Review: Fluffy & cute but boring
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 02 15, 2014
*A FREE DIGITAL COPY OF THIS BOOK WAS SENT BY THE AUTHOR IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW*Originally seen at: The Bookish Owl [...]In Princesses Don’t Get Fat, Aya Ling gave us atypical princesses. These future monarchs are not damsels-in-distress who spend all day either sewing or screaming for help but rather fierce Amazonian warriors-in-training with the ability to seriously injure a person without breaking a nail.The best thing about Princesses Don’t Get Fat was our main character, Valeria. From the titel alone, you can gather that she’s a fat princess with an overbearing mother but there is so much more to her than that. Valeria isn’t a very complex character but the way she stayed true to herself even with the constant pressure to change was really endearing. She’s a clear testament that you don’t have to be thin and willowy to score your Prince Charming. She was passionate about the things she loved, not conforming to society’s ideals about who she should be and this trait led her to her happily ever after. Princess Valeria was truly one of a kind.Princesses Don’t Get Fat was told in a very straightforward manner, which was bothersome. It had the potential to become greater had subplots, conflicts and complicated situations were introduced. The writing style was robotic, telling instead of showing and it didn’t do Valeria’s character justice at all. It hindered me from connecting with Valeria as the story skims only her character’s surface, not quite getting to her crux. There were no major disputes and was sadly, anti-climatic. If the writing style was improved, I think this would have been a story with which a lot of girls with self-image issues could relate to as well as a story that would have really stayed with me.Valeria and Ralph had great chemistry and it was cute how Ralph was insanely jealous of Felipe, however, their friendship should have been drawn out more so their relationship had better development. The lack of exploration of Ralph’s character was disappointing and although he was perfectly charming, I couldn’t find myself either rooting or empathizing with him.Princesses Don’t Get Fat was an enjoyable book but it didn’t have the explosive and certain “ooph” to reach its potential.