I'm being generous by giving this book two stars, the only reason being that it was masterfully written. Heather Dixon does a great job with descriptive language, and her descriptions of scenery and gowns and such were beautiful. Because of that, I will give her books another chance. There's a lot of potential there. That said, I thought this book sucked. I found it painfully boring, and would likely not have finished it at all had I not been hoping that redemption was coming (it got a lot of great reviews so I thought there must be a reason). It never did. If anything, I felt like this book got more and more boring. Lot's of "Daddy doesn't love us" whining and LOADS of dancing (it's a retelling of The 12 Dancing Princesses), but no real excitement. Even the supposed villain, Keeper, was not much of one. I just don't think you can drag a five page folk tale out to almost 500 pages without having it become dull. 
 Story= 1/2 star 
 Writing= 3 stars