Ribbon

It ain't Beauty and the Beast. Or The Selection. Or a harem anime. But there are certainly moments that made me think of each. I would have rated this higher if the tone were more consistent. Most of the time it fits the setting and characters perfectly but the occasionally “modern teen” lines rip me right out of the story. Based on the final chapters, I worry the next book will have a lot more of those lines.

Reveka would like to solve the Twelve Dancing Princesses mystery, but she's not one of the princesses or a suitor. She's just an herbalist's apprentice who'd make good use of the monetary reward offered to not-suitors who tackle the puzzle. The Princess Curse is from a rare outside perspective and all the herbalism is pretty neat.

Unfortunately none of the characters have much personality. Everyone has the same voice and the only characters with any personality traits at all are relatively minor characters. And only two come to mind.

Young women are sold into reproductive slavery and, for some reason, shown off like purebred dogs while they incubate. They wear pretty dresses and show off their talents as commanded by their owners, who are varying degrees of abusive. It's a screwed up system and Violet is motivated by “get out” and, eventually, “break the system”, which worked well for Hunger Games. She would also like to help her childhood friend escape. Except she meets a hot guy she can't have and suddenly can't do anything but moon over him and screws everything up because he's so nice and attractive.

This is one of the “Pretty Dresses Dystopia” subgenre books, like The Selection. I think it's better written than The Selection but the forced romantic plot is a lot less forgivable.

Does this tragic romance series not have enough tragic romance for you? You're in for a treat!

Luce hops back through time with her plucky gargoyle sidekick, observing so many tragic deaths that I lost count. It is actual time travel, rather than observing memories, but she's fairly careful about disturbing continuity and the rules are pretty flexible. If something changes, that's how it's always been. I didn't find it as frustrating as some time travel stories (granted my standards are already low for this series.)

The variety of ways Luce and Daniel are cast in different settings (not just European and North American!) is interesting, though some variations on their names are cringe worthy.