Picked this up at a B&N while waiting for others to finish shopping. I only finished a little over 50 pages but by then I was into the story, so I put a hold on it at the library. Going back to the world of Just Ella was nice and she even pops up in this story as well. It reminded me of when I was still a new reader and that was nice.

Cecilia can be a bit self-important but then again she is the 'true princess.' She is good if flawed but I didn’t dislike her at all. Cecilia does learn and gr More...

This was one of the books assigned to me as a reader for the Garden State Teen Book Awards. When I picked up the book from the library I immediately noticed the pink cover with a picture of a princess on it and instantly let out a groan. This did not look like a book I would ever choose to read. But that is one of the benefits of being on the Garden State Teen Book Awards Committee, you read books you normally wouldn’t read. Despite the horrible cover of this book, I surprisingly enjoyed this fa More...

The princess is named Cecilia-I couldn't resist :)

Well, this is disappointing.
She's 14, and I'm younger, but even I could have done better.
HONESTLY.
She was supposed to be educated for God's sakes. Not a complete moron.
Did she honestly think that Desmia would just step down from the throne and say, "Oh, you're the real princess, and I'm fake. Well, now you're here, I guess I'll go now and abandon all the riches and food and starve to death outside the castle! (wide smile)"
NO, BITCH, JUST NO.
Her good friend, Harper, decides to help her to get h More...

I decided to read ‘Palace of Mirrors’ because I saw I think it was on the Whitcoulls website it was around the top fifty, I think books to read under the ‘young adults section’.

The category which I have put this book under is ‘A book with a female main character’, about just over half of the books I read have female main characters. This is one of the more ‘girly’ books I have read. It was not too bad, but the ending where Harper and Cecilia confessed their feelings towards each other was predi More...

297 pages
Fantasy
Margaret Peterson Haddix
This book is about a peasant girl, Cecilia. All her life she was told that she was a the true princess of Cortona. Her parents were brutaly murdered after her birth and her mother gave her to a knight, Sir Stephan, and told him that this is her daughter and to hide her away from their enemies. Now she is 14 years old and the fake of the throne, Desmia, is ruling. Cacilia and her best friend, Harper, got to Cortona to take her throne. When Desmia locks the More...

UPDATE # 1 - Page 37

I think I'm going to like this book because it's about a girl named Cecilia living life as a peasant when she's actually the princess of the Capital. She's in hiding until the evil forces that killed her parents are killed. Meanwhile, there is a peasant girl pretending to be the princess as a decoy. I'm looking forward to finding out if the evil forces will be killed or when Cecilia will finally become princess because she's been in hiding since she was born. One day she tell More...

I listened to this book on CD, and chose it because I had enjoyed Haddix's Just Ella. This one really didn't work for me. The narrator read it like she was running through a sheet of exceptionally thick honey---S-L-O-W. I kept thinking "PLEASE, get on with it!" but the text itself took forever to have anything happen and would explain and re-explain and tell every non-interesting detail there was to tell, so I can't put total blame on the narrator.

The story had some nice twists built in but it More...

For as long as she can remember, Cecelia has been told she is the true princess being raised in hiding. Her parents were murdered when she was a baby and she was sent to a remote village to be kept safe. All her life she has been a village girl by day studying politics and royal subjects in secret at night. However, when strange things start happening around her little cottage, it appears her identity has been revealed and she is no longer safe.

Cecelia travels to the palace with her best friend More...

"You are the true princess. We will protect you. We will keep you safe until the evil ones are vanquished and the truth can be revealed..." (Palace of Mirrors, pg 1)This is the secret that Cecilia has had to keep all of her life and in the book Palace of Mirrors by Margaret Peterson Haddix. On a mission to protect herself when danger to her strikes in her own villae, she along with the help of her best friend Harper must take a dangerous and risky journey to protect herself and maybe Cecilia wil More...

Wow!

Well my favorite part was Harper, to be honest. I'll get to him in a second.

Writing style--4/5. Really good. Every now and then I got a little distracted because Cecilia would discuss something to the reader for a couple pages and I would get bored. But I was still very impressed.

Age choice--2/5. Cecilia was fourteen. Fourteen! Seriously! Just the way she acted and thought, the stuff that happened to her, it all spoke sixteen to me. She was one of the most ME characters I've ever read, not s More...

Why I bought it? My daughter and I were book shopping and I thought she might enjoy it. I like Haddix. I especially enjoyed her "Among the Hidden" series. This is sort of a sequel to Just Ella but not really. Ella is in it eventually. I had enjoyed that book too, so I thought it could be a fun read for me as well.

Synopsis: Cecilia is a princess in hiding. A knight comes and gives her classes in ruling and Latin, etc. Desmia, a commoner is in the palace as a decoy to keep her safe from those who More...

Cecilia grew up knowing she was a princess in hiding. She daydreams of her someday life as the true princess and diligently studies with a secret royal tutor at night. She is mostly content to live the life of a poor village girl, herding the cow to the meadow and walking barefoot through the mud and dust. But when danger thrusts itself in her path and a friend challenges her point of view, Cecilia realizes she must give up her safety and accept the responsibilities and risks of her birth. But t More...

this book is full of surprrises on every page. it all happens when Cecilia and Harper go to see the princess, but everything goes wrong when they get locked in a tower because Princess Desmia heard a different story.
-Kimbra

As she gets older, Cecilia finds it harder to study statesmanship and palace protocol secretly at night and then pretend that she has nothing on her mind other than scrubbing the gruel stains out of her best apron by day. Cecilia knows that it is time to take charge. Along wit More...

A surprisingly quick read. I probably would have enjoyed it far more had I actually remembered what on earth happened in Just Ella, which I have not read in four years. I didn't realize until after finishing that Ella was...well, Ella, which made her seem like an extremely random and somewhat jarringly out-of-place character. Still, it was fairly enjoyable even as a standalone novel, apart from the prequel. I absolutely loved Harper. Sweet, funny, a musician (albeit a very reluctant one), noble. More...

Celia is the true princess.

But she can’t tell anyone. At least she’s not supposed to. She has been raised in secrecy in hopes of thwarting the assassins who killed the late king and queen.

However, TOTAL secrecy is a bit unfair. And unrealistic. I mean, really. What is Cecilia supposed to do when her best friend, Harper, ditches her on a fishing expedition, then stops speaking to her due to a misunderstanding? Clearly, she has no choice but to sneak out of her cottage--in the middle of the night- More...

very confusing book but once u rach the climax everything falls together!!!!

I choose "Palace of Mirrors" by Margaret Peterson Haddix because it has fantasy and mystery all together. Cecilia is just an ordinary girl in an ordinary village but instead she the true princess in hiding from evil forces who killed her parents are gone. In her place is a commoner named Desmia who plays the decoy princess. As she is getting older, she finds it harder to study because she knows that she is in danger. With the comfort of her best friend, Harper, she flees to the capital city wher More...

This was a cute YA fantasy book about a young woman Cecilia, who is a princess in hiding. Because of political turmoil in her country, Suala, she is being raised as a peasant, but she has princess lessons in secret. The current princess is only a decoy, bravely acting as a princess to spare Cecilia's life (or so Cecilia has been told). When mysterious strangers start showing up in town, Cecilia decides to take action into her own hands and flees with her friend Harper toward the capitol, there i More...

Palace of mirrors is another one of Margaret Peterson Haddix's amazing classics that I couldn't put down. I liked the atmosphere of it. It is a little like the past when kingdoms ruled. Cecilia is like any other peasant girl. She lives in a small house with her Nanny. The only different thing about her from any other girl is that she is actually a princess! Her parents were murdered and she was handed to one of the most trusted nights, Sir. Stephan. He taught her how to be princess so when the d More...

Following the adventures of a young girl trained to be a princess and her best friend, Harper, The Palace of Mirrors is an engaging tale. How can a young woman taught to be a princess but raised as a farm girl make it to the capital and prove that she's the real princess? Dirty and poor, the friends must battle all odds in order to find out who is trying to kill them, who's trying to help them, and of course - who is the true princess?

Character interactions are endearing and strong. Characteriza More...

Haddix,Margaret.(2008). Palace of Mirrors. New York: SCHOLASTIC INC.(297 PP.)


Have you ever been told that you are the true princess. Well a girl named Cecilia has been told that she is the true princess in hiding from the evil forces that killed her parents. While she is studying everything she needs to know about the kingdom and its rules there is a commoner named Desmia who is on the throne as a decoy.The author of Palace of Mirrors, Margaret Peterson Haddix does a wonderful job at telling t More...

This book is one of the best books i'v ever read
what i'v learned from this book is that
" its not always what it seems to be"
in this book the main character named ceclia knows shes the
the real princess in hidding and that desmina the one on the throne
is a frod and when ceclia and her best friend harper go from thier little village to the palace of mirrors thier in for a surprise harper
and ceclia go in the palace and see pricess desmina and she has an intirly different story she thinks t More...

This book is cute.
There's not a real sense of danger...ever...but nonetheless, I can feel the struggle. So...this book is cute.
Cecelia has been told her whole life that she's the princess, but has been raised in humble circumstances. For this reason, she is dually annoying and er...not annoying. Example: I felt like every thought she had began as such: When I am reinstated as princess...
This would sometimes be followed up with: I'll wear silk, so my dirty, rough clothes don't matter.
Aggravating More...

Palace of Mirrors by Margret Peterson Haddix is a great book. Everyone thinks Cecilia is just another peasant girl in her village. But she isn't. She has been told since she was born that she is the true princess and that the princess right now is a decoy or a fake. Cecilia's dad the king had been murdered and her mom had died after getting sick. But no one other that her nanny and Sir Stephan a knight know that she is the true princess. Now that Cecilia is older she is more eager to get her thr More...

In this companion book to "Just Ella," Cecilia believes herself to be the true princess of her country. However, she is living in hiding because her parents (the king and queen) where killed the year she was born. In fear, one of the most trusted knights took her and fled. Fourteen years later, she and her best friend Harper (a harpist who wishes to be a soldier) make a trip to the palace in order to save the girl who sits on the throne protecting Cecilia (Deisma). But, will Deisma just magicall More...