The Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly challenge post previously hosted by The Broke and Bookish and now hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. You can follow along for each weekly post here. This week’s post is a genre freebie. Because of everything going on right on, I really wanted to try to do something positive and uplifting so I decided to share my favorite novels about modern day royals. Let’s do this!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Princess Diaries Series by Meg Cabot
You know what the best part of the Princess Diaries series? Well, one, they are so infinitely better than the movies, don’t even get me started. And two, Mia is a reluctant princess who was never raised to be in front of the cameras nor trained to be a leader of a country and yet she spends 10 books really becoming a princess. She’s relatable as hell and was the hero of my preteen and teen years.
American Royals by Katharine McGee
This novel presents an alternate view of what could’ve been our history. Instead of George Washington becoming our first president, he instead was offered a crown and took it and the Washingtons have ruled ever since. All of the characters are wonderful and the idea of the USA being a monarchy is so intriguing. The two princesses have two totally different paths in lives and they both struggle to fit their roles and figure out how to do their jobs well. This was one of my favorite books of 2019, hands down, and I can’t wait for book two.
Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins
Tell me a story of a rebellious but also super caring gay princess and you’ve pretty much given me my kryptonite. The first book, Royals (eventually renamed to Prince Charming) was wonderful and so much fun but this book totally takes the cake. Flora is so great, so unlike a princess needs to be and her falling in love with Millie is so sweet.
The Seven Realms Series by Cinda Williams Chima
Raisa is one of the coolest and most badass princesses I’ve ever read in literature. She is in constant motion and always trying to figure out how to be a better princess to eventually be the perfect ruler. She sees the benefits of her two cultures, the wolf queens and her fathers tribal ways. I could go on and on and on about her but honestly she’s one of the best princesses I’ve ever read. She’s the non traditional princess that does everything she can to protect her family and to save her country and…now I need to reread.
Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst
You know what the best part of this book is? It’s not ONE princess, it’s TWO. Two princesses from two very different kingdoms with two insanely different personalities, forced to spend time together because one is betrothed to the other’s brother and yet they end up falling in love with each other. Each princess has their own strengths and weaknesses and they’re so good together as a team and as a couple and did I mention that it’s two princesses in love?!
The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
Well, this is going to have spoilers but these books have been out for awhile sooooo well just deal with it. Cinder and Winter are not your usual princesses but that’s why you love them. Cinder is a cyborg who has no idea how to be the princess, the ruler, that she was literally born to be, which kind of makes her the coolest and most deserving princess. Winter is just…well kind of crazy but she’s gentle and caring and kind and means everything she does. Marissa takes all these princesses we know from Disney and makes them even better and makes them cyborgs and pilots and hackers and exactly the kind of princess I’d want to be.
The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
Elisa is a chosen one, and yet she’s everything that a chosen one wouldn’t appear to be. She’s overweight, plain, unsure, lacking in confidence, completely terrified of her birthright as this chosen one. She goes through an incredible transformation throughout three books and the blossoming that’s takes place in this unlikely princess is amazing. She’s strong and intelligent and she was really my first realization that a badass strong character doesn’t need to be physically strong – strength can come from within and Elisa is genuinely one of the best princesses I’ve ever read.
Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch
What makes the princess of this novel so awesome is the fact that it’s such an unexpected princess story. Yes, that’s kind of a spoiler but again, this book has been out for awhile and it’s a mild spoiler. Meira is a badass – no matter what she is handed, no matter how she feels – she keeps going and she keeps fighting and she spends so much time becoming a warrior, that it makes her the kind of kickass princess that I can get behind.
Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
It takes two full books to get a confirmation that Celaena aka Aelin was a princess and she’s the most unconventional princess I’ve come across in books but that’s what makes her so great. Even one of the best characters in the novels, Nehemia, is a princess that is whip smart and fantastic. Aelin is a leader but also does her best to accept the parts of her that aren’t pretty and that’s what makes her a part of this list.
Roar by Cora Carmack
Aurora – already an amazing name for a princess as we know – would literally do anything for the country that she was born to lead, except perhaps marry an awful awful person. This leads to her adventures to find a way to become the perfect queen her country needs. She’s tenacious and brave and resilient and one of my favorite princesses in YA, hands down.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
