The Secret Life of Prince Charming by Deb Caletti

This is the first Deb Caletti book I've ever read! I really liked it, and I can't wait to pick up The Fortunes of Indigo Sky and Honey, Baby, Sweetheart, which I am so fortunate to have in my reading pile at the moment!

No one has been warned against guys more than Quinn. Her mother, aunt, and grandmother all have stories of woe and love gone wrong when it comes to men. It doesn't help that Quinn’s father, Barry, is the worst when it comes to relationships—both with women and with his daughters. Quinn doesn't want to hate her father, but her little sister Sprout is always siding with their mother. Then, Quinn finds objects in Barry's living room stolen from his past wives and girlfriends. She contacts Frances Lee, the older half-sister she doesn't really know, and the three sisters, one really good looking guy, and a Big Boy statue commence a karmic quest to give back every item their father stole.

Though it is a little slow to start, The Secret Life of Prince Charming is a smart, funny, and straightforward book about the complexities of relationship and love, familial and romantic. In the beginning of the novel, Quinn is a little confused as to why she is so hurt when cheated on by a guy she only sort of likes, but throughout her journey with her sisters and through interspersed bits of stories and advice about relationships from the many women in the book, she learns a lot about love and what it's supposed to be, not just what it shouldn't be, and what relationships mean to her.

The characters are also quirky and entertaining. Frances Lee is especially outrageous and fun, and despite her tendency to drop a few expletives here and there, you can always count on her to say something amusing. Sprout sometimes seems to be older than eleven years, which at times is irksome and seems to be done for the sake of just moving the story along, but she's amusing and cute nonetheless.

The only other complaint is that at times the timeline of events and girlfriends seems a little hard to follow, but despite that, The Secret Life of Prince Charming is an entertaining, bittersweet, and lovable book about attempting to make sense of the nonsensical emotions when it comes to love, and full of surprising little insights along the way. Readers will love Quinn as she attempts to reconcile between who she wants to be with the things in her life that she can’t change. All in all, not a bad Caletti book to start out with.

Cover Comments: I really like this cover, I think it's really cute (although it is a little, ahem, risque), though to be honest, it doesn't exactly fit the content of the book. This novel is more about sisterhood and making sense of relationships than any actual guy, but it's still a cute one, and one that'll get your attention. My only fear is that it will turn off certain readers and certain readers' parents. (On a side note, did anyone notice that the same stock image is used on Hailey Abbot's Flirting With Boys? Hm...)

Review copy received from Simon and Schuster.