Dueling Princes: The Calypso Chronicles, Book 3 [Hardcover]

Tyne O'Connell (Author)

Book Description

Series: Calypso Chronicles | Publication Date: November 29, 2005

Dating Britain’s royal Prince Freddie has made Year Eleven at St. Augustine’s the best one so far for Calypso Kelly. Together with best friends Star and Georgina, and new chums Portia and Indie, LA-born Calypso at last seems to have everything she’s dreamed of…or does she? With the national fencing trials coming up, balancing school, friendships, and a royal romance is a lot harder than she imagined. Something will have to give, but what—or whom—will it be? Picking up where Stealing Princes left off, this funny, fast-paced third book chronicling the life and times of Calypso Kelly will not disappoint.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-10–This third book about Calypso follows her attempts to manage her life while dealing with her parents' sudden and unexpected marital issues. An American in an English boarding school, she simply wants to earn a spot on the national fencing team and keep up with her boyfriend, Prince Frederick. Then her mother suddenly shows up on her doorstep. Calypso's first-person narration comes off like a British teen trying to sound American rather than the other way around, which is a bit jarring. The dialogue is snappy but the author does little to set the scenes or help readers navigate through myriad sketchily defined minor characters. Meg Cabot's The Princess Diaries and Louise Rennison's Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series are better choices.–Adrienne Furness, Webster Public Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 7-10. Featuring an American teen at a British boarding school, O'Connell's Calypso Chronicles blend appealing components of such popular series as Gossip Girls and the Princess Diaries. In this installment, Calypso is at the top of her game, as much in her fencing technique as in her romance with HRH Freds. Then her mother arrives unannounced, and slapstick machinations ensue as Calypso attempts to juggle fencing, Freds, and Mom, who may or may not be filing for divorce. A fencing and British-slang glossary helps to bridge the transatlantic gap, and there is enough moony romance to appease fans drawn by the series' Cinderella premise. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books (November 29, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582346585
• ISBN-13: 978-1582346588
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 4.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,360,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

"Bridget Jones on speed. She's funnier, sharper, and there's no way she's going to end up with anyone called Darcy"
THE GUARDIAN
"Lightening Fast Comic twists" ELLE UK
"Funny exposé of It-girlschool life." ELLE GIRL UK
"Briget Jones for the early teen set."- WASHINGTON POST USA
"A wickedly funny, bitchy, romp set at the heart of the trendy London art scene.
(Publishing News)
"Lightening Fast Comic twists" ELLE UK
"Outrageously funny and a serious contender for the teen chick-lit throne."
- Claudia Mody, The Bookseller

British author Tyne O'Connell, is an international bestselling author of thirteen books - eight contemporary fiction and five YA titles including A ROYAL MATCH and A ROYAL MESS. Her stories are inhabited by British eccentrics and aritos at large. She has been featured in Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and most UK broadsheets. Cassandra Jardine hailed her as "A modern day Elinor Glyn - the original It Girl" and "The Queen Bee Incarnate". She has contributed stories to the Girl's Night In, Kid's Night In and the Travel Goddess series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable third installment in The Calypso Chronicles, December 16, 2005

By 

Teenreads.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dueling Princes: The Calypso Chronicles, Book 3 (Hardcover)

Calypso Kelly, the American import at the British prep school St. Augustine's, returns for a third adventure in this fun series.

Calypso is starting to get serious about fencing now, and will be competing in tournaments that will bring her to the attention of scouts and even the British National team. Her Olympic dream is getting closer. In the meantime, her mother comes to England, saying she has left Calypso's father in Los Angeles and wants to start a new life near her daughter. Calypso thinks it would be nice to see more of her mom if only she didn't pinch her cheek and call her Boojie in public. What about her father? His angry email responses to Calypso show her that a solution to this separation seems to be nowhere in sight.

Prince Freddie continues to be her boyfriend, though several miscommunications put this in jeopardy. When she tries to break into his school, she gets caught in a very compromising situation that could keep her out of some important fencing matches. On top of all that, school exams are coming up. How can one girl from LA balance it all?

Fans of Gossip Girl and Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicolson series will enjoy The Calypso Chronicles. Dating a prince may be the stuff of fantasies, but Calypso has the same doubts and dreams of many young women. Her dating life is just one aspect of this well-rounded, likeable character.

--- Reviewed by Amy Alessio

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dueling Princes, December 23, 2005

By 

K. Kroner "Raya" (Centreville, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dueling Princes: The Calypso Chronicles, Book 3 (Hardcover)

The third book in Tyne O' Connell's Calypso Chronicles, Dueling Princes is an amazing and hilarious read. Calypso Kelly is back at the posh English boarding school of St. Augustine's after spending the half-term break at her friend Star's Derbyshire estate kissing her boyfriend, Prince Freddie. With the British National Fencing Competition coming up, she and Portia, another of her friends, are determined to make the national team. Too bad a royal monkey wrench is thrown into her plans by the arrival of her "mad madre", who is separating from Calypso's father, Bob. On top of all this, she's having problems with Freds and they might even break up!

Drastic measures are needed, of course, and so Calypso attempts the unheard of. She sneaks into the boys' boarding school, Eades, where she is caught by the house matron, and worst of all, Freddie, in someone else's bathrobe necking champagne. Before she can explain, the house matron carts her back to St. Augustine's to face the wrath of her mother... and Sister Constance.

With crazed parents, a fanatical fencing master, and a small nun with a lot of energy all on the loose, will Calypso ever be able to keep her prince and win her bouts on the fencing piste?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Continuation of a Charming Series, November 14, 2007

By 

Anne-Marie Gilliland (Near D.C., USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dueling Princes: The Calypso Chronicles, Book 3 (Hardcover)

The third book in a series, and the third I have read this week in this series. This book has more depth to it than others you might compare it to (Princess Diaries, Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging, etc). The narrator, Calypso Kelly, is an American born girl who's mother has forced her to attend a British boarding school.

In this third book (and it is best to read them in order) Calypso's two main passions are really taking off: fencing and writing. And perhaps that is what gives her more depth, while she does obsess a bit over guys, she keeps them in as much perspective as a 14 (nearly 15) year old can. She and Prince Freddie, as usual are having their misunderstandings, it is well established by now that he gets a bit insecure as far as Calypso is concerned.

On top of those good things, however, she also has to deal with her mother having hopped onto the L.A. bandwagon of therapists, and her midlife crisis--which includes Sarah moving back to England and leaving Bob in L.A. to work on his "Big One". And the horror of having Honey O'Hare as her roommate.

As usual Calypso narrates with a wonderfully engaging style.

I wouldn't reccomend this for younger readers because it does have some coarse language in it, 14 the youngest, 15 is probably the target audience.