Amazing. I loved it.
And yes I maybe 28years old but I like to support New Authors and Youtubers/Booktubers :)

I don't really follow Connie much, as in I don't watch all her videos on YouTube, but I was excited about being accepted to.read this via Netgalley.

I think I enjoyed It more than I thought I would because growing up I was a secret reader, I never read for Fun...I was always labelled "Too Thick To Read" and so I was always embarrassed when seen with a book...and so when it came to the times in school where the whole class read the same book I cherished it. My Main Favourite book I reading and what sparked my "Secret" obsession on reading again was 'The Secret Garden" I think I was 8 years old when I read that and oh my I loved it so much.

I now consider myself a book worm, I carry a book with me every where I go and I don't care either where I read.

then came the Harry Potter books, to which I found again not "Clever enough" to read a book, and so I only ever got through the 1st book...until I hit 16 years old and began the 2nd/3rd and then life became quite difficult, I had a major breakdown Blah blah blah when suddenly BOOM in 2015/2016 I re-read all the HP books (the last 4 books being my first time) and OMG I soooooo wish I'd read them as a child, (I grew up on the films and books)

what I'm trying to get at is that I feel this book would be great for anyone around the ages 8 upwards, and I would've loved hiding in the local library warm and cosy with this to read...

and no, it's not all about how little princess didn't get her Pony for Christmas...

it has Attitude, Hormones, tantrums, undercover stuff, fighting both verbally and physically and I sooooooooo want Lotte and Jamie to get together 😊

It's just a great read, and as you can read in more depth in other reviews about it, I just delved in not knowing anything but the name on the Cover...and km so pleased I did. 😊

you don't need to be into princesses etc to enjoy this book. Just pick it up and give it ago. and if you have a Son or Daughter...read it with them 😊

I gave it a 3 stars, due to the fact my Ebook copy from Netgalley was messed up and it was showing me the edits of wording/sentences and it frustrated me.

I received an e-arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

“be kind, be brave, be unstoppable.”

I must admit that this is a slightly late review for this book as it came out at the beginning of November and I should’ve gotten around to it sooner but I wasn’t in the mood to constantly read review books so I kinda got off track…

From what I’ve seen on Goodreads reviews for this book, it doesn’t seem like many people actually enjoyed this however I absolutely ADORED reading this book. I realise some people might read this book and see that it’s cliché but I thought it was a cute read and I loved the characters!

This story is about two girls, Lottie Pumpkin, an ordinary girl from Cornwall who loves princesses and Ellie Wolf, an actual princess. They both end up sharing a room at Rosewood Hall where Lottie gets in on scholarship because she doesn’t come from money and Ellie just wants to try and blend in so that she can have a bit more of an ordinary life before having to become the princes.. We mainly read this from Lottie Pumpkin’s point of view but occasionally you get to read some of Ellie’s P.O.V and also Jamie’s. The two girls pretty much end up swapping identities as the students in the school mistakes Lottie for being the undercover princess, it remains this way after Lottie finds out it was really Ellie so that she can help Ellie live a more ordinary life and Lottie’s dream can pretty much come true by playing princess, however someone in Rosewood Hall knows their secret and is sending threatening messages so the two girls end up trying to figure out who it just might be.

For me this story just flew by, I couldn’t put it down I enjoyed it so much! I loved reading along and joining in on Ellie and Lottie’s year at Rosewood Hall! The book itself even has a BEAUTIFUL cover. It leaves you with questions and wanting more so therefore I highly recommend this book and I for one cannot wait for the second instalment in the series.

I admit – I love Princess/Royalty/Aristocracy based novels. Who doesn’t want to flounce around in a sparkly dress and a tiara? I am more than happy reading YA novels focused around young royals (Princess Diaries was one of my favourite series as a kid); they hit my desire for coming-of-age plots combined with epic wish-fulfillment. So I requested a copy of this because I LOVE this stuff.

I DNFed this book at a little over half way.

While I love the general idea of this book, there was one key thing missing – plot. NOTHING HAPPENED. And the characters were dire. They giggled and blushed. For pages on pages. I know a book is bad when I start rooting for the bad guy despite them not even being particularly interesting, just so the book could end.

The positives of this book…I suppose there’s a reasonable female friendship, which is something lacking in a lot of YA/kids novels, although they did go from mortal enemies to besties in about 2 seconds. I don’t think there’s much else to comment on.

Maybe this was meant to be classed as a children’s book, not YA. That’s about as nice as I can be about this. I even deleted it off my kindle before I took a picture of the cover.

After I DNFed this book, I read a bit more about it and apparently it was written by a Youtuber.

You can tell.

Verdict: Read The Princess Diaries or The Selection instead

Read if: you’re eight years old

Undercover Princess by Connie Glynn: ★

A magical adventure that transports you to another time and place. Each page offers the unexpected with vivid descriptions and intriguing characters. Different to any other book
I’ve ever read the story line captures your heart and will have you on the edge of your seat.

I was drawn to this book as soon as I came across the cover for two reasons: The cover is absolutely gorgeous, and the title has the word “princess” in it. I don’t know about you, but I have been obsessed with Disney movies and fairy tales ever since I can remember. There is something magical about stories of kingdoms and royal families, whether magic is involved or not, that has entranced me since I was little. So when I saw the book, I had to try to get hold of an arc and give it a read.

I don’t normally pick up books written by YouTubers or bloggers because, more often than not, their success with getting book deals is influenced heavily by the number of their audience (followers, subscribers etc.) rather than talent; and although this book is far from perfect, I have to admit it was a joy to read from start to finish. The fact that the story was set in a glamorous boarding (with houses too!) was a major reason why I enjoyed the book so much. I’m a sucker for elite school settings so I was delighted when I came across this book as it is something I rarely see in what I read.

One of our main protagonists, Eleanor Wolf, defies every attribute we associate with being a princess. She is wild, hates dresses, dies her hair dark colours and wants nothing to do with her royal duties. It was interesting to read about a princess that challenged every stereotype attached to it. Lottie, however, is her complete opposite. She is fascinated by fairy tales, and owns a tiara gifted by her late mother that she even takes to the boarding school with her. She has the grace Ellie lacks, so it is easy to see why she is mistaken for the undercover princess. Out of the two, Lottie was the one I related to the most, due to our mutual obsession with princess tales (which is still going strong, even as an adult), and I couldn’t stop thinking about how much my younger self would have loved this book.

Friendship between the girls was something I felt was well done. Lottie and Ellie could not have been more different, yet they both grew close and helped each other where the other lacked. I also enjoyed the dynamic created with the inclusion of Jamie, a mysterious and seemingly cold boy, which made for some entertaining banter.

I don’t personally have anything against the book, however, I can see why some may find this book average or underwhelming. I personally didn’t because it is exactly my type of book. Whilst it wasn’t groundbreaking and the writing could have been a lot better, I had a lot of fun reading it. One thing I hope is that the politics of this world gets explored in much more detail in the second book (which I can’t wait for!) as I think there is a lot of potential there to richen the plot.

This is one of those books that could help you get out of a reading slump and although I would not recommend it to everyone, I do think fans of The Selection Series, Princess Diaries, or the Princess Protection Programme will enjoy this book.

A good book but not great. I found it relatively interesting but for a younger public than me (I'm 18). I didn't really enjoy the characters, they had very child-like personalities that were not profoundly studied by the author whose way of writing didn't go well with me. Also, the secondary characters are not well developed. I thought this book was going to include some magical elements with the bodyguards/Porters, but (happily!) it did not. Quite cliché, to be honest, yet not very realistic. Reading it was not disagreeable and I was intrigued as what the next book will be about, but I won't read it, I think....

I don't think this book was appropriate for me. I found it quite childish and I think its more appropriate for teenagers. Its a good read and I finished it quite quickly.

The writing is not good. While reading it, I felt I was overhearing the conversation of two 10-year olds talking about their homework. The writing style seemed juvenile, lacked an authentic voice and the phrases seem a bit too coloquial. It reads as a good school essay, but is not good enough as a novel; it needs to be polished and revised, using a wider and more imaginative vocabulary to lift it above mere teenage slang, and needs richer descriptions of people and places. There are so many loose ends, and the storyline is far too linear. There are lots of holes in the plot, and there's no proper ending to the story.

I know it's planned to be a trilogy, but I feel it isn't necessary and ought to be one standalone volume. Cut all the characters that were mentioned only once or twice, leave out the "riddles" and have more action.

Okay. That’s how I would describe this book for me. It was simply: okay.

I didn’t dislike this book but neither did I love it. The plot was okay, it did have its moments where I will happily admit to being interested and I read the book fairly quickly but it just didn’t scream ‘READ ME’ or have anything that I found particularly gripping. In fact what the plot did for me was leave lots of unanswered questions and one of those was “Why did Lottie so desperately want to go to Rosewood Hall?”

I also felt like the plot went from being super simple to having lots going on all at once rather than having one or two things happening that were really well developed which I think would have resulted in us seeing more layered characters too. I think it’s important for me to point out here that this book isn’t boring, lots happens and some readers will have loved the way it is written, I just really like layers and depth and this was definitely more of a fairytale (I appreciate this is probably intentional!)

As for the characters, I’ve kind of touched on this above but I just felt they were quite flat. I really love a flawed, layered character that I can get to really know but although I felt that I liked most of the characters in this book, I got to the end and still didn’t really feel I knew them as well as I would have liked. If I was asked to describe their personalities I would have a really hard time doing it. Ellie is supposed to be this super rebellious Princess but she didn’t feel that rebellious to me, Lottie was adorable and very Disney Princess-like but what on earth happened to Ollie?! This really pained me because at the beginning Ollie and Lottie are super best friends, then she goes off to school and just forgets all about him. Granted she doesn’t have her phone but, HELLO, write a letter? I just felt like their friendship was totally just forgotten about and then something had to quickly be written back in at the end to acknowledge Ollie.

I think the best way for me to end this review is to sum up my feelings and that goes a bit like this… Undercover Princess is a fluffy, light and Disney-like read that plenty of readers will love but if you are looking for a complex plot and layered characters, this won’t be the book for you. A lovely read and a GORGEOUS cover (had to slip that in…) but for me this book will be easily forgettable.

Ellie is not your typical princess: she is headstrong, opinionated, and unconcerned with all things princessy. She finds herself attending boarding school with the charming (but unbelievably naive) Lottie Pumpkin who dreams of being a princess. It seems like fate has brought them together so Lottie can pretend to be a royal whilst Ellie hides from her responsibilities.

The storyline is engaging, but sometimes very contrived and unrealistic. I loved the character development, particularly Ellie, who changed and grew in interesting ways. Mostly, I found Lottie irritating. She was too naive and too willing to give away everything to be a pretend princess and risk her life for someone she barely knows. Jamie was also mainly irritating. He was too angry and predictably in love with the one character he shouldn't be. Although sometimes we get a glimpse past his hard exterior and those moments are fascinating, there weren't enough of them for me to truly understand his level of anger and distrust.

The mystery aspect is very clever. Any one of the other characters could be the culprit, and the big reveal is very well written. The ending is clearly left for future books in this series, and although the story didn't blow me away, I'm interested to see where Connie will take her characters next

This book is such a collision of some of my favourite things.

I heard a lot of great stuff about this book and in most cases it did live up to a lot of them.

The characters are so likeable, particularly Lottie as I felt an affinity with her from the very start of the book - Lottle is a combination of maybe, Harry Potter meets Cinderella and it is a wonderful combination of my favourite things in a character. As the book progresses the characters grow, my only issue is Jamie and Lottie are barely described within the book, Ellie is the focus oddly considering this book is about a life swap. (Edit: Thinking about it, Lottie must look like Ellie or they wouldn’t be able to swap!?)

The plot however is a little bit sketchy, the mystery is good but the ending is a little mehh, however this book isn’t aimed at me and if I was a much younger kid I would devour this story especially one where girls support girls. The tale of friendship throughout this book is amazing and it makes for a nice theme as the story unfolds.

This isn’t a book for me at 25, this is a book for someone half my age and I can’t imagine someone that age not liking it - its a good transition book in to YA as it features a lot of its tropes and reminded me in ways of books such as Witch Wars - I think this is too sweet a novel to be a YA and that’s okay. I really look forward to the second book, as this book series has so much promise.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the friendship between lottie and Ellie and the whole hogwarts vibe that the school gave me whilst reading it. I also like how it had such a good twist at the end, obviously a book aimed for quite a young audience it was still a very much enjoyable read.

Cinderella, you will go to the ball! OK! There aren't any wicked step sisters, but there is a stepmother, a rinses and a ball in this YA adventure. However, most of the story actually takes place at Rosewood Hall, a prestigious boarding school that orphan Lottie Pumpkin has worked very hard to get into. She's the first student in twelve years to have a bursary scholarship to enable her to attend alongside the offspring of the elite and famous. A misunderstanding on her first day leads others to assume she's the Crown Princess of Maradova - who is actually her room mate! So begins a story packed with intrigue, surprises and, yes, even a ball. As Lottie strives to keep working hard, the real princess, Ellie Wolf, is a rebellious influence and life will never be the same for any of them. Get ready for mischief, mayhem and even a kidnapping in this action packed story of teens in which I thoroughly enjoyed, even though I left my teens decades ago! I will certainly look forward to reading more in this series in future.

i was gifted a copy of this book via NetGalley, without obligation. I chose to read it and this is my honest review after doing so.

If you are in the mood for a pink princess story with a darker twist then this might be a book for you. It was not my cup of tea, I found it too childish for a YA book, but also with some content not so suitable for children, so I guess YA is the right classification. The writing itself was ok, and it had short moments when I got a bit into the story, but my interest quickly evaporated again.

This is everything a teenage princess book should be - much like the Princess Diaries, there are scrapes and shenanigans, rivalries and royalty. The pace of the book is good and the writing is great quality - there is a magical and wistful air to the story and I look forward to reading more of the Rosewood Chronicles with my eldest daughter (and I'm sure she will read them on her own many times too). The characters are well developed and likeable with enough intrigue to keep the story moving along. There is also humour which we enjoyed very much and made it a really fun read.

Undercover Princess is book 1 in The Rosewood Chronicles by Connie Glynn and for me this is a 2.5 star read.
While this book is aimed at YA I personally think that younger readers would enjoy it better, it had an ok storyline but there were too many holes in the plot line for me.

3.5 Stars - This book is such a cute and easy read. I loved anything with royalty in it and this book did not disappoint. I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery element. I did, however, find parts of the book slightly cliche. But, one of my favourite things about this book is the cover and cannot wait to add it to my bookshelf.

So this is a YA novel, and the first in the Rosewood Chronicles series.  Another fun fact: it's published TODAY! So you may need to go and grab yourself a copy and let me know what you think.

Back to the book...Lottie Pumpkin is our central character.  She is a girl who has worked incredibly hard to get accepted into the prestigious school, Rosewood Hall, on a bursary.  She is a typical fairytale character - she lost her mother when she was young, she has lived with her uncaring stepmother and she is a big fan of fairytales.  BIG FAN.

Princess Eleanor Wolfson of Maradova, AKA Ellie Wolf is Lottie's new roommate at Rosewood Hall.  Following a misunderstanding of epic proportions, Lottie finds herself living her dream as a real-life (pretend) princess as she covers for Ellie, enabling her to live a normal life.

The story that follows is one where both Ellie and Lottie discover that their worlds are filled with secrets and betrayals as they learn that they do not always know who to trust. They discover that the life of a princess and the life of a normal teenager are not always what they expect as they become closer to each other while seeking the truth.

When I started reading this novel, I was a little unsure.  It's quite 'fluffy' in that everything is a little too good to be true.  Lottie, the young motherless girl who has had to work hard to become part of such a privileged world suddenly finds herself a princess, and part of a world she never expected to be involved with.  However as the novel progressed, and a threatening presence began to emerge, the novel developed more grit and began to hold my attention.  I don't want to give anything away as to who the betrayer is in this book (although I did guess before the big reveal) so you will just have to read this for yourself.  

By the time I finished the novel, I found myself wanting to read more about these characters.  I am excited to see where Connie Glynn will take them throughout the series.  Ultimately this novel is about true friendship - one where friends will do anything to protect each other.  This is an important lesson for all, and I am pleased to see it as a running theme throughout the book. This novel is aimed at young adults but I would happily recommend it to all - it is thoroughly enjoyable with great characters, a magical setting and a strong storyline.  Let me know what you think!

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for providing me with an ARC of this novel.

First of all, I would like to thank Netgalley and Penguin Random House UK for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The story:

Fairy-tale obsessed Lottie Pumpkin has worked tirelessly to be accepted into the prestigious school, Rosewood Hall. When accepted, she is beyond thrilled but little does she know, secrets and betrayal await her in the magical halls. First of all, her roommate is revealed to be the crown princess of Maradova, Ellie Wolf, who is attempting to live a normal, crown-free, teenage life. Secondly, Lottie soon becomes Ellie’s cover, standing in and pretending to be the princess for Ellie. However, being a princess is not all it is cracked up to be as something threatens the crown and the girls. Someone knows Ellie and Lottie’s secret. Threats start to be sent and rumours are rife. The story follows these unlikely heroines as they protect Ellie’s sacred name whilst trying to live a normal life at school.

The review:

Okay, my summary was horrible.

I try to not copy blurbs or what is written on Goodreads but every time I tried to describe the plot line, I realised how dumb it sounds so excuse the shoddy description!

Like my description, this book sounds extremely juvenile. It kind of is but if you enjoyed The Princess Diaries and similar books then you may enjoy this one. I needed a really easy and light-hearted read and when I was accepted to review this, it was perfect. I would not recommend this book to anyone looking for a well-written, thought-provoking, serious novel.

I don’t know where to begin with this book. First I will say is I DO have positive things to say about this book so I will start with negativity, if you don’t want to hear about it then read a few paragraphs down!

I guess I will begin talking about the writing style. Connie Glynn is a Youtuber, who I am a fan of. I dislike all of these Youtubers receiving book deals, based on popularity. I did have high hopes for Connie’s book though as I tend to think she is a lot more passionate than other Youtubers (about books). Unfortunately, my high hopes were quickly dashed after I read the first chapter. The writing style is terrible. The vocabulary is extremely stinted. Phrases, names and adverbs are repeated all of the time. The book definitely could have benefited from a thesaurus. Characters had limited dialogue, there was a lot of ‘he said, she said, he did, she did’. Not only this but they are melodramatic and this gets annoying quickly.

Okay so this is something I do not like to do – I do not like to compare writing styles/descriptions/plots/worlds to other literary works but a lot of descriptions in this book seemed like clear attempts at copying J.K. Rowling’s descriptions of Hogwarts. If you look at the description of the halls, the forest, and the portrait of the founder of the school in the headmaster’s portrait, you will find these similar descriptions. The portrait really annoyed me – Connie almost even describes the person in the portrait with twinkling eyes, which to me is a signature of J.K. Rowling’s description of Dumbledore.

I am now re-reading the Harry Potter series and I will stand by my observations.

Yet more negativity for you all; There was a lot of characters added for the sake of it. The secondary characters interacted very little with our main protagonists and simply appeared to make it look like a school. They did not add anything to the plot and in some moments, they hindered the plot, making it slow and taking space away from what is actually happening. Connie added characters for the hell of it. Finally, there was no world building. I did not feel as though I was in the school or in Maradove. I could not distinguish between England and Russia, and all places blended into one for me.

I felt the story-telling was quite shoddy.

Despite all of this negativity, I did enjoy the story. Although I did not get to know the characters and I feel that the author tried to do too many things in one small book, it was an enjoyable read. I smiled a lot and I thought the protagonists were funny, cute, and enjoyable. There were some chapters I could not stop reading. I wanted to know more about the characters and the secrets of Rosewood Hall, unfortunately I did not always get this information.

I will continue reading this series, I have hopes that Connie’s writing style can improve and that by reading reviews, she will realise that she has some plot points to decipher.

I am intrigued to see where the relationships go with the characters as I do not think Connie has decided if Lottie and Ellie are more than friends or if certain characters are exploring their sexuality. It seems like it is a very inclusive book and I like that about it.

In all, the book is badly written but it is definitely enjoyable and the characters are delightful (when they are not frustrating). I’ve given this 3 stars, I wanted to give higher but I couldn’t due to the writing style.

Undercover Princess is a sweet tale of two girls and their mission to enjoy life at a quirky boarding school called Rosewood. Ellie is a badass, while Lottie likes to follow the rules. In a parent-trap-esque way, they swap identities so that one becomes the 'undercover princess' and they're able to keep the fun a secret. Of course, things at Rosewood are never that simple. Someone's onto them and they're not sure who it is or how far they're prepared to go to uncover the truth.

The cover is beautiful and matches the cute friendship between Ellie and Lottie. The way the share a room and have contrasting personalities makes them like sisters and their relationship is one of the strongest aspects of the story. The other girls in school think they know the real Ellie and Lottie, but no one else is quite as involved in the mischief.

As I was reading it, I was reminded of Carrie Hope Fletcher's writing style and I'm sure that fans of her stories would also enjoy Undercover Princess. The quick pace, simple style and extra sweetness makes this story a light-hearted adventure.