Charming

By: Jade Linwood

Narrated by: Liz Pearce

John Tucker Must Die meets Shrek in a revenge tale where princesses save themselves.

Brave, Resourceful, Deceitful, Double-Crossing … Charming.

Prince Jean-Marc Charming Arundel, known to friends and enemies alike as "Prince Charming," is handsome, well-mannered, brave, a peerless swordsman, a cunning tactician—and a liar, a con man and a fraud. For years he has been travelling from one kingdom to the next, rescuing endangered princesses and maidens, securing their troths and his place in their fathers' palaces, then looting their treasuries and having it away before dawn.

Until a chance meeting of three of his victims—raven-haired Marie Blanche de Neige, the sorceress Doctor Emilia Rapunzel and the long-slumbering Bella Lucia dei’ Sogni—suggests a course of revenge …

©2023 Rebellion Publishing Ltd. (P)2023 Recorded Books

Only the narration was charming

I loved the concept, but found the execution empty. The two biggest causes were the length of the story and the flatness of the characters,

I feel like this story could have been better told at half the length; it took four hour just for each of the ladies to tell their tales of being conned, only to provide six hours of the mildest revenge tour ever and then wrapping things up far too quickly with a last minute reveal/resolution.

On the character side, I really should have liked these ladies who schemed and yet they were all, so, forgettable. Only the prince’s henchman Roland had some personality.

This was fit for kids. There was nothing horrid or unpalatable. There also wasn’t a single quotable, notable, chuckle-worthy, or hallelujah moment. The next book feature the conman prince’s redemption arc and I only proceeded onward because I already bought it.