The Princess Rules Paperback – 5 Mar. 2020

I love Phillipa Gregory books myself so I thought I'd get this trilogy for my Grand daughter (7 at the time). Her Grandad has read them as her bedtime story (a couple of chapters at a time), whenever she's stayed over. She loves them all. They are funny, adventurous and very, very readable. She loves reading and has started to read them for herself now - even though she has already heard all three already! Great value for money, too.

Granddaughter read to me via FaceTime in lockdown. Thoroughly enjoyed

Good book, 8yr old daughter loved it

cant fault this author

Absolutely brilliant

This is The Princess Rules by Philippa Gregory. My daughter who is 8 has been reading this and is so far thoroughly enjoying it. This is the story of Princess Florizella (she is a true Princess after all, her mum and dad are the king and queen of the seven kingdoms) who has no desire to follow 'the Princess rules' like the other 120 princesses in the land do. Things take an unexpected turn when she is invited to the ball by prince Bennett, who is fed up of all the princesses only pretending to like him and how he has to dance with every single one.This is a fantastic story so far and very easy for my daughter to read. There has been some humour, some thought provoking ideas (how the queen has to clean all 123 rooms of the palace while the king won't even clean one room) and my daughter likes the indirect references to some Disney Princesses. This is a story about being true to yourself, being who you are without having to conform to societies stereotypes, standing up for what you believe is right and having some fun along the way. After all, Princess Florizella doesn't want to wear dresses that are too tight, live off air and spend all afternoon plucking her eyebrows.Highly recommend this book.

This reminded me of Judy Corbalis' 'The Wrestling Princess', a title I enjoyed as a 10 year old. In the same vein, this features a princess who will simply not obey the fairytale 'rules' of the daughters of kings. And her life is all the more interesting for it.Princess Florizella has a mother, the queen, who "was particularly neglectful - she completely failed ot due and leave her daughter to a cruel stepmother to make her herd geese or sit in the cinders." Readers will enjoy recognising such conventions of the fairytale genre and seeing them turned on their head. WIth the princess herself at the heart of this subversion: she "grew up into a cheerful, noisy, bossy, happy girl who spend her mornings on her horse called Jellybean, and her afternoons working with them in the royal office." In other words, she's a young woman with a full life, a strong personality and varied interests. Totally opposite to the usual archetype. Even male readers might be impressed.I particularly enjoyed this line:"'A princess is just a prince with more s's', she replied. The king thought for a moment. 'What does the s's stand for?' 'Sass,' she said. 'Sass and science, sensibility and scepticism. Sincerity, spirit and certainty.'" Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Gregory knows what contemporary readers and parents want (and need) to hear.This is a reissue of three previously published Florizella stories, brought together, though it was the first time I'd heard of them. I thoroughly enjoyed the breezy tales of princes, dragons and adventures that actually need a princess to solve/complete/triumph in.As an adult, I was entertained, and I expect boys and girls, aged around 7-12 will feel the same.With thanks to Netgalley for providing an advance reading copy.

The Princess Rules brings together three Princess Florizella stories - Princess Florizella; Florizella and the Wolves; Florizella and the Giant - from the author Phillipa Gregory.Florizella is a Princess who doesn't follow the Rules; for example she doesn't wait to be rescued, she rescues herself. She believes that a Princess is just a Prince with more 's's, and therefore she's just as capable.I most liked the first story of the three, where we are introduced to Florizella, I thought this was the strongest story. I thought it had a sense of humour and irony - always important when you might be reading this story over and over again. When Florizella leaves the ball and sees all the glass slippers left on the stairs, she just says - "This is getting completely ridiculous." I thought it showed how not only are the princesses trapped by these "rules" but the prince is also trapped by expectations as well.Florizella and the Wolves was okay, we especially liked how the King's relationship with the wolves developed. But my least favourite and I think the weakest story of the three was Florizella and the Giant. I didn't think it was necessary for the child with the lisp to be laughed at. It seemed a bit mean and out of place in the story.If you are reading this as a bedtime story you could get through 2 or 3 chapters a night. There are also lots of story and character discussions to be had. One that we got stuck into was - Why are wolves and princesses allowed to be different, but not dragons? A good book for children who are starting to gain confidence in their reading. It's aimed at children 6+, and I think that's the right age band.Overall - it's an easy read about a princess determined to be different and not live by anybody else's rules.