Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

Princess Rose is the eldest of twelve sisters condemned to dance each night for the wicked King Under Stone in his palace deep within the earth. It is a curse that has haunted the girls since their birth - and only death will set them free.

Then Rose meets Galen, a young soldier-turned-gardener with an eye for adventure and a resolve that matches her own, and freedom suddenly begins to seem a little less impossible. To defeat the king and his dark court, they will need one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and that most critical ingredient of all - true love.

Jessica Day George's inspired reimagining of The Twelve Dancing Princesses demonstrates yet again her mastery at spinning something entirely fresh from a story you only thought you knew. (Taken from inside flap)

I have never heard of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, so I started reading this book with no knowledge of the story. So, I won't be able to compare this retelling with the original. Even so, I really liked Princess of the Midnight Ball. Normally this kind of book would be boring for me, because the plot moves a little slowly, but the writing is so good that I wanted to keep reading. There is a bit of a mystery, because at the beginning you don't know what's going on and it's not even until halfway through that you get to follow Rose and her sisters to King Under Stone's palace. As for characters, they were all very well-written. Rose has twelve sisters, so it seems like it would get confusing, but all of them are given some page time (I think). Galen was also a good character; he's in love with Rose and will do anything to break the curse, which I thought was so sweet. I enjoyed Princess of the Midnight Ball but would probably only recommend it for fans of fairy tales, only because the story is a little slow at times.

7 out of 10.

FTC: I borrowed this book from my library.