The Princess Companion: A Retelling of The Princess and the Pea (The Four Kingdoms Book 1) by Melanie Cellier

In this fairy tale remix, The Princess of the Pea is closely tied to Cinderella, as in, Cinderella, now a mom, is obsessed with the idea of her son marrying a "real" princess. So she gets a pea from her fairy godmother and is told to put it under the mattress for visiting princesses as a test.

Pros:
This author is GREAT at world building and developing characters. She sets things up nicely for subsequent books and has interesting, real ideas of things that might have happened to these fairy tale people.

This is a perfectly clean, romantic read (sigh), which I love.

Cons:
This author (or her editor) needs to fall in love with the comma. There were several sentences that made no sense with the comma missing and I had to go back and re-read to understand. And I'm no grammar snob. Also, she loves adverbs, to the point that I started to count them as I read.

The point of view was almost always through the eyes of the princess companion (a.k.a. pea-feeler), but there were short stints from the point of view of the mom, the prince, the villain, etc. It was kinda weird. I would have preferred a back and forth with the princess companion and the prince.

2.99 or free to borrow. A definite recommend.

Third Daughter, by Susan Kaye Quinn

This fantasy/steampunk romance was very unique, and I give it props for that. Lately, it seems like I have a hard time finishing anything I start reading (at least for enjoyment). I've been swapping critiques a lot, so sometimes it's hard to turn off the editor and just live in the book.

Strangely, I loved the book up until about three-quarters through. Then it got a little too steam-punkish for me, and also, I was super frustrated with the princess's choices. She's one of those characters that constantly has to learn the hard way, but then the hard way miraculously becomes the easy way. Regardless, it was a clean, fun, adventurous novel and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

Since this is book one of The Royals of Dharia, it has an introductory price of 99 cents. The other books in the series are 3.99

The Firethorn Crown, by Lea Doue

I've read lots of versions of the 12 dancing princesses. This one stood out to me for two reasons.

1. The underground prince was very well done, being moody and handsome and mysterious, but a fully developed character that made you at times sympathetic towards him and at other times mad at him.

2. Finally, someone added a much needed detail: A mother of 12 daughters who's a little bit off her rocker for never having a son. He died at birth.

Retelling this fairy tale has its obvious challenges. How do you distinguish between 12 daughters so the reader knows who is who? This book was above average on that.

The main character, Princess Lily, is the oldest and is strongly encouraged to make up her mind and marry already. The scheming around that is a fun element of the book. Sometimes you want her to be a little smarter with her choices. Her love interest is a great character and I enjoyed the friendship and backstory that unfolded with that.

The beginning of the book was a little confusing. It took me about half a chapter to figure out what was going on. Give it time. It's a good read.

Very clean and romantic. I borrowed this with my Kindle, or 2.99 to buy.

Pippa of Lauramore, by Shari Tapscott

I enjoyed this tale about a rebellious princess full of adventures, handsome princes and hard choices. This is my preferred Fantasy genre. I had to get used to the present tense (ala Hunger Games), but otherwise really enjoyed it from start to finish. Very clean, very fun, romantic and interesting. Clearly there will be other books written now that the author's created this world, and if I had my say, I'd like to hear more about Lord Rigel, hint hint. 99 cents or free to borrow with Amazon Prime. Recommended.

Enchanted (The Woodcutter Sisters Book 1), by Alethea Kontis

I was drawn to this because I love fairy tales and it has a pretty cover. Darn those pretty book covers. The author did a good job of intertwining lots of different fairy tale ideas and there were parts of this that were brilliant, but overall, the characters were a bit wooden and the story was all over the place. It started out very sweet and Disney with a nice girl meeting a frog at a well, and then it got into dark magic and murder and ghosts and voices and blood, and occasional bawdy things thrown in. I guess I wasn't sure who the audience was supposed to be. I don't think I'll be moving on to read about the rest of the sisters in the series and I can't recommend it. I gave it three stars on Amazon. I paid 1.99 during a sale period, but currently the price is $7.55 or free to borrow with Prime.

Just Ella, by Annette K. Larsen

I'm a huge sucker for Princess books and this is one of my new favorites. Ariella is a princess with an independent streak and an unlikely friendship with a gardener. Very clean with well-rounded characters and a well-plotted storyline. 4.99 or free to borrow with a Prime membership.

The Fairest Beauty, by Melanie Dickerson

This is a loose retelling of Snow White. I thought it was pretty good (I gave it 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads). It is $5.12 for the Kindle book on Amazon. There is a Christian aspect to it, some action, a wicked stepmother, and plenty of romance. I do have to say that it is one of those books where the characters have some serious problems to be resolved and somehow it all just works out in the end. Just a beef of mine. Recommended, nonetheless.

Sherwood Smith

One good way to find clean, interesting and inexpensive books is to follow a specific author. One author that has several books available on the Kindle is Sherwood Smith. She writes fantasy and science fiction aimed at Young Adults. The books I've read have all been about kingdoms with war and some romance mixed in. I can recommend A Posse of Princesses and Crown Duel (both 3.99).