106. Princess Private Eye

Princess Private Eye. Evelyn Skye. 2023. [May] 320 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Genevieve Sun limped into Frying Nemo on her crutches, sat down in the booth closest to the door, and picked up a menu like she was going to order. 

Premise/plot: Gen (aka Genevieve) is a foster kid with a gift of detecting. The book opens with eleven good detective traits. (I don't know that they are so much traits as tips or guidelines.) She's on a case in the opening chapter. Soon after she makes her appearance, she's followed by two strangers...do they wish her harm? These two end up changing her life....and the course of this book.

In case you didn't guess it, Gen is a lost princess. She's in the foster care system, true, but that's only because her QUEEN grandmother didn't know she'd survived the car crash that killed her parents. Gen had no idea she was royalty. Now that she's been "found" will her detective work be finished? 

My thoughts: I have so many thoughts about this one. I loved the opening chapters. Loved. But once Gen is swept up and away to her kingdom, well, the book stopped working for me personally. It went from a fun and delightful light mystery for elementary readers to a super-cheese-full Disney movie from several decades ago. There are only so many small made-up tiny countries with royalty stories that one can tolerate or like. And when this one transitioned from real world to fantasy world, it lost something. The world-building was less than ideal. The characterization, well, it felt flat and one-dimensional. It had so much potential at the start. The plot of this one is just a groaner. Maybe it wouldn't be if you were a kid?

 

© 2023 Becky Laney of Young Readers