltskin” by Melanie Cellier

This is the third book in the “Four Kingdoms” series and after having enjoyed the first two and the novellete, I was looking forward to this tale dealing with Rumpelstiltskin. As someone who watched the show “Once Upon a Time”, I couldn’t get that portrayal of Rumpelstiltskin out of my head while reading this book. I’m not very familiar with the original story of Rumpelstiltskin, so I appreciated the author giving a short retelling of it.

This book takes place in the kingdom of Northhelm and follows Princes Marie, whom we meet in the first book. We quickly learn that Marie was adopted, and that her real father is Rumpelstiltskin, although his real name is a mystery until the end of the book. So, instead of retelling the original tale, this serves more as a continuation of the story.

After learning of her parentage, Marie runs away to seek her father only known as R. She wants to investigate a rebellion that he has created. Marie runs into Rafe a young man that the King had sent to spy on the rebellion. She also left because she suspected that her brother had run off to the rebel camp as well.

At first she is excited to me her real father, and even entertains the idea of joining his rebellion. After learning his true intentions, she decides that she needs to free the rebels, who were only there because of an enchantment. I like that Marie has conflicting emotions about being adoptive, and in the end learns that family are the people that truly love you, whether biological or not.

Marie also falls in love with Rafe, who she believes is a commoner that lives in the forest. Luckily, a twist is revealed and Marie is allowed to marry Rafe after all. It’s a sweet love story, and Rafe comes off as a charming character. There are also side characters that are interesting as well. Marie’s friends at the rebel camp, Lisa and her brother Danny, are also fun characters, as well as Marie’s brother William.

Overall, this was a fun, and interesting take on Rumpelstiltskin. I really enjoyed learning more about Princess Marie because I liked her small part in the first book. The story is well paced, and the character relationships were engaging. So far, this is my second favorite book in the series, the first being the first book, “The Princess Companion”. I’m enjoying the crossover of characters and worldbuilding of these stories.

My new book now on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Chimera-Prophecies.../dp/B0C4QX4RZW/

"The Chimera Prophecies" consists of eight short science fiction/dark fantasy short stories. Themes of how reality and identity shape our journey and humanity.