Book Review: "Who Made You a Princess?" by Shelley Adina

Shani Hanna returns to SpencerAcademy for her senior year after an amazing summer spent with her friends Lissa, Gillian, and Carly. But the best part about summer was meeting Danyel Johnstone. Danyel is cute, smart, cool, and super nice. All Shani has to do is get him to see her as more than just one of the gang.

But when the girls return to school, they find a new addition to the distinguished student body: Prince Rashid al Amir of Yasir, an oil-rich desert kingdom in the Middle East. Prince Rashid moved to California to prepare for an eventual MBA at Stanford . . . and to romance his future wife: Shani Hanna!

It turns out, Shani's family and the prince's go back for generations, entwined in tradition, obligation, and family honor. In each generation, members of the two families have expanded their business interests through arranged marriage. Will Shani put aside her feelings for Danyel to pursue her family's wishes? Or will God answer her prayers for an intervention?

Who hasn't dreamed once in their life of becoming a princess? I used to have a huge crush on Prince William and have now switched to Prince Harry. If one of them ever came to my school and turned their attentions on me, I think I would die of giddiness. Thus is Shani's predicament in this book and it's one most girls would give their right hand to have. This story involved more paparazzi and outside influences than any other book in the series. This is the closest that one of the main characters acts and is treated like a celebrity. It's handled very well and it's interesting to see how Shani handled the incredibly difficult decision her parents put upon her. I would have loved to visit the virtual club that the gang visits where you choose an avatar to represent you in the restaurant. It sounds very high tech and very cool. It's really nice to read a Christian book where people especially teens can go out and have fun yet still be decent, clean and wholesome.

One thing though that was distracting to me was the spelling of Danyel's name. Call me traditional or whatever, but when I see a name that's spelled with a y in place of another vowel, it makes me think it's a feminized name. Therefore for the first couple of chapters, I kept thinking he was a girl! While I enjoyed this book a lot, it didn't leave me enthused as the past two books in the series had. The last book in the series had a lot of action and suspense, so this book was a lot slower in comparison. I think part of the problem also stemmed from the fact that I couldn't relate to Shani at all with her dilemma in trying to fend off royalty. While it's an enviable situation, I just couldn't relate to her as I had done the other girls in the series. Still I enjoyed the book a lot. I really liked the ending as it showed gumption and being able to stick to your morals. Once again the visit to the lives of the inhabitants of Spencer Academy has been enthralling and I'm looking forward to reading what else is in store for these girls.

Who Made You a Princess? by Shelley Adina is published by Faithwords (2009)