What a delightful story! I love fairy tales or stories that resemble fairy tales, and Cece Louise's Desperate Forest was simply lovely.

Her characters were charming, even when they were difficult at first. I loved Princess Roselynn. She had such a good heart, and while she made some unwise decisions, they were based on misinformation and naivete, and always for the good of others. Jay and Tover were also quite fun, so different from each other, but their individual strengths complimented each other and saved the lives of many people. Lauren was the biggest twist in the story, but I don't want to spoil that.

The forest seemed like a Robin Hood set-up but ended up being nothing like that. It was both a dangerous place and a safe haven. It was also interesting to have mysterious things happen in both of the primary kingdoms, but not as an external plot - both were truly independent of each other. I expected there to be actual magic in the story, and there wasn't, but it wasn't necessary. The story actually felt a bit like Jessica Day George's Princess books. It was a beautifully told tale and I look forward to reading more of Cece's books.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. ( )

Please note, I received a free copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review. Please note that there are spoilers ahead in this review.

When I first started the book, honestly I wasn't super thrilled. A king was murdered, the uncle wants to now kill the princess in order to have control over the kingdom, and the Princess has run away. Okay, decently common theme throughout young adult fantasy books. I'm very glad that I kept reading though.

Roselynn was a fantastic protagonist. She is a great combination of innocence and determination and loyalty to save her people and her kingdom. She risks her own life and safety many many times because she wants to do what is best for her people in her mind.

I love the way that her relationships grow with Jay, Gavin, Laurel, and all of the other members of her group. I love watching her learn to place her trust and her safety within them, as well as want to make sure that they are safe also.

Of course, I was sad to see Darius's betrayal of his father, his brother, and Roselynn. While it was very predictable, it was still disappointing to read nonetheless. I would really like one of these types of stories to end it with the stranger actually being the one that is at fault rather than someone who was trusted at the beginning. In other words, I would enjoy seeing a story similar to this where Jay is actually the one at fault, and Roselyn is correct in her initial judgment of Darius. But alas, that doesn't seem to be the way that these books work.

This book was a quick and easy book to read. After the initial couple chapters, it became very engaging and hard to put down. The author did a great job at making the story come alive and also throwing in a couple small twists and turns. However, most of the storyline is predictable but it is still enjoyable nonetheless this book was a quick and easy book to read.

Thank you to Cece Louise for the opportunity to read and review this book. I definitely enjoyed it and I highly recommend it to anybody that enjoys young adult novels. ( )