UNDERCOVER PRINCESS

Being a princess is all that Lottie imagined, except that someone is out to get her.

Lottie, 13, has always found solace in the classic fairy tales, and her most cherished possession is her dead mother’s tiara (a “pristine object of magnificence, so incongruous in her humble home…that appeared to glow with a glittering grandeur”). Accepted into the opulent and prestigious boarding school Rosewood Hall, Lottie is determined to succeed. She is stunned to learn that her roommate, Ellie, is an actual princess who abhors the role, and her residence at the school is supposed to be top secret. Lottie eventually takes on the part of Portman, one hired to act in place of a member of royalty to protect their true identity. It’s a dream come true, with fancy dresses, royal balls, and a handsome prince—but it’s also fraught with danger. A toxic sigil is hidden under her bed, and threatening notes begin appearing in places like cupcake frosting. Lottie might be lost as events proceed into very treacherous territory but for her wits, a little help from the mysterious bodyguard Jamie (a “dark” and “wild” multiracial boy whose Pakistani mother died in childbirth, making him one of the few characters of color), and her deep friendship with Ellie. Lottie and Ellie are both white. YouTube personality Glynn takes this wish-fulfillment premise and spins it with all the subtlety of cotton candy—lit’rature this is not.

"Cinderella" meets Mean Girls while at Hogwarts.