This is one of those books that I had a really hard time putting down. I started it on Friday and I really didn't have all that much time either Friday or Saturday and it is kind of long (472 pages,) but I was finished before dinner on Saturday. It's kind of a familiar tale, the 12 Dancing Princesses, but told from a different perspective. Azalea is the oldest of twelve sisters, there's also Bramble, Clover, Delphinium, Eve, Flora, Goldenrod, Hollyhock, Ivy, Jessamine, Kale and baby Lily. Their mother died on Christmas Eve having baby Lily. Their whole lives are turned all upside down by the death of their mother. Not only is she gone, their father turns distant, and they also have to go into mourning. Mourning is not a fun state to be in for a princess living in a cold dark castle. There's no light coming in the windows, and they can have absolutely no fun: no dancing, going outside, or even entertaining callers. To make matters worse, their father the king has to go off to war and he's so changed towards them that he doesn't even tell the sisters goodbye, he just kind of leaves in the night. The girls live in a castle and their are parts that were "magicked" by the high king. There are secret passages that appear to be nothing more than a storage room, the clock in the tower is magicked to run on it's own. But when Azalea finds a secret passage that appears to be a dancing room with it's own Mr Keeper, she doesn't know what kind of trouble that will cause and she doesn't really even care, as long as she and her sisters have a place to dance. This was really a fun book, I enjoyed the story and the point of view that Azalea has. I enjoyed the magic and the bit of romance that were included also.