I originally read this book in August 13, 2012 and completly forgot about it until I began reading it again a few days ago.

It has a lot of elements that are enjoyable and has that pull that only good books have. I was hooked once again, but its major flaw comes in the ending. It feels rushed and a little forced. I wish the author had spent a little more time fleshing it out in order to make it more believable.

Further explanation includes spoilers....

Prince Florian and Ben being in love for example, while it was obvious the book was leading to that, it would have been nice to have a stronger interaction between the two. The foundation for this love was "mutual dreams" which were never explained. Really, if she had even made them more chummy while Ben was interacting with the Prince as the guise of a boy. If they had become friends or something of the like, the ending would have been more satisfying.

I was a little disappointed as well that no further explanation was provided on the spell book.

I also felt King Roland's proposal to Queen Sophia was a bit over the top. Not every person has to get married at the end of the book.

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I picked this up yesterday and could no put it down. This is a really good story. ( )

What a cute book. It was actually quite adorable. I liked Ben and the fact that she was a fat then chubby princess. I especially liked the development of Ben from a brat to a proper princess. I liked her throughout and I liked all the characters to an extent. They were interesting.

Even though I liked it, it only gets three stars because the pacing is off. It feels like me when I'm writing fanfiction and can't be bothered to actually extend scenes because I want to get to the exciting parts. There's a bit of leeway because this book is seen as a memoir of sort, but it still could have been fleshed out more. There are certainly great parts where the pacing is excellent but the bit of explanation about what happened can be skimmed almost and feel strange.

Again, a cute book. ( )

Very cute, with a nice tone (both stately and chatty) to the narration and copious sidelong references to fairytales. But with all its cuteness, not really compelling. Ben undergoes Montagne-junior-high style development, learning Serious Lessons about growing up into an actual adult, and in the end we all live happily ever after. Fun while it lasts, but unlikely to linger in my memory, at least. ( )

Benevolence is the beloved only child of the royal family. When the king (her uncle) and the princess (her mother) are killed, Ben's life takes a terrible turn. No longer is she allowed the cozy, unpretentious, rough-and-tumble childhood she so enjoyed. Instead she must live in the palace with her aunt, the queen regent, who is so controlled and controlling that it nearly drives Ben mad. Her only solace is learning magic on the sly. After a disastrous ball, Ben embarks on an adventure by turns horrifying and exhausting, and at last becomes someone worthy of her crown.

The twists on common fairy tales are fun to note--at one point Ben conjures an inanimate double to sleep in her place, thus giving rise to the Sleeping Beauty story; at another she exchanges some conjured beans for a cow. Ben's narration is wonderful, with a great dry sense of humor and a lot of personality. And the story adroitly and gradually shows the importance of living up to one's responsibilities and being a good, useful person. ( )