Customer Reviews

Two Moon Princess

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I was growing up, many young girls might have envied the life of Princess Andrea, the heroine of Two Moon Princess. She lives in a castle in a world resembling medieval Spain. Horses, servants, beautiful scenery--what's not to like? But for Andrea, a headstrong young woman, that life is stifling. She'd rather train to be a knight, but her fourteenth birthday is only months away, and she must become a "lady." That means staying inside the castle, learning to curtsy and smile and do needlework ad nauseam. No more hunting in the woods.

One day, in the midst of this unwanted transition, Andrea is accidentally transported to modern California. Now we're talking! Andrea is awed by the freedom of the teenagers she meets on a beach. Here as well, she sees her uncle, and is taken to his beautiful home. He travels freely between the two worlds by entering a forbidden cave on the night of a full moon, and tells Andrea she must return to her father's kingdom the next month. But knowing Andrea as we do, it won't be that easy.

Unfortunately, her plans don't work out, and her return to the Kingdom of Zeltia is accidental. She brings back a California boy who falls in love with the lore and swordplay of Zeltia and puts his life at risk.

The relationships between Andrea and her parents, her sister, and the young men she is attracted to in both worlds, are expertly drawn. These are no two-dimensional characters. The author skillfully exposes the motivations of everyone who plays a role in Andrea's burgeoning adolescence. We see both the good and bad sides of people who have the heroine's best interests at heart.

Andrea matures during the course of the story, traveling from her world, which has two moons, to California and back again. She gets into more than a few hair-raising predicaments along the way, but this is no "damsel in distress" story. Andrea keeps busy saving a life or two on her own, learns to accept help, and never gives up trying for the best outcome for everyone in her parallel lives.

This is a princess story to keep a young adult reader turning the pages until the end. Even after the last word, though, you'll wonder what happens to Andrea next. Lucky for us, the author has written a sequel called The King In the Stone for the same publisher.

by Linda Wisniewski

for Story Circle Book Reviews

reviewing books by, for, and about women

Fast paced and full of twists, Two Moon Princess follows Andrea, a strong-willed princess, from her Spanish Medieval world to present day California and back.

While her unplanned return to her own world with a Californian boy brings war to Andrea's kingdom, her brave and at times foolish attempts to stop the war and keep the American boy alive has unforeseen consequences that will change her forever.

A feminine protagonist girls can admire, Andrea's daring, strength, powers of observation and compassion lead her and us to discoveries about our world and ourselves.

The characters are fully realized and the romance, forbidden and unexpected, makes for a deeply satisfying ending.

This is an excellent fantasy book for children and adults alike. I highly recommend it.

Two Moon Princess, written by Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban, tells the story of Princess Andrea, who lives in a parallel world called Xaren. Discontent with her life, she wants to learn to fight with the other squires, not become a lady and as her distant parents demand. But even when her Tio Ramiro fails to convince her father, she is forced to learn to become a lady, and learn the finer arts of royal behavior with her elder sisters. Until she finds a portal that takes her to modern day California. Here, Andrea flourishes. She is convinced that this is where she is meant to be, and intends to stay forever. But when circumstances beyond her control force her to return to Xaren, along with a John, a boy who is not supposed to know her secret. Soon John is involved in a war that will surely tear her country apart--unless Andrea has the courage and strength of mind to put a stop to it all.

Headstrong, clever, and sometimes a little foolish, Princess Andrea is a character to fall in love with immediately. Her grounded and pragmatic persona in intensely appealling. Fast paced, enchanting, and humorous, Two Moon Princess is definitely a book that you will not want to miss. Don't be fooled by the demure cover, this one headstrong princess's journey will make you wish that Andrea's story would never end as she learns that she can be a lady and still follow her heart.

A wonderful coming-of-age story that spans two worlds and features a clever, lovable heroine! Nicely told, with lots of action and a touch of romance--perfect for any young adult.

Full of quirky, opinionated young characters with boyfriend-girlfriend baggage that follows them between two worlds as they fight to preserve their country's future while trying to understand their pasts. Action, young adult romantic entanglements, strong young female characters, patriotism to one's country and one's beliefs make this a clean and enjoyable read for a young adult audience.

I enjoy a good read that throws me a curve ball here and there. I enjoy a read that takes me into new situations and worlds. I got that easily from Carmen Ferreiro-Estaban's book, Two Moon Princess.

This is a story of a princess, Andrea, in a world that has two moons, a gold one and a copper one. She is the youngest of four daughters who prefers being a tomboy and yearns to become a knight some day. Needless to say, this does not sit well with the king and queen.

In an attempt to run away instead of becoming a lady of the court, she finds herself almost falling over a cliff in a land that is forbidden due to rumors of ghosts. She finds herself rescued by her uncle who is always showing her unique things that others don't believe. She promises to go back but it is not long that she is depressed and ventures into the forbidden lands again looking for the source of many of her people's myths. Upon entering a cave, the tide flows in and she thinks she is drowning. Instead, she finds herself in a similar cave with a world that only has one yellow moon. She is now on Earth.

Her uncle takes her under his wing and introduces her to a world that is just what she has been looking for all these years. She meets new friends including a young man that she can't help but blush over. In an effort to avoid a rainstorm, she takes her young friend into the same cave that brought her from her home not realizing that it is a full moon which is the key to opening the door to the next world.

After a few brick walls and almost losing their lives, her friend falls in love with her sister. This sets off a war between two lands and puts Andrea in the middle of the fighting armies as she attempts to end the war. Several times she is faced with death and then is in a position to save the very hated man that rescued her. In the effort to save his life, she learns more about her mother, father, and uncle as well as the King of the land attacking them, Don Julian. There is much more to all this than she realizes.

I have to admit that this was a slow read at first until Andrea finds her way to Earth. It picks up speed there but then I really got into it once they were back in her world and in the middle of the war. I usually can pick up on twists before they happen but wasn't able to with this one. The author threw me a curve ball and I didn't get it till the end. I applaud her for that.

This is a great read for young adults and adults. It is a mixture of mystery, science fiction, history, and adventure.

Note: The book was supplied by the publisher per by request.

Based on the cover and title, I thought this was going to be a fantasy along the lines of maybe a Tamora Pierce story. I should have examined the cover more closely to notice the girl's contemporary wardrobe, foreshadowing how main character Princess Andrea travels between her world of historical fantasy and our world of the 2000s. While this is an interesting concept, it wasn't what I expected and that contributed to my disappointment.

The other disappointment was the characters, especially Andrea who is 14 in her world, which translates to 17 in ours due to different measurements of time and who seemed to waffle between those ages, making many incomprehensible decisions. She didn't seem like a coherent character. First she wants to be a squire, then she is adjusting to California life, then she's back in her world, trying to avert war. I can connect her actions in my mind but the dialogue and description painted her in vastly different ways over the course of the novel. And not because she was growing but because of author convenience, it seemed.

The other characters were also a tangle of personalities, with either abrupt personality changes or not enough background. For example, Andrea has three sisters, all of whom could have been potentially interesting but who were really sidelined. The sisters do have an impact on the plot but at the expense of their character development, at least in the eyes of this reader. Andrea's mother was also a confusing figure; she was actually from our world but she gave that up for love with a man who seemed more cruel and unworthy of her love, at least in his behavior to their daughters.

There were some nice points against war and about male pride, that I tend to agree with. And the story itself had some cool threads. Two worlds colliding and a girl struggling to find her place could be a great story. But because of the characters, this one just didn't hang together and left me frustrated with them.

Overall: Interesting story but weak characters.

Our story takes us on an adventure of Princess Andrea. Stubborn and hearty she wants to be a Page only to have her father turn down her request. He wants her to join her mother and learn to be a Lady as is fitting of her status.

Andrea is gutsy, intelligent and quick witted. She meets her Uncle at some rocks near a beach and is soon to discover that the cave/archway is actually a portal to another world.

Andrea resumes her life and learns her Lady skills to a degree but she is not completely happy in her world.When she accidently goes over to the other side she meets her Uncle again and discovers his other life, meets his daughter and gets to know John, a boy that catches her fancy.

This book captured me from the beginning and I was expecting something else if I'm honest. It started like Alanna by Tamora Pierce and ended completely NOT like Alanna.

I thought the descriptive writing was superb, this author has such a flare for english and can captivate you with the story.

It doesn't matter that some of the characters are downright annoying (Kelsey for instance) I think that was the authors intention.

Andrea does at times act much younger than her age, she is sometimes a little slow (but we can forgive that) and she's impulsive. But that's what I like in a heroine. She's still growing up after all.

Altogether I thought it was a great read. I'm not sure about the target market as originally I though 10-12 years, but then ended up being 14-16 years, however I'm sure the older audience will enjoy this book also.

Andrea is a princess in what seems to be a medieval town on a totally different planet. She finds it difficult to fit in, and wishes more than anything she did not have to become a proper lady. When she discovers an ancient portal, she is transported to California on modern day Earth, and realizes that her family is full of secrets.

Andrea is a character going a pretty typical coming of age journey, hers just happens to be taking place as she hops between two parallel worlds. I have no major problem with the concept of parallel worlds, nor with the coming of age storyline. I did not, however, enjoy the execution of either concept in this book. As a whole, the book seems to be halfheartedly executed. The book tries to weave Spanish history and culture into the story, but for someone unfamiliar, it is totally lost. The character and plot development seem inadequate, in my opinion. We learn little about Andrea as a character, and I found the story to be lacking depth. We learn very little of her experience on Earth, other than the fact she meets a cute boy, and it is never described to my satisfaction how she is able to adapt to her new and foreign surroundings so quickly and easily.

This is probably a perfectly fine book for a young adult reader, considering it offers lots of angles, and crosses several genres including fantasy and romance. But I felt it did not translate as well for an adult reader as some young adult books do, simply because I wanted it to be meatier, better developed.

In this coming-of-age story set in a medieval kingdom, Andrea is a headstrong princess longing to be a knight: something both her parents have forbidden. In an angry rage, she chases after a legend and finds her way to modern-day California where she finally belongs. But her accidental return to her family's kingdom and a disastrous romance brings war, along with her discovery of some dark family secrets. Readers will love this mix of traditional fantasy elements with unique twists and will identify with Andrea and her difficult choices between duty and desire.

**

Wow. Was this a surprise or what? While I was reading this book, I enjoyed it. But by the time I finished the book, I was in love.

I always admire female characters who want to break through the norm. But Andrea is different. She is very strong willed, but she tries her hardest to do what her parents ask. When that doesn't work, she decides to take things into her own hands.

She accidentally finds a door to modern-day California, and discovers a world where she finally belongs. When she, again accidentally, finds her way back to her medieval home, she finds herself causing a war. In an attempt to save her people, she makes matters worse. She has to use her knowledge of the modern world and put it to work to save her ancient home.

I absolutely loved the story. And just when I'd given up all hope of any romance in this book at all, I was blind-sided with one of the sweetest love stories you can find.

I just learned there is going to be a sequel and I'm so excited!

The reading level is officially middle grade, but I found it to be a bit more mature than that. Not that there's mature content, I just think older readers will enjoy it as well.