I’ve an extra treat for you all today on #IrishWritersWed with a review of a lovely short story from Irish writer Denise Deegan.
The Prince and the Pea is described as ‘a fairy-tale retelling of The Princess and the Pea to make you smile at life and believe in true love’ and has just been published as a #KindleSingle.
Now available for less than the price of a cuppa, this is a very sweet story about true love and believing in yourself.
Both myself and my daughter read it, so here are our thoughts…..
Book Info:
As heir to the throne, Prince Richard is expected to marry well, and his parents are adamant that only the finest princess will do. But is royal blood really more important than the spark of true love?
His father, the king, has devised his own test of true royalty, inviting the haughtiest heiress for miles around to spend a night at the castle, balanced atop a pile of mattresses concealing a single pea. But even though she passes the test, she is too outraged by sleep deprivation to stay beyond breakfast. Meanwhile Richard can’t stop thinking about Rosie O’Toole, the charming chambermaid who has taught him how to lay a fire and find true meaning in his life…
When Rosie is unfairly dismissed and disappears without a trace, Richard is determined to find her. He must bring her back to the castle and reinstate her at once. But as he grows more desperate, Richard realises that he is no longer searching for a chambermaid, but for his one true love.
Review:
Prince Richard is no ordinary prince, as he is consumed by the need to find true love. He does not follow the belief of his father, the King, that his fate is tied to the kingdom. At heart he is a poet and the thought of a marriage as a business arrangement is not agreeable to him. But out of love and duty to his father, he agrees to meet Princess Victoria.
From the beginning he feels no warmth between them and he is easily distracted by the outside world.
‘A ray of sun darted into the room, cutting through the glass pendants of the chandelier and casting tiny rainbows all along the royal walls. Richard, in wonder, followed the beam of light to the window. Outside the fields called to him. How he longed to race over them on his stallion, Avanti. Animals he found were less demanding than people.’
A chambermaid, Rosie O’ Toole, sparks something within Richard’s heart. There is a pureness about her as she goes about her daily chores, unaffected by the world around her.
As Richard studies Rosie, he comes to a realisation about his destiny.
Is he willing to let others control his life?
Is he just going to accept the direction of the path chosen for him or will he create a new one for himself?
The Prince and the Pea is ultimately a fairytale but it also carries a very important message for all.
Be yourself
Follow your dreams
Fulfill your destiny
Make your own path
The best recommendation I can give for this book is from my daughter. She read it in my car last night on a windswept evening, as we were attending a camogie match. Half-way through she spotted she only had approximately twelve pages left and she asked me could I get the rest of it please? She was loving it and wanted more!!
In the current world we live in, our kids are exposed to so much of the bad stuff. For a short while it was so lovely to see her engrossed in a fairy tale and turn to me, with a huge smile, when she had read the last page and say ‘That was lovely Mum!’
Purchase Link ~ The Prince and the Pea
Meet Denise:
Denise writes for both adults and teenagers. Her novels have been published by Penguin, Random House, Hachette and Lake Union Publishing. Writing under the pen name Aimee Alexander, Denise’s contemporary family dramas have become international best-sellers on Kindle.
Her writing for Young Adults includes the much-loved contemporary trilogy, The Butterfly Novels: And By The Way, And For Your Informationand And Actually.
Denise’s most recent novel, Through the Barricades, won the SCBWI Spark Award 2017.
Denise writes women’s fiction as Aimee Alexander including Pause to Rewind, The Accidental Life of Greg Millar and All We Have Lost.
Denise is represented by the East West Literary Agency and Barry Krost Management. She is a member of the SCBWI.
Denise currently lives in Dublin with her family and golden retriever, Homer, star of the Butterfly Novels.
Twitter ~ @denisedeegan
Website ~ http://denisedeegan.com/
