Review: The Jabberwocky Princess by Cece Louise

*We received this book in exchange for an honest review.*

The Jabberwocky Princess is the companion novel to Desperate Forest and the second book in The Forest Tales series.

We’re back to the same world as Desperate Forest, but focused on different kingdoms in the realm. Kainda is a chambermaid in the royal place of Galesmore. In the kingdom of Fernshire, a beast is slaying people and nobody can defeat it. The King of Fernshire has asked for help. Any prince who can slay the beast will get to marry his daughter, Princess Opal.

Prince Ander of Galesmore to the rescue. As fifth in line to the thrown in his own land, his father hopes that Ander will win Opal’s hand in marriage. Ander assembles a team of the best knights…but Kainda wants to go too. She’s the daughter of a late expert hunter. She knows more about strange creatures than all of Ander’s knights combined

Kainda worms her way into the group and set off on a journey to Fernshire along with her best friend, knight Larkin. Kainda not only wants the glory, but she also wants to succeed for her dad. But, not all of the knights take her seriously, even when she proves she can use a sword better than the Prince.

At the same time, Princess Opal grows tired of her boring life. All her parents care about is marrying her off. They don’t want their only daughter to marry for love. She’s tired of the same old pompous princes and their desire for power.

Both Kainda and Opal have to fight for the future they want, but maybe they’ll fall in love with their dream guys along the way.

Like Desperate Forest, The Jabberwocky Princess is fun to read. In fact, we likes this book even more than the first! The dual points of view of Kainda and Opal kept us engaged the entire time. Plus, we also loved that Louise included a map of the kingdoms, which made it easier to follow the journey. 

We have to say, we enjoyed Kainda’s chapters more because she is a total badass. She’s brave and doesn’t let idiots tell her what she can and can’t do. Plus, her chemistry with Prince Ander was off the charts. It wasn’t insta love between the two and they managed to grow closer every step of the journey.

Opal was a good MC as well. We felt bad for her because of the way her family acted. He romance plot was fun, just not quite as adorable as the other one.

One of the best scene had Roselynn and Jay from Desperate Forest. Louise intrigued into the story briefly and it was nice to catch up with them.

The best part of the story was the mystery. The beast is being controlled by someone…but who? this revelation caught us completely off guard, which is rare. The last few chapters kept us on the edge of our seats.

The only thing we didn’t love was how rushed the romances get at the end. We do understand though that this is a fantasy world with monarchies. Those relationships seem to move faster than those of commoners. However, we shipped both the couples in this story!

Overall, Louise wrote a fun and engaging YA mystery. We can’t wait to read the third book in this series. If you’re looking for a good indie read, pick this up immediately!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐