Audiobook Review: The Princess Companion by Melanie Cellier

Synopsis:

One dark and stormy night, lost and alone, Alyssa finds herself knocking on the door of a castle.

After a lifetime spent in the deep forest, Alyssa has no idea what to expect on the other side.

What she finds is two unruly young princesses and one very handsome prince. When Alyssa accepts the job of Princess Companion she knows her life will change. What she doesn’t know is that the royal family is about to be swept up in unexpected danger and intrigue and that she just might be the only thing standing between her kingdom and destruction.

This retelling of the classic fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea, reimagines the risks and rewards that come when one royal family goes searching for a true princess.

Danger and romance await a woodcutter’s daughter in a royal palace.

Review:

I’m actually regretting listening to the audiobook of The Princess Companion because I think I would have enjoyed it more if I’d read it myself. I really like Melanie Cellier’s books, but this one fell a little short, mostly because I couldn’t concentrate on the story.

The narrator wasn’t bad in any way, but I think her voice just didn’t agree with me. I found it a little too easy to drift off while listening and I wasn’t a fan of the voices she did for everyone. It was hard to imagine Alyssa as a humble woodcutter’s daughter when she had what I would call a posh/royal voice. This isn’t a real criticism because it’s entirely personal preference and I’ve seen that other people really like her narration, but it wasn’t for me.

The actual story was very interesting. The Princess and the Pea isn’t a retelling you come across very often at all, so when this popped up on Audible I had to listen to it. I really liked the original story when I was younger so it was nice to see an inventive retelling of it.

Alyssa was actually a very likeable main character. She was headstrong in the best way possible and very caring. Her judge of character was always spot on if only she’d really spoken up about it.

This brings me to my next point of not actually being able to remember the conflict other than that it involved someone from another country trying to kill the royal family. Unfortunately, the closer I got to the end, the more my concentration wanted, so I can’t remember solid details. But I’m sure, based on my reading of Melanie’s other books, it was great. I probably should have gone back and listened again, but it took me so long to actually get through The Princess Companion, I couldn’t justify doing it.

Overall, if you’re a fan of creative retellings and want a really fun one to read then I would recommend The Princess Companion. But personally, I’d say get the written book.