The Rosewood Chronicles, Princess In Practice

Penguin Random House

Review by Gemma E McLaughlin

This is the second book in the marvellous Rosewood Chronicles series. The last book (Undercover Princess) told the exciting and beautiful story of a young princess named Eleanor Wolfson who had never been seen by the public but who convinced her parents to allow her to go to a normal boarding school. Her arrival there changed everything for princess-loving teenage girl Lottie.

The main plotline of the first book began with Lottie and Ellie becoming best friends during their first year at Rosewood Hall. When Lottie discovers Ellie’s secret identity she takes on the job of her portman, someone who pretends to be a member of the royal family in order to protect them. Although the job initially seems exciting she soon learns of the many dangers it involves.

As Princess In Practice begins we find Lottie struggling to hold on to a connection to her true family as she spends so much time with the Wolfson family, protecting their secret and trying her best to protect their daughter. As the story continues we find this dilemma becoming a defining issue for Lottie and one that is wonderfully expressed through the many twists and turns of the plot.

When the pair arrive at Rosewood Hall to start their second year at the magical school they are met by new and old friends .. and by a number of poisonings of students. We find hidden ties to Leviathan, a group trying to capture the princess, and Lottie’s deep ties to her family that she never suspected existed.

We follow the girls’ school year at Rosewood and watch as their relationships with each other and with their school friends develop, as many mysteries are unravelled and a few more are created. Once again we are transported to the same incredible world that captures you from the first page to the last in the previous book.

When I delved deeper into the story I was happy to discover that Olly, Lottie’s childhood best friend who was mentioned briefly in the first book, had a more fully developed role and we finally got to see his point of view on the situation.

I found him an interesting character to get to know, if only because of his normality. He’s not royalty or a portman but simply an everyday kid caught up in the events around him.

As I finished the book I was left with many lingering thoughts. Some of them focused on the world of Rosewood Hall, its princesses and villains and an ending that could have gone in many different ways.

But, perhaps most importantly, this book made me think about my own life and the way in which a work of fiction can make so many issues so much clearer. I have adored both of the books so far in this series and would recommend that anyone should read both and join those of us now looking forward with such anticipation to the third.