Princess Aurelia is a prisoner to her crown and the heir that nobody wants. Published by HMH Books for Young Readers on March 12, 2019 Bloodleaf (Bloodleaf, #1) by Crystal Smith

This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. She sounded youthful and enthusiastic, neither dull nor over the top.I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. I think this book might be fun for teenagers to read or listen to, young adults at most, but probably not so much for more mature audiences, like over thirty, I think The narrator was fine when she was playing the characters, but the overly nasal quality of her voice when she was acting as the storyteller really, really annoyed me. However, if you like to take time with the characters and don't like fast plots, then you might prefer something else.

If you enjoy a fast moving plot, even at the cost of character development, then this book might be for you, as the plot could be interesting if you don't figure it out to soon. I enjoyed the last two hours, which is why I give it two stars. Then, suddenly in the last quarter, the story became more interesting. I figured out the plot very early in the story and was struggling to finish. The middle was awkward and way too predictable for me. The book was a bit corny and the characters a bit flat too. The beginning was promising, but too quick for me to get to know the characters well enough to care what happened to them. This wasn't my cup of tea, but that's not to say it couldn't be someone elses. Anyway, if you can ignore these complaints, enjoy the book. Really? They never requested a portrait of the princess? What?! No physical description ever was given? The imposter doesn't not resemble the princess beyond being another white, teenaged girl. SPOILER: Also, a main plot point is that an imposter is accepted by the rulers of the kingdom she is marrying into immediately upon her arrival, and the princess is forced to go into hiding. I can't buy into a princess who acts like she should be at the mall. I can buy into bad guys with deadly, horrible behavior. Maybe I'm being nitpicky, but I'm a huge European history buff, which this book is based on, and I could not suspend my disbelief.

A princess would have been educated and trained to never behave in the ways she does regularly. She's a princess, but she behaves like a modern rich teen girl. When this book popped up with tons of praise I bought it. I listen to audiobooks on my daily driving commute, so I go through two to three books a month.

Bloodleaf crystal smith