A heartwarming tale of friendship and acceptance.

Prince Sebastian is being forced to choose a bride, as dictated by his parents, the king and queen. However Sebastian has a huge secret that only Emile, his footman, knows about. At night, Sebastian enjoys going out into Paris in gorgeous gowns portraying Lady Crystallia, his fashion icon persona.

At the same time, Frances, a poor dressmaker, is discovered by Sebastian and subsequently hired to make the dresses he has envisioned. Frances and Sebastian become close friends, but keeping Sebastian’s secret means that Frances can never tell anyone she is the designer of these amazing dresses. As Sebastian struggles with keeping his secret quiet, Frances has to decide what’s more important, following her own dreams or helping her friend in any way she can.

This book has been nominated for many awards and it absolutely deserves them all. It’s charming, sweet, beautiful and incredibly illustrated. I love the art style because I felt it really reflected the time period in which this takes place and it made me feel like I was in the story with our characters. The message of the book of embracing yourself and embracing others for their differences is excellently executed and I enjoyed every minute of reading this. It was a sweet book but didn’t feel overwhelmingly cutesy or unrealistic. It was wholesome and heartwarming and I wanted to wear every dress in the book. Jen Wang absolutely earned a new fan with me and I’m excited to keep an eye out on her future work.

Title: The Prince and the Dressmaker
Author: Jen Wang
Format: Paperback
Pages: 288
ISBN:  9781626723634

Three Descriptors: Heartwarming, Beautifully illustrated, Charming

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