Tears of a Princess

Author: Laura Thomas
Genre: YA

For fifteen year-old Natasha Smithson-Blair, life couldn’t get any worse. The shocking news of her parents’ divorce on top of her own deep, dark secret threatens to tip her over the edge—until her best friend Bethany suggests a missions trip. Intrigued by this absurd yet strangely enticing notion, Natasha tentatively agrees to leave her spoiled-rich-girl life behind and embarks upon an emotional journey of both 

devastation and joy. Ultimately, her ice-princess façade is penetrated by a love so compelling it cannot be ignored. Will further heartache rock her world again, or will she cling to the promise of truth?

---

Reviewer: Jessica Smith

Tears of a Princess, was a very thoughtful novel. Involving important topics, some teenagers can easily relate to, and others a handful can. This novel had a lovely story line, though the writing was a little dry making it hard to get through at points. I would give this book a rating of 4/5.

---

---

Reviewer: Cierra Loften

I thoroughly enjoyed it this stunningly depicted YA novel! This is my first novel I read by Laura Thomas and she certainly has wonderful potential to create even more beautiful, touching, and graceful stories. I found the beginning to be a tad slow and for about 60 pages in, I couldn't believe how much of a spoiled brat Natasha was. However, to see and read about her spiritual change was great and that added so much more quality and depth to the story. This is a lovely Christian YA novel and a beautiful story about discovering the true, profound, and deep love God has for each of us. The cover contains one of my favorite colors (pink) on the cover so that immediately attracted me to the story and the cover model chosen for Natasha (our main protagonist) was spot-on. As mentioned prior, I found Natasha to be slightly over-bratty and spoiled during the first 60 pages of the novel, though I began to warm up to her as the novel progressed. The supporting characters were written well, though I would have loved to read more about a backstory with Alice, Steve, Sara, and the rest of the mission trip characters. The plot was very predictable, though I'm a sucker for happy endings so I was happy to see that this one ended optimistically. This wasn't a book I was racing to finish, though once I really focused on it, it began to grow on me. Overall, I would give this novel a 4 Star Rating.

---

---

Reviewer: Ofilya Silver-Lanuza

Tears of a Princess was pretty hard to put down once I got reading! I loved how this book referred to its prequel, but in other points of view. Natasha was a lovable character who is someone who you can easily feel for when hearing about her circumstances. I especially enjoyed reading on and watching Natasha change from someone self-absorbed to a caring person who really wanted to help the needy people in Mexico.

---