Rosamund has been asleep in a tower, surrounded by thorns for 100 years. Then suddenly she is awakened by someone with body odor and chapped lips kissing her, Yuck! Prince Percy proclaims his undying love in a carefully prepared speech, but Rosamund isn't ready to commit to marrying someone she just met. She runs to the castle bathroom, where she finds a magic door that leads to a place where fairytale princesses can escape the unpleasant parts of their stories. At first, it seems like a great place. She gets to know Cinderella, the Little Mermaid, Snow White and other princesses (and one prince) who didn't like the choices their stories where giving them. The head mistress is a fairy godmother, and seems to have the fairytale refugee's best interests a heart. Outside the gates of the "school" is another story. There are teenagers who spend their whole time eating pizza or looking at the cell phones but also monsters that want to return the royals to their stories. Although Rosamund knows the dangers, her natural curiosity compels her to explore this other world, and as she does, she learns things that suggest her new sanctuary is not all that it appears.
This is a story aimed at the kids who like the "Whatever After" series or the "Descendants" books. It is cute, but also deals with serious questions like, "what if following your dreams means hurting someone else?" and "How much freedom are you willing to give up to be safe?" Some elements of the story make it appropriate for fairly young readers. For example, nobody actually gets hurts or kills anyone, and their is a pretty strong idea that no one is truly evil, they are just misguided. One of my favorite parts of the book is a battle between some unicorns and a dragon. The unicorns are the sparkly kind with brightly colored manes whose flatulence smells like freshly baked cookies. Protective parents should be aware, however, that the reason there is one prince at the academy is because he prefers to find another prince, rather than a princess, for his happily-ever-after. If you are not ready to expose your third grader to that concept, then you might want to avoid this book. Otherwise, it is a fun addition to the fractured fairytale genre. (224 p, 2024)
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