Thank you to Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This Princess Kills Monsters is a fairytale retelling from the perspective of a smaller character in the story, Melilot. I wouldn’t say it’s by definition a cozy fantasy as there’s a good amount of battle in the book, but it’s definitely a gentle and heartwarming fantasy. The writing was witty and clever — I loved the fairy tale references sprinkled in throughout, and I always appreciate fun chapter titles. From the Author’s Note, you can tell how much care and effort went into these aspects. The book starts with the fairytale it’s based on so you can see the mystery outlined, and I found most of the closures to the plot satisfying. The story is adventurous, which I loved, and action packed, which I think I have to accept just really isn’t my thing. I found the world well crafted — there were a lot of details to both the world and the magic system, but I found it all easily digestible without there being a bunch of info dumping at the beginning. The idea of retelling a story from the “side character’s” perspective led to conversations on appreciating mundane things, feeling “enough,” and making heroes out of parent/guardian figures. I loved this themes but I wished we dived deeper into them as a lot of what the book touches on with these conversations felt surface level. Melilot was a wonderful and complex main character, which really brought all the action and plot points together. She was strong and heroic, but we also got to see her insecurities. Seeing her character growth was heart warming and inspirational. Additionally, I LOVED the strong sisterhood, queer themes and acceptance, the descriptions in the lake scene, and the main romance subplot.