Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

Over the holidays I spent one night at my brother and sister in law's home. While our husbands were off playing basketball, Lori and I started talking about some of our favorite books and she asked if I've read anything by Shannon Hale. Well, I got pretty excited at that point because I LOVE Shannon Hale's books, at least the 5 that I've read (all of which can be found reviewed on this blog). She loans me her copy of Princess Academy since I haven't read it yet and I finish it within about a day and a half.

Princess Academy is about a little girl named Miri who lives in a mountain village, Mount Eskel, where everyone works in the quarry mining a special type of rock called linder. When the king's priests prophesy that the future princess will come from Mount Eskel, an obscure corner of the kingdom, an academy is set up to prepare the girls of this village to potentially become princesses. Not all of the girls want to become a princess but all are forced to work hard to refine their habits so when the prince comes to choose his bride in a year's time they will be ready.

Like all of Shannon Hales books, I quickly fell in love with her characters, especially Miri, who is a real spunky and spitfire of a girl. She grows up quite a bit during the course of this story, making up for her small size and inability to work in the quarry like everyone else by using her brain to improve the quality of life of those in her village and saving the lives of her peers at the academy from bandits. This wasn't really as good as Hales' other stories, but she still was able to weave a charming new world with believable characters. I even cried once or twice. :) Definitely would recommend this book!

3.5 out of 5 stars