Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! fangirls and squees This was just amazing, sweet, cute, adorable, fun, beautiful.

I will be trying to write a review, but bear with me, as it may be very chaotic, I am still very much fangirling.

I have been eyeing this book from the moment it was announced, and then I had the chance to read a sneak peek online and I was further in love.

This is just a beautiful book about a fabulous dressmaker who can make the best dresses (and she really dares to make some unconventional dresses that are quite not fitting for the age period this takes place in) and a prince who loves dresses and going outside as a girl. These two form a perfect match, well, until one moment. A moment that had me wanting to shake the prince to bits. Really, I get why he did it, but that doesn’t excuse him from doing it. You know how much it means to her, how hard she worked, and you just kill it like that? No boy, not cool. Not cool at all. You broke her heart by doing that.

Our dressmaker, Frances, catches the eye of the prince when she makes a very unconventional dress for a client. I just adored that dress (though I wouldn’t want to wear it myself) and also how well it looked on the princess + it matched so well with her attitude. But you can imagine that some people are NOT amused. Thankfully our dressmaker is getting a new chance (and I had a laugh how hard the owner of that place tried to keep her). And so she meets with Sebastian and is more than happy to help him out and become Lady Crystallia.
She works her butt off to make some fabulous dresses and designs, and I am still amazed at the ideas she comes up with. From traditional dresses to dresses of that time to dresses that will rock and shock. 😛

I just adored Sebastian, but I did feel sad for him. He is a prince, he has so many things that are expected of him, he needs to get married, his dad (and all men before him) are tough guys. While Sebastian is softer, and all he wants is to wear dresses, go outside as a girl, be fabulous, he just wants to be himself, he doesn’t want to be restricted. We see him struggle a lot in this story and my heart broke for him. He had to hide all this, but you can imagine that one cannot hide this forever. How it all go out? Welp, I have to say that I wasn’t amused with it, come on, I get that you are lost due to what happened, but is that the way to ruin what you had?
I was happy that, next to Frances, he had someone else who also knew of what he did and also supported him/protected him… well as much as he could.

The romance between Frances and Sebastian didn’t feel weird or out of place, not at all, if anything I didn’t expect it. But I was definitely happy when they started to get closer and their friendship changed into something more. From that moment I was just hoping and rooting that they would be able to get together. To kiss. To love.

I was happy that Frances at least found something else when all went wrong, though I do feel that it wasn’t her place. Yes, she would get famous there, but is she really happy with making that kind of dress? So I was entirely happy with the ending and how that went. And not only for Frances, but also for Sebastian, and even for the king (I had such a laugh that people didn’t recognise him, then again, they are probably not used to seeing the king like that). The ending made my heart warm and I was so so happy.

At first I wasn’t too happy with the king/queen, but I could see and understand that it was hard on them too. Especially on the king. But I am happy with the king in the end. That was just the sweetest and best thing to do for his son. Good job!

The art? Well, I already knew I would love it. I have read other works by this artist and always loved their style and how gorgeous they are and they are even more gorgeous in this one. The dresses, the characters, the backgrounds, all perfection! <3

So all in all, a book I would HIGHLY recommend to everyone.