Princess Gwendolyn and Prince Beldegard were so happy to find each other at the end of the last book. They are eager to get married, but there's the small problem of Beldegard still being a bear. They decide that Princess Annie needs to help them track down the dwarf that turned Beldegard into a bear so he can undo the spell. Annie would prefer to have a little rest, after all, she just tromped all over the kingdom to find the prince to break her sister's curse. But if it means she doesn't have to stand there holding the happy couple's hands every time they want to gaze into each other's human eyes, she decides another quest is worth it. Prince Liam thankfully volunteers to go with her and Beldegard. Annie is sure Gwennie is NOT cut out for life on the road, so she purposefully leaves her behind. Or at least tries to. It isn't far into the quest that they discover Gwennie following them, so it's either send her back to the castle with Liam or drag her along. It turns out that the group doesn't have to go too far before they start hearing about the dwarf. Rumor has it he's been summoned home for some kind of a family emergency, and from there they just end up following the trail of people the temperamental dwarf has upset and/or turned into animals like Beldegard. It starts to look like half the creatures in the forest will be eager to turn back into humans once Annie and gang can catch that dwarf. Along the way they meet Rose Red, Cinderella, a girl wearing a red hood, three little pigs, three bears, some animals from Bremen, and of course the dwarf family has a guest named Snow White. Baker does another fun adventure seamlessly weaving in numerous fairy tales along the way. This has been a popular one with the girls who are constantly craving more fairy tales. More mature readers should appreciate Annie's dubiousness about love at first sight and how she encourages the various princes and princesses to spend some time actually getting to know each other. I personally really liked the way the Bremen animals were added to the group and how Snow White's tale was woven in so well. I also liked the light lessons woven into the story, especially the one Beldegard's brother learns about how the friends he hangs out with can impact his character. Overall, a lighthearted read with lots of fairy tale elements, and the occasional good lesson for kids.Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content beyond some kisses. There's some potential violence that gets avoided. One person is hunting bears for malicious reasons. Some thieves attempt a robbery and get thwarted by some animal scratches and kicks. A witch tries to kill a couple people, but is thwarted. Sequel to 'Wide-Awake Princess' that totally rocked. This one didn't.I'm not saying it sucked, there were witty things the author did with faerie tales, just like last time. The action was fast paced, there were great twists and lots of humor... ...but there was WAY too much whining. Princess Gwendolyn comes along on the adventure this time, and she's prissy and doesn't like the food and doesn't like the beds and doesn't like the weather and doesn't like the company and doesn't like the situations and doesn't like the clothing and... it goes on and ON and *ON*. It took away from everything, with her bellyaching the whole book.And as if that wasn't enough, our heroine Annie spends all her time unhappy with her relationship with Liam. He doesn't like me. He won't touch me. He hasn't kissed me. He smiled at me, but what does it MEAN??? He's fallen out of love with me. He's stand-offish. He danced with me - what does that MEAN??? ANd on and ON and *ON*... and when coupled with Gwendolyn, you want to just grab Liam's sword and run them BOTH thru and be done with them. It wasn't nice. It hurt the story.And even the people that they run into - not ONE of them is sweet. There's Mother Hubbard (who's sister to Hansel/Gretel's witch and is NOT nice), there's the fairy godmother (who hates on everyone), there's the eighth dwarf (wicked, of course), Snow White's prince is trying to assasinate his brother half the book... it's Just. Not. Nice.The first book was cute. People were helpful and happier. This one? Not so good.
What do You think about Unlocking The Spell (2012)?
Very fun to read. I like the variations of the fairy tales found within the story.
—jodyeichhorst
Another cute installment in the series.
—bananachik
