THE HERO'S GUIDE TO STORMING THE CASTLE by Christopher Healy

The League of Princes is back! Sleeping Beauty has kidnapped Prince Liam and forced him to marry her and help her in a scheme that is the first step to taking over the world. But since the scheme includes Princes Frederick, Gustav and Douglas, nothing is going to go as planned!

The story for this one is almost too convoluted to summarize and not give too much of the plot away. Suffice it to say this is a great fairy tale/adventure story - zany, funny and dizzying in its antics. The characters are well-defined, which is especially good because SO much is going on. There are some hints at romantic resolutions for the pairs that seem destined for failure. I would love to read this one out loud to a class of students because it is just a hoot! You might think you know these fairy tales - Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Rapunzel and Snow White, but you have never read them quite like this! I love these books so much, I downloaded the audio books of this one and its predecessor on Audible for a free trial of the service. The audio books are read by Bronson Pinchot - and they are fantastic!

4 out of 5 stars

The first book in the series, The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom was one of my favorite books of 2012. This one came out in 2013, but I didn't carve out time for it until this year. That actually worked to my advantage because I am that much more prepared for the third and final book in the series, The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw which is pictured below and releases on April 29, 2014.

FRIDAY: A Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom

[I won this book from one of my favorite book blogs - From the Mixed Up Files of Middle Grade Authors]

Surely you know the stories of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Rapunzel. What you  may not know are the stories of Frederick, Liam, Duncan and Gustav. Those guys are the princes in those stories. All most people know about them is that they are princes - they aren't even called by their own names, just "Prince Charming." 

This story starts after the fairy tales -  Ella leaves to find adventure, Sleeping Beauty is a shrew and Liam can't stand her, Snow White asks for a "little space," and Gustav is bitter about being saved by a girl so Rapunzel leaves to use her healing powers on those who would appreciate her. The princes stumble into one another and stumble onto an evil plot. Through a succession of errors and disasters, they might just save the day after all.

4.5 out of 5 stars

This was great fun! I love fractured fairy tales, and this story was right up my alley. Each character is unique  - the princes, the princesses - and they evolve as individuals and in some cases as couples in fascinating ways. My favorite moment in the story is when the guys realize how to work together instead of working against one another. This is another one that I can't decide if I should put it in the library or keep this copy for myself and get another for school. I hope there are going to be more stories for these characters!