bookheaven | The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I think this was just too cheesy for me (sorry, had to go there). I'm the wrong audience for this. I'm not that into rom-coms, not even sapphic ones. But more than that, I didn't much like Cambert. I had sympathy for her but I had more sympathy for poor Feta (yes everyone in the land of Fondue has cheese names).

Cam's father is dying and rather than force her into a loveless marriage and because women can't inherit in this land, he urges her to live a quiet life as his male heir. Okay at age 20+ it's a little old to suddenly pretend you have a son (and literally Gorgonzola 'Zola', points this out in the first meeting which is ignored for the entire book).

They move into the capitol city (I assume Cambert's holdings are rural and not that important which is why her father thought moving to the city would work). Cam's okay with living like a man so she says. Feta urges her to keep a low profile and to that end she walks in Princess Brie's no-fur gala wearing fur, fake fur so realistic everyone is offended putting her in the limelight (she wanted to show off this fake fur to help the creator, okay noble but still. Feta's fate is tied to Cam's and she immediately throws that all away with zero regard for her maid and she continually does it in spite of Feta's begging her not to so right there I lose respect for Cam)

I don't have much for Princess Brie either because as Zola points out along with Lady Ricotta (who I DID like I very much enjoyed Zola and Ricotta) Brie is the freaking crowned princess and is an activist but not for the really big things affecting women in her kingdom. (I'm not saying animal rights aren't important, they are)

I do appreciate that Muniz is trying to shine a light on things in the past (that could become future again) where women couldn't own property (I'm old enough that I couldn't get student loans without a man's permission and to this day we can't get a necessary hysterectomy without our husband's permission) and that LGBT people couldn't marry. But Brie does diddly to fix any of this, meekly accepting she can't love Cam and must marry a man because even as princess she can't rule or own land.

Obviously because this is a rom com Brie and Cam have to act the fool about each other (which is why I'm not a rom-com fan) and I accept that as part of this but for me the very best part was when Zola reads Brie the riot act and points out what she COULD be doing with her station in life where someone like Zola could not (she married well and lucked into a husband who let her work).

Of course it has a happy ending. It's a romance after all. I can see I'm in a minority when it comes to loving this but yeah, I thought it was okay and I don't see me thinking of it ever again.

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