A princess, who enjoys gardening, tags along with her best friend when he is invited to attend a mysterious garden party. Turns out the hostess is an evil witch who for decades has been turning pretty young girls into flowers for her enchanted garden. I wanted to like this one but it took so long to get to the evil witch’s estate. The action picked up after that and briskly moved along, perhaps too quickly. The princess and the enchanted magpie thief, the two protagonists, well, a tad lackluster. The end sets up the possibilities for further adventures, so it feels like this book served merely to introduce the main characters and the fantasy world that hints of a rich past and adventures in the future.

NetGalley review     Publication date 3.12.13