The Princess Companion

A Retelling of The Princess and the Pea (Four Kingdoms Series, Book 1)

By: Melanie Cellier

Narrated by: Esther Wane

Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

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

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.

©2016 Melanie Cellier (P)2020 Tantor

Predictable Plot but Not a Waste

Book was quite predictable but the characters were extremely likeable. The narrator was not at all cringey to me with various accents as some have been in the past. The plot was fun! Good for a quick read in the background as other reviews have said. Overall quite enjoyable and light, nothing too intense or dramatic, so easily digestable. The writing had great imagery and again, the characters were wonderful.

A lovely retelling!

The Princess Companion is an absolute masterclass in relatable, likeable first person narrators. In fact, all the characters were just great!

And, for a retelling, it still had some fun twists and surprising elements. Which I loved.

Absolutely Delightful

A delightful story and the narrator made it easy to listen to. Left me wanting more. Enjoy!

An engaging sweet story!

Cute story, super fast read because it kept me engaged! I found the main character very relatable to me (autistic coded maybe?). I enjoyed it a lot for that! The ending felt a little rushed but maybe I just wanted more :)

Wonderful!

A great story, and I was tickled to recognize some of my favorites within it!

Much better than expected

It’s a tired old story but Cellier reimagined it wonderfully, with each character having a depth and autonomy rarely found in a fairytale trope. I really enjoyed this little gem and look forward to its sequels.

So good

It kept you hooked till the end. I really liked how the fairy tales were blend together!

For fans of Ella Enchanted

I found this while browsing Audible Plus. It’s fantastic! This fairytale retelling has the same vibe and feel as books like “Ella Enchanted” or “Book of a Thousand Days.” I love it when princesses (or non-princesses) are given more than a day or two to really get to know the other person. Alyssa has charm, wit, a stubborn will, and good sense. I highly recommend it!

Fun adaptation-could be improved-worth listening!

I appreciate good writing. There were hardly any annoying moments and the writing was fluid and comfortable to listen to. which puts the book in the good category for me. Overall decently developed storyline. I liked the main character. Great development of her internal strength of mind and character. My critiques are minor. I imagine that the author ironed out the small flaws in her future books.
The end could’ve been developed better.
After the mc had already seemed ignorant of a fact then she suddenly knows ie. Not realizing the identities of the young princesses then later knowing their names. Who else could they have been? There wouldn’t be many identical twins running around the castle.
Just a note: a doctor should definitely clean and stitch a wound before letting the patient sleep for several hours. Infection could set in and stitches are time sensitive.
The way time skipping was written was also a little confusing.
Overall a fun, clean and engaging story worth listening to.

Absolutely fantastic

This was so good I did not want it to end! What an awesome story and lessons in observing your environment through such a beautiful fairytale of a story! Highly recommend to anyone looking to just unwind with a “Lifestyle” television type story.