Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

A tale of twelve princesses doomed to dance until dawn…

Galen is a young soldier returning from war; Rose is one of twelve princesses condemned to dance each night for the King Under Stone. Together Galen and Rose will search for a way to break the curse that forces the princesses to dance at the midnight balls. All they need is one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and that most critical ingredient of all—true love—to conquer their foes in the dark halls below. But malevolent forces are working against them above ground as well, and as cruel as the King Under Stone has seemed, his wrath is mere irritation compared to the evil that awaits Galen and Rose in the brighter world above.

Captivating from start to finish, Jessica Day George’s take on the Grimms’ tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses demonstrates yet again her mastery at spinning something entirely fresh out of a story you thought you knew.

I think the description of this book doesn't do it justice. The book is actually mostly told from Galen's point of view, which surprised me a little because from the blurb above (which is what is given in the book) I guessed that it would be about Rose. Not that it mattered. I really liked this book. It drew me in right from the start. I don't think it really matters if you are not familiar with the story of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. I wasn't, and I don't feel like that hindered my progress at all. Basically, (and I don't know what the Grimm story is, but this is how this novel went...) a queen makes a bargain with an evil magician in order to bear children, and in return the queen will come "underground" and dance for him. Little did she know that she would not bear only one child, but twelve and when the queen dies, her daughters are forced to finish out the contract. Every third night, the princesses dance, and in the morning their dancing slippers are worn through and need replacement. They are unable to tell anyone of the "curse" and their father, the king, is worried for their health. He sends a proclamation to all neighboring countries to send their princes, and the prince who figures out where the princesses are going at night and solves the mystery of the dancing slippers will become heir to the throne and marry one of the princesses. When they all fail, the under-gardener at the palace, Galen, asks to try to solve the mystery. Again, most of the story is told from Galen's perspective, which I actually quite enjoyed. I loved evey page of this book and can't wait to read more by Jessica Day George.