Princess of the Midnight Ball

This has been on my to read list since I knew Jessica Day George wrote it, and I've even almost bought it a couple times, but just kept putting it off - don't really know why. But then I saw she wrote a sequel/companion book for it that sounds interesting and I finally got it from our library, read the first page and was hooked.

This is the story based on the fairy tale of the 12 dancing princesses, sisters who are cursed to spend each night dancing to the point where they are completely wearing out their dancing slippers at alarming speed. The people in the kingdom know this is happening, but no one knows why, and theories such as possession and being cursed get thrown around often. A young soldier turned gardner hears of this, and with some help along the way, sets out to figure out the mystery and save the princesses from the certainty of early death from fatigue.

My love fest for Jessica Day George continues. Her fairy tales are charming and so much fun to read. This story may have had the best pacing of all her books, but I'm not quite ready to declare this my favorite. She really does weave a delightful tale, but one of the things I really love about her is that the romance element of her books is carefully subdued. I'm normally not one for romantic tales, but I think she does it well, avoiding cliched romance. I think it is safe to say that I will continue to read each book she puts out - I have not yet had a disappointment.