Is Maelyn a real princess? Or a royal mistake?
Maelyn was not born a princess. The king found her as a child, the lone survivor of a poor village slaughtered by Red Fever. Suddenly she became a princess of Runa Realm, the first of nine orphans adopted by the king.
By her eighteenth year, Maelyn rules over Runa and a family of nine sisters. But some call the princesses frauds and imposters, a handful of urchins raised into royalty. Even Uncle Jarrod, the High King of Grunwold, seems determined to prove that Maelyn no longer deserves to be a princess. With a family losing faith in her, and a kingdom growing dangerously hostile, even Maelyn begins to wonder if she is truly a real princess. And if her riches will turn to rags once again....
The Nine Princesses novels chronicle the adventures of an unconventional family of princesses, the struggles they face in a kingdom often hostile to their humble origins, and the day-to-day dramas of nine young women whose personalities often clash like swords. Fans of Gail Carson Levine and Shannon Hale would enjoy these princess novels.
Book Details
- Length: 174 pages
- Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
- Mood: Heartwarming / Romantic
- Content: Minimal violence. No sex. Mild romance.
- Audience: Anyone who enjoys fairy tale retellings or a nice princess book.
˃˃˃ Read an Excerpt
Maelyn returned her father’s journal to the drawer. She’d been the oldest baby in that row of cradles - about three years of age when Father found her by the road. Arialain had been less than a week, frail and born too early. Nine girls from nine kingdoms, orphaned by nameless strangers. Suddenly they became sisters, bound not by blood, but by their parents’ love.
Maelyn slid out of bed, shivering as her feet touched the floorboards. She wrapped a heavy shawl over her nightdress and padded to the window. The kingdom nestled in darkness thick as a wool blanket but the first smudges of sunlight colored the horizon.
She remembered only fragments of that distant day. Mama’s dead face. The long road that blistered her feet. Her terror when Dorian, the king’s manservant, lifted her off the ground. How good the bread tasted....
“You never saw us as orphans,” she said, addressing her unseen father. “You called us ”hidden princesses’. Born in other lands, waiting for you to find us.” Maelyn smiled weakly. “But Father, many do not see us this way. I never knew how many... until you were gone.”
