A.G. Marshall (2016, 2017, & 2019)

Synopsis:

Princess of Shadows

Only his marriage can stop a war

Prince Alaric must choose a noble wife to silence enemies questioning his bloodline, but picking a true princess out of a crowd is easier said than done. To make matters worse, the girl who catches Alaric’s eye isn’t on the guest list. Is she simply an impostor? Or something far more sinister?

Only her magic can stop the darkness

Over a century ago, Lina sealed away dark creatures with her enchanted sleep. Now she’s awake, and so are the goblins. She sneaks into the castle to hunt for magical weapons, but the handsome prince watching her every move could ruin everything. Can Lina fool Alaric?

Or should she trust him instead?

Princess of Secrets

All she needs is a clue

After a disastrous Princess Test, Carina tries to pick up the pieces and prove she is still a trustworthy spy. But all her evidence points to magical interference, and her father won’t believe such preposterous theories without proof. She’ll have to solve this mystery fast to salvage her reputation, but can she do it alone?

All he needs is a kiss

When Carina refuses to attend his brother’s wedding, Prince Stefan crosses the ocean to change her mind. But the perfect surprise turns into a perfect disaster when a witch transforms him into a frog. Only a kiss from Princess Carina can break the curse, and she doesn’t seem inclined to kiss anyone. Can Stefan win her heart before it’s too late?

Or will dark magic sweep them all away?

Princess of Mermaids

A mermaid without a home. A king without a queen. Can two unlikely souls bridge the gap between worlds?

Under the sea lives Fiora, the child of a human and a mermaid. Despite her best efforts, she has never found a place to belong. Worse, the other mermaids have accused her of waking a kraken with dark magic and threatened to silence her.

Permanently.

Above on land lives King Gustave, sworn not to marry until he finds his missing father. After a shipwreck almost kills him, he does find a missing person. Not his father, but a mute girl with haunting eyes and a strange connection to the sea.
Can Gustave unravel the mysteries around her before they both run out of time?

All synopses come from the Author's Website

Review: General Audience (A)

I stumbled upon this series through a BookBub deal that was going on and I am glad that I did. I always love reading fairy tale retellings because there is something comforting about already knowing the story, but seeing it through someone else's perspective

These books are all independent stories, but they are set in the same world, and the character interactions build so I would recommend reading them in order.

Overall, they are very nicely written, well-paced and contain good moral lessons overall. I appreciate that the author tells the story from both the perspective of the main female lead and the main male lead. The idea that you can have both strong female and male characters appears to be a foreign concept to most authors. A.G. Marshall remains true to the spirit of the original fairy tales, while excluding some of the more grisly aspects of the stories.

There are no sex scenes, no profanity and no blasphemy which is why I gave it a general audience rating. The stories contain fantasy elements and magic. There is a "nude" scene in Princess of Mermaids, but only because she is transitioning from a mermaid to a human. Also, undergarments are mentioned in Princess of Secrets when Stefan transforms back from a frog into a man. Since they were story appropriate, I kept the books in the general audience category.

I would highly recommend these books, especially for teen girls with a love for romance. There are kiss scenes, but they are not descriptive and (spoiler) the characters usually end up married or engaged by the end of the book.

Happy Reading!