I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Promchanted by Morgan Matson Published by Disney-Hyperion on March 5, 2024
Genres: YA Contemporary Romance, YA Fairy Tale
Pages: 384
Source: the publisher
Format: ARC
My Rating:
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Blurb:
Two modern teens.
One classic fairy tale.
Absolutely no cell service.
Stella Griffin doesn’t believe in fairy tales. Ever since her boyfriend dumped her three weeks before the prom— not ideal timing—she’s convinced every love story is a lie.
She’s ready to skip the prom entirely. But she and her best friend, Nisha, have been planning for years to celebrate at Disneyland before the prom . . . an OG OC tradition. But even being all dressed up at the Happiest Place on Earth isn’t salvaging Stella’s night. Nisha has brought along her friend Reece to join them, and he and Stella do not get along. They’re like oil and water. Cats and dogs. Aladdin and Jafar. And so what if Reece is, fine, kind of cute? Stella’s over it all. Happily-ever-afters, true love’s kisses, princes on white horses. It’s not real.
. . . Or is it?
Because when Stella and Reece push through a hidden door in Sleeping Beauty’s castle, they’re not in Anaheim anymore. They’re in the story. In Sleeping Beauty —with Aurora and Phillip, the fairies, Maleficent, and extremely intelligent woodland creatures.
Unfortunately, they’ve landed right in the middle of the story—which throws things off. Suddenly, Aurora and Phillip are meeting before they were supposed to. The fairies are suspicious of the interlopers, and even Maleficent gets word of their arrival.
Stella and Reece will have to put aside their differences, make sure Aurora and Phillip fall in love, and get the story back on track—because if things don’t end the way they’re supposed to . . . they might never get home.
Will they be able to pull off a fairy-tale ending? And will Stella and Reece get a happily-ever-after of their own?
My Review
This is my first book by this author, but I’ve wanted to read her for a while. And this was the perfect one to start with too I think! Now, I’ve only been to Disneyworld, never Disneyland, so I didn’t realize it was not Cinderella’s castle at both parks. Sleeping Beauty was one of my favorites, maybe even more so than Cinderella? So it was fun to have this story where our characters ended up being dropped into the world of that fairy tale.
Stella and Reece first get a weird glimpse in the castle of the scene at the beginning of the movie when Maleficent shows up and curses Princess Aurora. But then they get back to their own time and can only assume it was some kind of weird immersive experience with actors and such. The leave, but then when Reece can’t find his phone and they go back to find it, they get lost into that same corridor only this time they end up in the fairy tale a week ahead of all the big happenings when the prince meets Aurora.
They realize they have to make sure the story goes the way it is supposed to, because now Prince Philip, or Phil as he is going by so that people don’t “know” he is the prince, has met her. Reece convinces him to keep it a secret, which he also wants to do. Over the week Stella stays in the tree home with the three fairy godmothers, or who Rose/Aurora thinks are her aunts. And Reece stays with the prince. They meet up every day, keeping it especially secret from the fairies, and the two get to know each other. Reece and Stella barely knew each other, but had issues with each other, and of course they also get to know each other.
Stella’s pessimistic view of romance, caused by her boyfriend recently breaking up with her before prom, is something she must fight to help keep this story on track. Reece knows the story by heart because his younger sister loves the movie, but he’s got his own family issues. In the end it’s a sweet romance, rom-com, fairy tale. My first book by this author, and now I know I need to read more!
About the Author
New York Times bestselling author of books for kids and teens
Morgan Matson was born in New York City and grew up there and in Greenwich, Connecticut. She attended Occidental College as a theater major, but halfway through, switched her focus to writing and never looked back. She received an MFA in Writing for Children from the New School, and then a second MFA in Screenwriting from USC.
She currently lives in Los Angeles with her rescue terrier, Murphy, in a house with blue floors that’s overflowing with books.
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This sounds cute. And it sort of has a Back to the Future vibe with having to set right the fated romance!
Back to the Future is even mentioned in the story, lol.
I’ve read her road trip book years ago, and now I can’t remember the name, lol! It was fun though. I love the sound of this one! I’ve only been to Disneyland, several times, since I grew up in Southern California, so I only knew about Sleeping Beauty’s castle. I didn’t know that they have Cinderella’s Castle in Disney World. Someday I’ll get there.
How funny that the two of us have opposite experiences with Disneyland versus Disney World! I just assumed it was Cinderella’s castle in both places since I’d only been to the Florida park.
This sounds good! I have read and enjoyed many of Matson’s books. I might need to pick this one up soon for my daughter. She’s headed to Disneyland with her school band over spring break to perform. It would be the perfect book to read before or take with her.
It would probably be the perfect read! I guess it is a tradition that teens that live around Disneyland go there before prom all dressed up, at least according to the book.
Sounds like an unique set up with them landing in the world of Sleeping Beauty. I’ve been to Disney land Paris twice when I was younger, I googled it and the Sleeping Beauty castle is there. Glad to hear you enjoyed this book, it sounds like a sweet romantic read!
Yeah, it’s interesting to see which park has what castle!
This sounds so cute! Thanks for sharing your review Lisa!
It was cute for sure!