Genre: Historical Fiction/Christian Fiction
The Analysis:
This book comes up often on one of the reader recommendation services I use. Plus, I’m in love with the cover and its right up my alley with the types of books I liked to read in the Historical Fiction arena with the princess/pauper theme. So I was certainly looking forward to it. Piano girl by Sherry Schoenborn Murray, lets book review it.
Heres the Blurb:
She plays from memory. Her memories. The day after her 16th birthday, Princess Alia finds out that she’s been given away in marriage to a man she’s never met. The war has just ended, and for Alia’s protection, she must travel to her future kingdom disguised as a chicken farmer’s daughter. This princess-to-pauper story is filled with problems, prayers, and plenty of piano. This is the first book in the Counterfeit Princess series.
[/one_half]So the red roof tops of the castles in the background reminded me of Italy. And as you know I have my own Historical Fantasy briefly set there. So that drew me to this cover. I also loved the look of the princess. I kept thinking it must’ve been hard to find a model to fit the genre and story with such great detail. Comment below what you think?
Chapter 1 started off with a glimpse of the main character (mc) home life where life as she knows it is still beautiful. However, immediately its thrown into disarray when a man steals her first kiss. You’re instantly reminded of how important that stuff was back then. Perhaps, now as well.
The rest of the book wastes no time in getting the adventure started. She’s immediately transported into the world of a chicken farmers daughter. So that she can make the journey to her new kingdom without being assassinated on the way. But there taking the long way because she’s a spoiled brat and needs to learn a few lessons before she’s made responsible for a whole country.
And the verdict is . . . drum roll please . . . I loved it. I loved the people she connected with all along the way. Everyone had a different dialect that the mc had to pick up in order to keep up the charade. It was never a dull moment where I thought I was dragging my feet through it to finish it. Somehow, It made me fall in love with my own Historical Fantasy, Freedom to Rarity, all over again. By the end of it was I thinking, maybe I should read my book again.
There was also some touching moments in there where you really thought maybe there was some redeeming qualities about the 17th century after all. For all of the religion, those countries had, there was no actual soul in it. No heart. There laws were barbaric and the treatment of women was downright shameful. Yet this book offered the possibility that perhaps not every place was like that. There hearts could be moved to do the right thing. In this case through music, and I loved that about this book.
Now as an author, I can applaud this marketing scheme, but as a reader, WTF. The book is literally cut down the middle as a part 1 and part 2. So if you want to read the rest of the story you have to buy part 2. And you can only get the whole thing together in audio or paperback. Now is the book worth getting the second half, lets not even discuss it. Because you can’t reward such tactics because then they’ll (indie authors) will all start doing it, and that’s just a bad practice. I liked the book, but was disappointed that I couldn’t finish it. I hadn’t read the reviews before hand, warning me away from such shenanigans.
Story At A Glance:
Overall Story: It was not unique, but its depiction was. The moral or lessons she had to learn not only endeared you to the environment, but also to her, the mc.
Pacing: Ha, it was packed nicely until you get to the end and realize you have to buy another book.
Characterization: We didn’t get to see to much of the spoiled behavior her parents claimed she had in order to justify everything they put her through. I think chapter 1 would have been better utilized had they shown her throwing a temper tantrum and complaining about the silverware. Spoiler alert: A stolen kiss was a serious thing back then and doesn’t show her, being spoiled. However, her first night with the woman and her daughter does give you a glimpse.
World/Building Setting: It was superb, and it was those details that reconnected me with my own story.
Language: It was a great example of writing dialect perfectly. Where a reader could get overwhelmed, reading a bunch of dem and dese. I thought it was just enough to orient everyone in the story.
Feeling: It gave me feelings of joy, which I’m sure is every authors dream. However it plunged off the cliff at the end with her marketing tactics.
Recommendation: Yes and no. To readers, I would say don’t bother, the poor marketing tactics should not be rewarded, in my opinion. However, I would recommend part one to writers. As an example of how to write different dialects without overwhelming the reader.
The Ratings:
My Thumbs Up For:
- World Building
- Utilizing Different Languages
- Moral Themes
My Thumbs Down For:
- Poor Marketing Tactics
- Not showing enough of mc’s spoiled behavior
THE TRS BOOKS SYSTEM:
Book Cover Appeal:
🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓
Story & Narration:
🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓
Romance:
NOT APPLICABLE
The stories about her marrying the king and although she meets him in part 1 we never even get to any of the good parts.
Sex Scenes:
NOT APPLICABLE
Its a Christian Fiction there is no such scene.
OVERALL READING EXPERIENCE:
Piano Girl gets three strawberries from me. Its ranked at 5 on Amazon. But shrugs, who knows why. Maybe those people got to read the whole thing.
Book Info:
Pages: 347*
Publisher: Sherry Murray
Available: On Amazon
*Maybe in all, but not the part I downloaded.
