Princess of The Midnight Ball is favorite out of the Jessica Day George books I've read (Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow is a close second). 
 I really love the idea of putting a darker spin on the whole la-de-dah of the original fairytale and how said fairytale implied the princesses actually LIKED dancing every night until their shoes wore out (as if any sane person WOULD! I mean, really). 
 Strange as it may seem -- while The Worn Out Dancing Shoes and The 12 Dancing Princesses are still wonderful stories on their own merits -- I've always found my suspension of disbelief to be more at the ready with stories such as Katie Crackernuts where the dancing royalty ISN'T entirely voluntarily. 
 And that's one of the things I adored about this novel from the get-go the first time I read it (as a teenager, but I've re-read it many times since). It keeps in all the favorite classic elements: the solider, the cloak, the gardener, the underground castle; but overlays all this with a delicious dark curse. And BOY is it well paced and exciting! I remember clearly being able to visualize everything that was happening and how RICH and REAL that made the world in this story seem to me. 
 In addition to that, the characterization is just wonderful. I really cared about Galen and all 12 princesses. It's not easy keeping 12 important characters well developed -- especially in a fairly short book -- but George manages it beautifully. I really admire how she didn't just chop down the number of princesses to make the writing easier. 
 Highly recommended!