Thank you to NetGalley and NineStarPress LLC for providing me with a copy for review.

Tale of a Dragon Princess is a short novella that tells the story of Mellie, a young princess who was cursed to become an ice dragon each night following her sixteenth birthday and her journey to break said curse when she turns eighteen. To do this, she enlists the help of a female warrior, Adie, who she has been intrigued by since they first met two years ago.

One of my favourite aspects of this novella was how the story really had the feel of a 'tale' due to its short and easily readable nature and the way that the story felt like it was being retold and recounted. It reminded me of a fairytale. However, though this gave it a strong tone that resonated with the promise of a tale from the title, I think that it also would have worked really well as a full length novel (or at least a longer novella) that allowed the author to go more in depth with the story and the characters. The plot felt a little rushed and the characters were not able to develop as well as they could have been if there had been more opportunity to follow them and really understand them in a longer tale. It sometimes felt like plot resolutions came before I really had chance to be intrigued by them and for suspense to be built. 

The characters themselves were wonderful. Mellie and Adie are both strong characters who show how deeply they care about each other and the kingdom that Mellie will one day rule as queen. They do not judge each other and develop a loving and open relationship that was wonderful to read, especially about a same-sex female couple. Mellie's parents, Jasmine and Magnus, were also great and would do anything to protect their daughter and ensure her happiness. Though I appreciated the ease of their relationships, the shortness did not allow for much conflict so the characters often felt too perfect and I would have liked to see the relationships build more naturally over a longer period of time.

I really appreciated and admired the representation that this novella contained in such a short time. I was immediately intrigued by this when I realised it was a fantasy story with a same-sex female relationship because they are often hard to find, especially ones that acknowledges people can be attracted to more than one gender. The representation didn't stop there either as I discovered whilst reading that Adie is a disabled POC who experiences PTSD, all of which are handled well and many representation aspects (bi and disabled) are own voices.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this and feel that even just a few more chapters to allow for a slower development would really improve the story and give the characters and plot more depth whilst protecting the fairytale tone it already possesses. The premise of the story was really interesting and definitely added to the fairytale nature, it easily felt like something you would expect to read as part of a collection of fairytales with the likes of Cinderella and Snow White, and I really appreciated the inclusion and representation it added to stories like this. I highly recommend it.

Thank you, NetGalley and the Publisher for a chance to read this Novella!

Title: Tale of a Dragon Princess
Author: Lizzie Colt
Genre: YA Fantasy Romance
Released: 20th August 2018
Publisher: NineStar Press
My Rating: 3.5 stars
Trigger/content warnings: One main character who suffers from PTSD (nightmares of the wars she has been in)

This story begins from the perspective of Jasmine, the Queen and mother to our main character, Mellie. We are told the story of how the princess was cursed when she was a baby and by who, then years later, on her sixteenth birthday, the curse coming into effect. I did think that Jasmine's perspective went on longer than it needed to. If this was a full-length novel I would understand, but seeing as this is a novella about the princess, I wish her perspective came a bit sooner than around the 20% mark, as the story is fundamentally about her. 

For me, the story really began when it switched to Mellie and Adie's perspectives. When both characters are eighteen and nineteen, Mellie enlists the help of Adie to travel to see the Queen/witch who cursed her. It is said that on the blue moon, the witch grants wishes to anyone who comes to greet her, so the two begin their adventure.

Adie is a warrior from another kingdom. She has dark brown skin, has a disability and is Bi. She suffers from PTSD, experiencing nightmares from her time in battles and the people she has killed/who have died. When she first met Mellie when she was seventeen, she was attracted to her right away, vowing to help her in any way she could. She was by far my favourite character!

Mellie is a princess, due to the curse placed upon her, every night she transforms into a dragon and has to be locked away in a dungeon for her safety. She is described as having pale white skin and blonde hair. She knew from an early age that she preferred women, but was scared of the reaction from her parents so she kept it a secret until she rekindles her friendship with Adie and they confide in each other.

Adie and Mellie were brilliant characters and so well suited. They both had flaws and vulnerabilities, it was about loving and accepting each other in spite of them.

This is an Own Voices (Bi and disability rep) Novella of 21k words. Even though it's short, I feel like I have so much to say about it! 

Right from the start, I was hooked completely and I ended up reading this in one sitting.

I did have some problems though, mainly with the length, writing and pacing. For starters, I think this would have been so much better as a full-length novel, the characters would have more development and there would be better world building. I can really see this being amazing with a little tweaking. The writing felt too basic and simplistic to me, however, the story was incredibly fast-paced and addicting. 

Like many of the Novellas I have read, this seemed very well paced at the beginning but began to rush towards the middle/end, leaving out vital character and world development along the way. 

While I did have a few issues, there is just such a shortage of books like this, diverse characters in a unique fantasy setting! A YA fantasy novel with LGBTQ+ and disability rep...amazing diversity that needs more recognition. 

Overall, I really liked this story and I am so glad I read it. At its heart, this is a very romantic, YA fantasy adventure! If it sounds like something you would like, I would definitely recommend checking it out.

A review will be up on my blog by the end of the week.

As soon as I saw this was a f/f book about a princess that transforms into a dragon, I didn't hesitate requesting his from netgalley. And though its premise kept my interest throughout, there were several glaring issues with it. First, I think the size and scope of this book would make it better fitted as a middle grade unless it underwent some rigorous editing and the author added a lot more to the story. It was predictable and the writing style was basic, if a little awkward. The dialogue read like a bad script, often cheesy and stunted. There were no miraculous, surprising elements to the story, but I do applaud the interracial f/f love story with ownvoices disabled rep (one of the girls has prothetic fingers replacing an old injury/unusable fingers).

Despite all the issues I had with it, I just can't discount how cute it was and how much I enjoyed reading this short story of two girls' journey. I think this book has potential, it just isn't the best version it could be at its current state.