Book Review: The Princess and the Hound by Mette Ivie Harrison

I have actually finished a couple books this week (yay for the kids going back to school!)  The first one I wanted to review I accidentally took it back to the library.  And I had wanted to include some of the fun things the main character said in my review and, since my memory gets worse the older I get, I'll have to check it out again so I can get the quotes right.

Anyway, this week I read The Princess and the Hound.  I love the cover of the book.  (Isn't it pretty?!?)  I thought, based on the cover, that it was going to be wonderful!  It's a little different than the cover, though.

The blurb on the back cover says, "He is a prince and heir to a kingdom threatened on all sides, possessor of the forbidden animal magic.  She is a princess from a rival kingdom, the daughter her father never wanted, isolated from all except her hound.  In this lush and beautifully written fairy-tale romance, a prince, a princess, and two kingdoms are joined in the aftermath of a war.  Proud, stubborn and bound to marry for duty, George and Beatrice will steal your heart - but will they fall in love?"

With a title like The Princess and the Hound, I sort of expected it to be a book about a princess and a hound.  But it wasn't.  Not really.  Not until about half-way through the book.  And even then the princess in the story isn't all that wonderful.  She's rude and cold towards everyone, George included.  When you learn her secret, it sort of makes sense.  Sort of.  But I still could never like Princess Beatrice.  I liked her hound Marit better - at least she was kind in her own way.

I'm not exactly sure what I thought of the book, to be perfectly honest.  I liked George's story, even though it was a sad one.  And once I heard the princess' story, I liked her a little better too.  (Both George and the princess are keeping a secret from everyone.  George's is that he has animal magic, so he can talk with animals.  The princess' secret is a little different, but to tell her secret would be to spoil the story!) 

I really wanted to love this book!  I like fairytale stories and stories with princesses (could be because I have three little girls that love princesses!) and I was even prepared to like the hound.  But the story wasn't exactly what I was expecting, and it made it hard to love.  Still, I would give it three stars.  And maybe if I read it again knowing what I learned at the end of the story, I would enjoy it even more.  (But I still love the cover!)