Coralina (The Nine Princesses Novellas)

Title: Coralina

Series: The Nine Princesses Novellas

Year: 2012

Author: Anita Valle

Summary: Coralina Corissa, known as “Coco” to her eight sisters, is the prettiest princess of a hundred kingdoms. And she knows it. Her beauty has always given her anything she wanted... and any man she wanted.

Runa Realm is facing a new threat. Strange bandits, disguised as nobles, are attacking beautiful women to steal their hair. Coralina isn’t concerned. Until Prince Luxley, her favorite (but not only) lover, gets clobbered by a peasant called Gord, who mistakenly assumed the prince was a bandit.Outraged, Coralina plans to punish the peasant by deliberately breaking his heart. But Gord is nearly blind. For the first time ever, Coralina must rely on more than her looks to ensnare a man. But the harder she flirts, the more Gord seems to hate her. And the more her own heart (and hair) becomes endangered. (from Goodreads)

Main Characters:
~ Princess Coralina
~ Princess Maelyn
~ Princess Jaedis
~ Princess Heidel
~ Kerrick
~ Gord
~ Prince Luxley
~ Willow

Review: Another short, but sweet, tale about the nine orphans adopted into the royal family. Coralina is the second eldest and the most beautiful of all nine. And she knows it. Her beauty, her old nurse once told her, would be a curse, yet as she grows up Coralina can see only the benefits she can gain from her features. Her beauty can get her anything she wants, and she's not used to being denied. Of course, all of that changes when she decides to seek revenge on a man that's nearly blind.

Coralina is your typical princess, beautiful, sassy, and completely full of herself. Although I didn't enjoy her story as much as I did Maelyn's (for some odd - very odd - reason, I related more to the bookworm princess than the snotty princess), Anita Valle did a wonderful job in creating something entirely new, yet so familiar. Coralina matched up perfectly to the end of Maelyn and left you wanting more, as the end, although strangely satisfying, is pretty unresolved. I cannot wait to read the third book in the series (Heidel) and find out more about what happens to these nine princesses! 

One thing that greatly interested me was the fact that, while this novella seemed to want to follow the standard, cliche story of a spoiled princess, Anita Valle did anything but. There were plenty of unexpected twists and turns, so that the end was far from what I first imagined it to be. All in all, a delightful read.

Advisory: Coralina's favorite pastime is flirting, and she uses her beauty, figure, features, and words as much as she can to entice a man. Her constant flirting got on my nerves, and she also had a disagreeable fondness for kisses. While nothing is overly described, it was still a little on the awkward side for me. There is also a bit of fantasy action, but nothing graphic.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Related reviews: Maelyn (The Nine Princesses Novellas)

Click here to buy Coralina on Amazon!

Maelyn (The Nine Princesses Novellas)

Title: Maelyn

Series: The Nine Princesses Novellas

Year: 2012

Author: Anita Valle

Summary: Maelyn was not born a princess. The king found her as a child, the lone survivor of a poor village slaughtered by the Red Fever. Suddenly she became a princess of Runa Realm, the first of nine orphans adopted by the king.

By her eighteenth year, Maelyn rules over Runa and a family of nine sisters. But some call the princesses frauds and imposters, a handful of urchins raised into royalty. Even Uncle Jarrod, the High King of Grunwold, seems determined to prove that Maelyn no longer deserves to be a princess. With a family losing faith in her, and a kingdom growing dangerously hostile, even Maelyn begins to wonder if she is truly a real princess. And if her riches will turn to rags once again... (from Goodreads)

Main Characters:
~ Maelyn
~ Coralina
~ Uncle Jarrod
~ Willow

Review: I found this book for free on the Kindle one dull day, and not thinking a whole lot about it, I got it and stowed it away on the giant list of to-read books. I didn't think of it again until weeks later (yes, I left it alone for that long; I'm so ashamed) when I was having a bad asthma attack and was looking for something light to read on my Kindle. Maelyn caught my attention, and since I enjoy fairy tales/princess tales, I decided to give it a whirl.

I really liked it. Sure, it was short, but it was sweet, and it's the start of a nine novella series (at least, I'm assuming there are nine books as Maelyn is the first of nine princesses)! Maelyn loves reading, and at the beginning of the novella, her biggest problem is running out of books to read. And I can totally relate. Her relationship with her eight sisters is very nice, but I was a little disappointed that you didn't get to see more of them. For that, I'm really looking forward to the next books! I'm actually wishing I could get my hands on a paperback copy to share with my eleven-year-old sister. I know she'd love Maelyn as much as I.

While it was a light princess tale, Anita Valle wove enough suspense and mystery into the plot to keep me hooked. I found myself asking, "What really happened?" "Okay, is someone lying there?" While Maelyn gave us a satisfactory ending, it opened the door for so much as far as the story and characters were concerned. I'm glad that the second novella in the Nine Princesses series (Coralina) is out already, because I really need to read it and find out what happens! For those of you who love stories penned by Gail Carson Levine and Jessica Day George (and similar authors), you'll want to get your hands on Anita Valle's Nine Princesses Novellas!

Please note: I looked up the author's bio pages on Amazon and Goodreads to see what other books she'd written, and discovered that she and I had a lot in common! Anita Valle was homeschooled, loves Charles Dickens and other literary novels, and IS ALLERGIC TO CHOCOLATE! My inspiration for a review of Maelyn may or may not have bounded from that discovery. *ahem* You can choose there.

Advisory: Some light romance leading to a kiss, but it's handled sweetly. A few characters are mentioned getting the Red Fever, but it's never graphic.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Click here to buy Maelyn on Amazon! It's free on Kindle!