Middle Grade Review: The Princess Swap

* First in a new series *

What would you do if you woke up in a different place???  Cinderella and Belle accidentally switch places. Cinderella finds herself in the castle of a beast while Belle finds herself stranded in Cinderella's house.

For Cinderella, she's allowed more freedom than she's had in years. There's no need to be the maid or the cook. At first, she's excited to be anywhere else. But then she learns about the Beast and the curse. 

Belle is hoping to save her father's company by entering a royal competition. But after she ended up in Ella's house, her magical locket is stolen. Belle can't leave the house without her mother's locket. 

How are both girls going to escape?

My Thoughts: I'm a sucker for Cinderella stories and Belle stories - so this book was right up my alley. What a clever idea to have them switch places. I love that each of the stories kept elements from their stories, but they also changed the story. I loved the addition of the royal competition in Belle's story. I enjoyed her moments with Ella's stepsister Marie.  I love how each other stories ended. I'm so looking forward to the next Princesses (Sleeping Beauty and Snow White) who swap places! 

Cover Thoughts: Cute

Source: ARC sent for review

Library Recommendation: Highly recommended for your school and public library collection.

More about Goals

 So I'm trying something a little bit different this year - a whole notebook for the year filled with lists.

But also filled with accomplishments.

I've tried this in the past and it hasn't work too well, but I am making some changes this year. I talked a little bit about it on TikTok yesterday.

@yabooknerdlibrarian Question: how do you keep going back to your goals for the year and mark progress or new goals??? #goals #newyear #resolutions #journal #lists #notebook ♬ original sound - Jennifer @YA Book Nerd 📚📚📚

I'm hopeful that these changes will help me make it through the year with the notebook and not forget about it halfway through. 

Maybe I should set aside time each month for a recap/revision.

Do you journal your year? How does it work for you?

2025 Goals

 

I have started jotting down goals for the new year.,,

Places I want to visit:

I'm building a list of things I want to do in CT - I haven't done too much exploring here. I'm hoping to go on monthly adventures 

Reading:

Goodreads Challenge: 235 books (Children's, YA, and Adult)

500 picture books and board books

Blogging:

350 blog posts

Middle Grade Mondays - highlight more middle grade reads

reach 3 million blog hits 

Creativity:

Keep painting

Get back into paper quilling

Work:

Clean my office and become better organized

What are your goals for the year?

Wrap of 2024

2024 is over and it was a year!

Pictures:

I met Mychal Treets at our CT Librarian Annual Conference

I hiked in Glacier National Park

Went to a pop-up Gingerbread Bar

Saw the Northern Lights (finally) with friends

Visited Hyde Park

Vacationed in Ocean City, Maryland where we saw wild horses

I completed some goals and not others...

I did complete my reading goal of 225 books

I did not reach the 500 picture book reading goal

I did not reach my blogging goal of 350 blog posts

BUT I did reach 2 million views on my blog!

I did spend the year highlighting middle grade books

I did paint more

I failed at paper quilling

I did try resin - made a huge mess in the kitchen

My home library is more organized - my work office, not so much

Reviewed a bunch of books for Fresh Fiction and a couple for SLJ

Highlights of the Year

Visiting Glacier National Park

Visiting Banff 

Saw my friends in Seattle - we went to a Wallaby farm

Visited friends in Knoxville where we saw Northern Lights

Attended a James Ponti author event

Attended an event with Kristan Higgins and Kate White with author friend Regina Kyle (sadly, I took no pictures)

Visited Elizabeth Park for the tulips 

Interviewed a favorite middle grade author, Jessica Burkhart

Visited Nantucket with family

Wrote a mini essay for KidLit for Kamala on my experience with book banning

Ate lots of ice cream from Mel's and other sweet treats

I was sent lots of great books from publishing folks

There were some hard moments too, but not as easy to talk about those things.

 Some of them happened indirectly to me, so I'm not sharing those.

Conference proposal rejected - which I thought was a sure thing

After visiting the doctor, I have high cholesterol - so I've worked hard to change the way I eat, which has been a struggle. I do love sweets and cheese. Everything in moderation. 

What were some of your highlights from the year?

Happy New Year

I hope 2025 is amazing for you and filled with so much happiness and laughter, great books to read, adventures with friends, and amazing desserts!