The Monster Princess by D.J. MacHale

I wanted to really like this book, and I tried to, but in the end it just didn't work for me. The illustrations by Alexandra Boiger were fantastic. As was the basic premise of a little gnome girl who wanted to crawl out of the dark and be a princess, but was ultimately rejected by the actual princesses until she saved them from another monster.

What really ruined this story for me was the forced rhyme scheme, it didn't flow, and I feel if you can't make it seem natural it just gets in the way of the story. An example from the book reads:

"But living in shadow just wasn't her style.
She wanted some light! (for more than a while.)
A princess is what Lola wanted to be,
for they sang and danced,
while she lived with fleas."

I didn't quite like the ending either, the author spent so much text setting up Lola's hatred of darkness that when she crawled back in at the end, of her own choice, I couldn't help but feeling like she had failed in her dream.

[click here to see if it's available]

by Scott