Book review: The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

Rating: ★★★★☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: February 13, 2018
Source: Borrowed

Paris, at the dawn of the modern age:

Prince Sebastian is looking for a bride―or rather, his parents are looking for one for him. Sebastian is too busy hiding his secret life from everyone. At night he puts on daring dresses and takes Paris by storm as the fabulous Lady Crystallia―the hottest fashion icon in the world capital of fashion!

Sebastian’s secret weapon (and best friend) is the brilliant dressmaker Frances―one of only two people who know the truth: sometimes this boy wears dresses. But Frances dreams of greatness, and being someone’s secret weapon means being a secret. Forever. How long can Frances defer her dreams to protect a friend? Jen Wang weaves an exuberantly romantic tale of identity, young love, art, and family. A fairy tale for any age, The Prince and the Dressmaker will steal your heart.

I’d seen so many positive reviews of The Prince and the Dressmaker and after not finding it at my library for months, I did what any reasonable person would do — I put it on hold and waited (semi-)patiently for my turn. And, honestly, it was worth the wait. This book was just as adorable as I’d expected.

It’s about a prince who sometimes wants to wear dresses and hires himself a talented dressmaker to make it happen. Frances never judges Sebastian and honestly, their whole friendship is so cute and wholesome and wonderful. There’s a side plot about to what extent we should put our own feelings aside in order to make our friends happy and I think I liked that just as much as the main story (of acceptance, both of yourself and those around you).

The reason I gave this four instead of five stars is that I felt it dragged a little bit toward the end, but overall, it was really, really great. I had a huge smile on my face most of the time I was reading it (though there’s one troubling scene in particular where I was definitely not smiling) and kept thinking it would make such a cute movie.

I’d highly recommend this one even if you’re on the fence about graphic novels. It’s just a super cute, super fast read.

#ps19: a book you think should be turned into a movie

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Have you read The Prince and the Dressmaker? Can you recommend any other graphic novels that are this cute?
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