Wide-Awake for Six Books Now

The Wide-Awake Princess series, by ED Baker

Once upon a time I reviewed a delightful book called The Wide-Awake Princess.

And then, apparently, I forgot to review ANY OF THE REST OF THE SERIES.

Which I'm going to blame on the fact that for pretty much all of them I had at least 1 child who was 2 or younger.

Technically I still do, but I'm coming nicely out of my blogging slump as she approaches her third birthday and for the first time EVER when I've had a child approaching their third birthday I have neither a younger child nor a pregnancy to contend with.

So.

I guess I'll review those now... ahem.  Assuming I can remember reading them.

Unlocking the Spell (Wide-Awake Princess #2)

4 stars

Not as good as the first, but still a solid showing.  And really you have to read it to find out what happened with various threads left loose in book 1.

The Bravest Princess (Wide-Awake Princess #3)

4 stars

Again with not as good as the first, but not bad.  Annie and Liam head off to help Snow White.  (You know, like you do.)

Princess in Disguise (Wide-Awake Princess #4)

4 stars again.... but....

Things are waning.  Still fun, but there's starting to be a level of "meh".

Princess Between Worlds (Wide-Awake Princess #5)

Apparently I only gave this one 3 stars.  

If you haven't read the Frog Princess books (all of them) you may want to do so before embarking on book 5.  The series (serieses?) come together in a fun way, but several reviewers kind of call this a filler book and while it's fun, I'm not sure they're wrong.

The Princess and the Pearl (Wide-Awake Princess #6)

3.5 stars

And finally the one I just read.  I actually think these last 2 are more fun in terms of story, but the writing is suffering for sure.  Not sure if it's a "it's this far into the series so we aren't going to bother editing anymore" or "must push out more in this series but don't have time/energy/whatever to do it properly" but yeah.... it's getting a little rough.  Younger fans aren't going to notice though.  (You should be aware that various characters are married by this point and one is pregnant.)  Also, if you ignored my note about reading the Frog Princess books 1) shame on you and 2) fix that now, because you really want to read those before this book.

The Wide Awake Princess by ED Baker

5 stars

Okay, so I actually read this retelling of Sleeping Beauty before I read the Frog Princess books, but my reviews are all out of order lately as I play catch up.

LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED this book.  Really actually liked it so much better than the Frog Princess books.

I would give this book like 9 stars if I could, lol.

Possibly one of the best retellings I have read... ever.

And no, it's not actually about Sleeping Beauty, but about her little sister. :)

SO recommended.

The Frog Princess (series) by E D Baker

*Note-- sorry about the lack of pictures lately... Blogger hates me.*

E D Baker's Frog Princess series consists of 8 books, which divide into three categories:

The Frog Princess Books

These are the first 4 books in the series: The Frog Princess, Dragon's Breath, Once Upon A Curse and No Place for Magic.  They are the books actually about the frog princess (Emma) and prince (Eadric).

I enjoyed them-- 4 stars each, but the upper end of 4 stars, you know?

They're fun, light adventures.

Lots of kissing, though, lol.  After spending so much time as a frog searching for a princess to kiss him, Eadric has a bad habit of asking for a kiss all the time.

I think Once Upon A Curse was my favorite of the four, but you do want to read them in order.

The Prequel

Salamander Spell is a prequel to the series, but not the kind of prequel you want to read first.  It make more sense if you read it after the first four.

The book follows Emma's mother and aunt when they were young, but mostly the aunt.

I enjoyed this one a whole lot more than I expected.  I was initially disappointed that it wasn't about Emma and Eadric and wasn't sure I cared about Grassina's story all that much, but it was fun.

Again- 4 stars.

The Dragon Princess books

The final three books in the series are also not about Emma and Eadric, but about their daughter, Millie.  Obviously they take place years later.

Dragon Princess, Dragon Kiss and A Prince Among Frogs are still fun and on Goodreads I still put 4 stars, but I rounded up.  More like 3.5 stars each.

I simply did not like Millie.

Dragon Kiss was the one I liked the best-- mostly because Millie wasn't in it much.  Terrible thing to say, but the girl drove me nuts.



Overall, it's a fun series and totally worth the read.  Boo read a little bit of one of them, but I think she'll be more interested in a year or two.  I really liked the first half of the series better, though.