Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock I loved Murdock’s first book, Dairy Queen, and when all the reviews of this fairy-tale like book were so positive – well, I had to read it. Princess Benevolence is the niece of the childless king, and lives with her father and mother in a cottage outside the castle. She’s shy and plump and uninterested in courtly life and politics. Then the king and her mother are killed and her father disappears, probably at the hand of the neighboring kingdom of Drachensbett, which has always wanted their land. The unlikable and terribly proper Queen Sophia brings Ben to the castle for some forcible princess training, so that she can be married off to someone who will protect their tiny mountain kingdom. When Ben finds a secret room with a magic book, she dozes through her official lessons and stays up late at night to learn magic and raid the pantry. Only after humiliating herself at a grand ball does she realize how serious the threat to her country is – but will she be in time to save it? Ben is a likeable heroine far out of the usual princess mold, even for the growing genre of feminist princess books. The author said in an interview that Ben uses her own strengths rather than traditional male strengths to win the day, also notable. There’s a lot to think about packed into this book, as well as a fabulously surprising plot and Princess Ben herself.