Review: Undercover Princess

Undercover Princess
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

When fairy tale obsessed Lottie Pumpkin starts at the infamous Rosewood Hall, she is not expecting to share a room with the Crown Princess of Maradova, Ellie Wolf. Due to a series of lies and coincidences, 14-year-old Lottie finds herself pretending to be the princess so that Ellie can live a more normal teenage life.

Lottie is thrust into the real world of royalty - a world filled with secrets, intrigue and betrayal. She must do everything she can to help Ellie keep her secret, but with school, the looming Maradovian ball and the mysterious new boy Jamie, she'll soon discover that reality doesn't always have the happily ever after you'd expect...

Okay so, I picked up a copy of this at YALC back in the summer and the time finally arrived for me to read it! I need a little pick me up and this seemed like the ticket and I figured I'd do a little review for it because why not! I do actually watch a few of Connie's videos, and I've been pretty hyped for this book! 

Undercover Princess is so much fun, plus it's imaginative with a magical quality to its setting. It's a quick read, or at least....I breezed through it! Like it's so easy to binge read it in one go! It's a mood lifter, it's got heart warming moments and there's a really nice mystery element to it, and yes...it is a wee bit cliche and cheesy in parts but that's okay because sometimes you need something like that. The book definitely gave me Harry Potter vibes, with a bit of Princess Diaries thanks to Lottie and her lessons, aaanddd this book is saturated with Fairy Tales, particularly Cinderella. The Cinderella is strong with this one but then I wouldn't expect anything less from Connie! 

Now, I completely and utterly loved Ellie. She was so much fun! She was so different to everyones idea of a Princess, and she was determined to do her own thing and be herself. I genuinely had a lot of love for her too, she was good at maths and science and stuff too! Jamie...the deadly killing machine aka Ellie's bodyguard and fellow teenager was kind of hilarious. I really wish he'd take out the stick that's up his butt and loosen up a little bit. He needs to have a laugh, bless him. Lottie is the one character I had an issue with. I wasn't that keen on her in the beginning, but I did end up quite liking her. However, I spent a lot of the time wanting to shake her or shout at her for quite clearly being an idiot and making stupid decisions. I don't know if I'd quite call her selfish because she's doing this thing that's all to help Ellie, but she does make some questionable decisions and I seriously was just like *sigh* oh Lottie. 

The setting was fun, and vivid. There was a nice amount of detail and world building that brought the setting to life. The mystery element kept me guessing and I fully admit that I did suspect the wrong person, although I worked out who it was right before the big reveal. I really did find myself sucked in to this book, and I enjoyed it a lot although Lottie took a while to warm up to! The character development was on point, and the growing friendship and bond between Lottie and Ellie was heart warming!