Customer Reviews

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This set of interconnected short stories is based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, where a king offers a reward for anyone who can tell him how his daughters' shoes get thoroughly trashed every night without their apparent knowledge.

The king in this story has twelve daughters, so you can imagine the size of the daily bills from Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo, and you can also imagine his haste in getting to the bottom of the matter. To make it more puzzling, all the daughters were married, so the original fairy tale solution just didn't cut it anymore.

To make sure that only serious enquiries were entertained, the king pronounced a death penalty for failure, so after a while nobody was volunteering to solve the case of the un-soled shoes.

Since the men weren't up to the task, along came a "wizardess" with quite a few tricks in her bag and up her sleeves, and after convincing the king that she was the one, she set to work visiting each Princess and royal spouse at their respective homes.

Now these are erotic short stories, so you will realize that the key to the shoe thing lies in the intimate relationships between each Princess and her husband. The author skillfully uses each short story to focus on a different problem that can cause conjugal strife, and offers words of advice on how to solve them.

And now for the good stuff.....

Each story involves the "wizardess" prescribing cures for the problem at hand, including golden eels, magic rings, paintbrushes, masks, a special chastity belt that takes a lot more than a word to "open sesame", magic bubbles and even a fairy tale apple.

Hot and steamy, but never offensive or crude, these sizzling stories would make the Brothers Grimm squirm in their ledenhosen.


Amanda Richards, January 24, 2008

So many of my pals enjoyed this tale so I fully expected to love it, too. Unfortunately I didn't love it, I didn't even like it.

A king is puzzled that his twelve married daughters wake up each morning to find that their shoes have been completely worn out while they sleep. Several people have stepped forward trying to solve the mystery, yet no one has been able to. A wizardess comes through with an intriguing, yet seemingly impossible, answer. The king challenges her to prove her findings and to cure the reasons behind it, and the wizardess accepts the challenge and pays each princess a separate visit.

What started off as an intriguing and fanciful idea soon fell flat for me. Each short tale was eerily similar to the one before it. Each of the twelve princesses basically has the same problem, lack of communication with their spouses that has caused some sort of sexual and/or emotional issues. Yet within seconds of meeting each couple the wizardess finds twelve imaginative, different and entertaining ways to fix their problems. The couples come together, sexually, in what sometimes reads as a how-to guide for the sexually and/or emotionally inept.

While I found that most sexcapades were delicious and appealing to many different moods and appetites, the end of the book takes a turn for the worse with some of the deeds. One of the men actually beats his wife on the arse with a belt. Yes, I am aware that many people enjoy this sort of thing. My problem was with the malice behind the act rather than the act itself. Another husband resorts to electrically shocking his wife when she steps out of line as some sort of behavioral modification tool, I wanted to punch him.

Had I not known that this book was written by a woman I would have assumed it was penned by a recently divorced and severely embittered man. Each princess personifies and magnifies a negative stereotype associated with women. For example you have the angry feminist, the wife who has `let herself go', the prude, the martyr, the shrew, the woman who uses sex to get material things, etc. It was hard to fully enjoy the acts of intimacy when the characters were so unlikable. All in all I found the idea behind the stories and the humor behind each princess's names far more interesting than the actual stories themselves.

Cherise Everhard, January 2009

I loved this book not only for the good writing and the way the eroticism was an essential part of the story, but for how clever the wizardess was in providing cures for what ailed each princess's marriage. I suspect reading it could do a marriage troubled by sexual disharmony a lot of good.

I bought this book because I love a good erotic romance novel, and I thought this one would be fun, as it is billed as an erotic fairy tale. Also, it had wonderful reviews. The problem is that I found it utterly boring and pointless. "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" combines the negative qualities of both a diconnected romance novel and a boring erotic novel. A book like this has to have either wonderfully written characters, or hot scenes, and this one has neither. Each chapter is about one of the princesses, whose sexual problem is described, in shorthand (and laughably) by her name. Devotia, for instance, is very religious and thinks what her husband wants her to do is too sinful. All of the characters are crudely drawn -- the men almost interchangable -- and you only get a small chapter with each couple, so you don't care about any of them. Also, the sex scenes are pedestrian, wordy, overly psychological and boring. Skip this one and get a good romance novel instead.

I really loved this book. Not only are the stories quite sexy, the plots are extremely clever and thought-provoking. Definitely a keeper!

Madore offers us a modern fairy tale, one for decidedly adult readers. The format works well: an even dozen short stories, plus prologue and epilogue, representing the twelve sisters of the book's title. The twelve have a problem, or rather a different problem for each, but one that manifests in the same way. An itinerant sorceress undertakes to resolve their individual unhappinesses, in hope of a magnificent prize and at risk of execution for failure. It turns out that each princess has some difficulty around the marriage bed, different for each and solved differently by the magical couples' counselor. Happiness is restored, as seen by zealous exercises of conjugal conjugation described in vivid detail. I found the first two or three the most enticing but the others did less for me, leaving an uneven impression. That's about par for the course in any collection of erotic stories, though.

This set appeals because of it's generally gentle tone. Nothing harsh or truly non-consensual appeared anywhere. It stands out for its use of language, gleamingly erotic and unmistakably physical, but tasteful even when describing the most intimate of anatomical details and processes. One interesting feature pushes this into very rare territory, though: all of its eroticism arises between married partners - married to each other, that is. I don't see any reason to question the morality of these deliciously erotic stories, and was quite happy to see at least one author assume that married sex need not be boring. Done right (as here), it's anything but.

-- wiredweird

I was ready to write this fabulously glowing review about Nancy Madore's take on The Twelve Dancing Princesses but in reading the reviews I got a little discouraged cause they are all pretty good. Amanda Richard's review I think is the best. Please refer to that review to find my thoughts on this book. One more thing I would add is this would be a really good book for couples working out the kinks in their relationship. There were so many really good ideas for both the guys and the gals. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

It seems like such a girly book, but as a man who's half way into it, I find it witty & fun to read. It's a nice warm up tool. It provide practical, sexual help in a non threatening way. If you have been married for a while this book gives some good reminders w/ out being sleazy.

A good one to keep by the bed. Read the whole book for yourself first--it will fan flames of desire. Then mark a chapter for your husband to read, or read it aloud to him, and he may understand your needs better. It's also a perfect gift for a bridal shower!

To an observer the charming affluent twelve princesses seem to live perfect lives. Yet each of the dozen is discontented as if something is missing. They do not lack for power or loving caring husbands who covet them; yet they remain sad and depressed, but no one including the princesses knows why.

Desperate to find out why they are so despondent, a wizardess is brought to them to try to help the pretty princesses unravel what is the cause of their discontent. Soon each begins to understand their lack of self esteem as they fear telling their beloved their deepest needs. Encouraged to search for ways to satiate their passion for sexual intimacy, they begin to find contentment with their loving spouses.

Besides readers, Bullwinkle, Rocky and friends (think Fractured Fairy Tales) and The Brothers Grimm would be pleased with this charming adult version of the classic fairy tale. The fast-paced story line stars the pampered popular princesses who have major self esteem issues that leave them feeling unworthy of the sexy spouses who cherish and love them. Fans who appreciate something different in their romantic fantasy should try Nancy Madore, whose bewitching take on fairy tales (see ENCHANTED - EROTIC BEDTIME STORIES FOR WOMEN) proves she has the magic wand.

Harriet Klausner