Rachel Reads & Reviews

Princess for Hire is a delightful fantasy trilogy. For fans who can’t get enough of the idea of tiaras and enjoy socially-conscious protagonists like Mia from The Princess Diaries, try this. Desi is thrilled to find out that not only she has MP-magical potential, but it makes her eligable to work at the Facade Agency, and substitute for royalty. But Desi isn’t just obsessed with the glam, she wants to help the princesses on a more impactful level, and has greater ambitions for how the agency can use their magic for everyone, status unimportant. Which leads to a lot of trouble.

1. Farewell to Charms: Admittedly, I read the first two back in middle school, but never got to the finale for whatever reason. I’m glad I got the chance now. Farewell to Charms was a great finale. Not only does Leavitt up the stakes for Desi professionally, but personally and romantically. Leavitt elevates Desi’s empathy and charges her from speculating to taking action which was gratifying to see. Plus the denounment was not what one might expect yet satisfying on its own. It actually reminded me a bit of the ending for Rhonda Stapleton’s Stupid Cupid trilogy. Plus I enjoyed seeing Desi get up to Level Three, her assignment with Princess Vanna, and the endings for the side characters.
2. Princess for Hire: Leavitt had a interesting premise and made it memorable with her distinctive characters like Desi’s love for silk screening t-shirts, Meredith-her agent and anti-fairygodmother type and the magic of Facade. There’s a reason I still had fondness for the story a decade later and remember most of the hijinks Desi gets into with her first three clients. And now with hindsight, I see how Leavitt cleverly set the seeds for what is to come with Desi and her magic potential.
3. Royal Treatment: Unfortunately, this hits the sophmore slump. Now to get it the benefit of the doubt, I’m reading this as an adult, so the twist regarding Reed was obvious to me from a mile away. So Desi’s fretting about her feelings for Karl and her attraction to Reed was frustrating. Same with the reveal of Floressa Chase’s royal origins and Desi’s outrage about the magic potential being taken from potential substitutes felt manufactured considering Fake Mackenzie’s incompetence in the trial period. The third book rectified this in illustrating how bad Facade’s magic sucking is.