Mark of Royalty by Jennifer Clark & Stephonie Williams

Genre: YA Fairytale
Publication Date: February 2010
One Word Review: Okay

GoodReads Synopsis: At a time when royal infants are marked at birth, a royal advisor makes a terrible misstep—and an infant princess must be secreted away to save her life. Named Sarah by Miranda, the woman who agrees to raise the child as her own, the girl is unaware of her royal heritage—even though Miranda has done all she can to pair Sarah with the king’s nephew, Lord Chad. But unexpected events prevent the expected betrothal. Determined to fulfill her devoted mother’s wishes, Sarah reserves her heart for Chad despite her growing affections for another man. But as plots against the crown unfold, someone accidentally discovers Sarah’s mark of royalty—setting the stage for discoveries that will shake the kingdom to its core.

Kathy’s Review: I thought this was a cute story; it had a kind of fairytale feel to it. The story moved along quickly and kept me interested. It actually reminded me of a couple other books I’ve read. Where there is a princess who is in disguise for one reason or another. This book ended up going a different direction than I was expecting, and I liked that while it was predictable, it was still unexpected. I liked the main character Sarah and her love interest Alex. I thought they were cute together. Sarah goes through the story not knowing her true heritage, which I thought was interesting. It was a fun, entertaining read.

There were just a few things that I didn’t like, or could have been improved. First, I had no idea when this story was supposed to take place. It mentioned real places such as France and Spain, but I didn’t know if they were supposed to be real characters or what timeframe the story was taking place. I also felt that about halfway through the book some of the characters (Chad, Felicia and Clyde especially) started acting out of character. I could understand the change in Clyde, but the other two just did a 180. Chad had been a loving, close friend to Sarah throughout and then all of the sudden he become a villain? I would have liked a little more build up for that kind of change. Felicia just seemed really fickle, her character shows up randomly throughout and each time she almost acts like a different person. The other problem I had was more of a personal pet peeve. There were multiple POV throughout the story which in my opinion interrupts the flow and prevents you from really getting attached to just one or two characters. I don’t mind if a story switches POV from chapter to chapter, but not during the chapter with multiple POV throughout.

Bookworm Rating: 3, G

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