I was so excited about this book. I wanted to love this book. I even posted about it on Instagram before I read it. 

Unfortunately, it really fell short for me. I absolutely love that there's literature backing the idea that Princess play isn't as harmful as it's made out to be, but the author really struggled to provide me with much evidence to support that stance. 

On the technical side, most of her conjectures weren't backed by fact at all. At one point she states that "ultra-ambitious college girls will publicly cite Hillary Clinton, Sonya Sotomayor" etc. as their role models but "when pressed further, they unanimously confide that the woman they truly want to be is Kate Middleton". Who? Who says this? How can you use unanimously without showing us who you polled? And then still present it as fact?

I also found the chapters on beauty to be particularly damning. Her argument that girls shouldn't be shamed if they're beautiful reminds me of the argument that we shouldn't "skinny shame women" either. Of COURSE we shouldn't do that. It's never right to shame women for anything body centric or otherwise harmful. But there's no denying that we live in a society that caters to thin, beautiful women. Rather than belittling the opposing side, a better defense might be that beautiful or otherwise, girls should be encouraged to feel comfortable in their own skin regardless of physical appearance. Whether glamour makes them happy or not, that's ok! Denouncing a few 21st century princess' physical features by writing that they're an attack on femininity entirely misses the point. She argues that we need to allow femininity back in feminism - and I agree - but why not let women choose? "Liberation lies in the choice".

To be clear - I still agree that Princesses promote independence, leadership, and positivity for girls. I gave it 2 stars because she does have some good ideas and I liked a few of the quotes she pulled from other authors a lot. All in all, I felt like this book mostly missed the mark.

Thank you so much for being willing to grant me access to this book. Unfortunately, life obligations have prevented me from doing so. If my schedule clears, I plan on reviewing this in the future and will post the review on Amazon and Goodreads. Thank you.

I was attracted by the cover and the title captured my attention. It is a non-fiction book and I have to admit that there were some interesting things in the story and I learned from it. But I also have to point out that some facts were repeated a bit too often and made the book sometimes boring. 
Thank you, netgalley.