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The Secret Life of Prince Charming

by Deb Caletti (Goodreads Author)

3.73 of 5 stars 3.73 · rating details · 2,595 ratings · 264 reviews

Maybe it was wrong, or maybe impossible, but I wanted the truth to be one thing. One solid thing.

Quinn is surrounded by women who have had their hearts broken. Between her mother, her aunt, and her grandmother, Quinn hears nothing but cautionary tales. She tries to be an optimist -- after all, she's the dependable one, the girl who never makes foolish choices. But when she

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Hardcover, 322 pages

Published April 7th 2009 by Simon Pulse

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The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

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Jul 03, 2009 Cara rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Cara by: Haley

Shelves: realistic-fiction, recommended-to-me, sibilings

Women empowerement. Let me hear it for the ladies! Those are the first words I thought of when I finished this excellently done book. If someone were to ask me what book they could find advice about love this would be it. Seriously that good. I know someone will beg to differ, but for my young heart it was the perfect advice.

Now I really loved Quinn, but my favorite character was her younger sister Charlotte (aka Sprout). I wish I had that much confidence at that age. In reality all the characte...more

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Jan 30, 2009 Cindy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic-fiction

I reviewed this for Booklist. It's a romance, a road trip, and a coming of age story all of which are fun and will please fans of Caletti's other work and newcomers who enjoy Dessen and others like her. It has an intriguing chorus of older female voices sharing their past history with men and what they've learned. The advice is solid and hard won, and delivered in a way that doesn't seem didactic, just lovingly shared. I'd love to have my teen daughters read it. Maybe I can get them to if it is...more

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Feb 12, 2009 Gwen the Librarian rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: teenbooks

At first I was not in love with the premise of Deb Caletti's newest; it seemed a little too much like a movie theme, kinda like the last one. But Caletti's writing always conquers all. This, to me, was her most powerful novel. It's all about love and relationships and what women are willing to put up with for love. Like so many of her other novels, it's a multi-generational story and while the heroine is a teen, her mom, grandma, aunt, and the women who have been in her father's life are all liv...more

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Jun 25, 2010 Dani added it

Well, I'm only a few chapters into this book. I was a fan of Deb Caletti. I loved her first few books (The Queen of Everthing, Wild Roses, The Nature of Jade) but, this book (a lot like The Fortunes Of Indigo Skye) is filled with negativity and makes me feel like I'm being lectured. I've read some other reviews and I hold hope that the book will get better.(I truly hope it does because I paid $10 for it, which is a lot for a book.) It's taking forever to get to the actual plot with action.
I lo...more

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Jan 31, 2009 edh rated it 4 of 5 stars

I know a lot of people are going to claim that this is a guy-bashing book, but I found it to be a lovely exploration of love and emotion. Quinn is turning 17 and, along with sister Sprout, has a tenuous relationship with her biological father. They've only been in each other's lives for a few years and the girls are fond of his newest girlfriend, Brie. Unfortunately, one day they show up for a visit and Brie has vanished - but a precious keepsake of hers was left behind. Quinn discovers that her...more

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Feb 01, 2013 Clarissa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-read, ya

Oh, I'm going to have to look out for Deb Caletti. How I have never heard of this author? I loved this book. The writing was so good. It was basically a list of watch-out-fors and don'ts that somehow manages to pull at your heart strings instead of getting annoying. I only dated nice guys. Honestly, I have had limited dating experience and very good luck. It's not that I wasn't interested in the bad boys, it's that they weren't interested in me. Lucky me, for reals. This book proves it. But it w...more

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Sep 02, 2012 Wafiyah rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Sarah Dessen fans

Recommended to Wafiyah by: Local library

Shelves: anticlimactic, contemporary-romance, family, horrible-romance, not-so-good, terrible-protagonist, romance, sloooww-progress

What's wrong about this book is that the author seems to be writing a diary entry about corrupted men, and then stretching it up into more than three hundred pages. The message of this book is clear enough, that there has to be a decent, good man that you choose to love, and that love is good enough for you, but it could have been written in another way. Quinn is the ost flat character of all time; she refuses to acknowledge the fact that her father is a bad person. She's surrounded by people wh...more What's wrong about this book is that the author seems to be writing a diary entry about corrupted men, and then stretching it up into more than three hundred pages. The message of this book is clear enough, that there has to be a decent, good man that you choose to love, and that love is good enough for you, but it could have been written in another way. Quinn is the ost flat character of all time; she refuses to acknowledge the fact that her father is a bad person. She's surrounded by people who love her - her grandmother, her mother, her aunt, her sister, her boyfriend, her half-sister, her half-sister's mother and all the ex-wives of her father, Barry - but she refuses to see that they are supportive enough for her and instead thinks that she requires a father figure in her life - especially when said father seems to contain all the characteristics of a bad husband and parent. She doesn't even "realize" this until it's too late - she knows it, but she doesn't show it. She's also extremely passive about all of this, and she barely says two sentences to her father about it at the end of the book. That annoyed me.

Also, the romance in this novel hardly made any sense - it seemed as though the author decided to use Jake as a plot device more than anything - that, despite all of the corruption going on with her father, we'll just insert this one beautiful man, and his lovely arms and curly hair, in the middle of the book no less, and everyone will be happy. Honestly, the book would have been just fine without Jake at all. I think my favourite characters were Frances Lee and Gavin - I know that the latter was barely in the novel at all, but he seemed the only love interest that actually made sense. And Frances Lee was the only character who did the passive/aggressive thing well.

Basically, this book had a lot of errors. The writing style would have been good, but there's something I noticed about this author that's similar to Sarah Dessen - the dialogue mostly consists of everyone around the protagonist speaking, with only two words inserted into the conversation that are spoken by the protagonist herself. I didn't find that good. Also, the descriptions - the lengthy, unnecessary descriptions - of some places, people, or objects, made me cringe. I don't like it when authors overdo things like that. In this book, Deb would describe Jake's hands, and she's use them to explain how they touched so many objects and yaddayadda. It was kind of embarrassing.

In the end, I liked the message. I just don't like the book.(less)

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Jul 03, 2012 Sue Anderson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic-fiction, ya

This is a book about love and relationships in the broadest sense; it explores women’s personal stories of love gone wrong (or right, in a couple of instances) by interspersing first-person accounts from the women in Quinn’s father’s past and present life. The complexities of women’s relationships are revealed, including their struggle for identity and accomplishment in the face of controlling men. Quinn’s extreme loyalty to her father and her need for his love are tested by the women around her...more

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Jun 01, 2012 Ari rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

IQ "With Daniel, there weren't any red flags, but there weren't any blue ones or green ones either; no beautiful silk flags with gold threads and patterns so breathtaking they could make you dizzy when they blew in the wind. It was enough, maybe, not to have bad things, even if you didn't have great things." Quinn pgs. 4-5

Boy oh boy do I know what that's like, that's why it's my pick for Incredible Quote because it so PERFECTLY catures those meh relationships. The ones where there's nothing you...more IQ "With Daniel, there weren't any red flags, but there weren't any blue ones or green ones either; no beautiful silk flags with gold threads and patterns so breathtaking they could make you dizzy when they blew in the wind. It was enough, maybe, not to have bad things, even if you didn't have great things." Quinn pgs. 4-5

Boy oh boy do I know what that's like, that's why it's my pick for Incredible Quote because it so PERFECTLY catures those meh relationships. The ones where there's nothing you can immediately point to and say 'this is wrong' but there's no spark, or passion, or anything remotely interesting about the relationship. Its boring. You don't even know why you're together but you don't want to end things because you're scared of being alone or scared of hurting the person's feelings or whatever. This book is actually not annoyingly filled with love-advice instead the lessons about love are inserted in hilarious anecdotes and quips made by Quinn's loved ones. THE SECRET LIFE OF PRINCE CHARMING is also a very quotable book and that's always nice. To me this is a true contemporary novel. There are no pop-culture references to date it, no over use of slang, instead the tone of the novel and the language the characters use do justice to the early 21st century. And I love Quinn's family.

I do think the author should have explained Quinn's connection to the various women telling the story. The mother, grandmother and aunt were obvious but all the other women related to Quinn told their stories too and that got confusing. I wanted a family tree haha. I did get really annoyed at how Quinn thought kids whose parents weren't divorced had perfect lives. Maybe that was one of her flaws but she never changes her view (or at least it's never clear that she matured). "When your parents are divorced, your world is different from that of the kids whose parents aren't. It just is. In their world, moms and dads and kids go on bike rides together, and they all go on summer vacation. Dad cleans the gutters of clogged leaves; Mom knows how he likes his coffee. The big problems are being asked to clean your room and being treated like a child and the times the parents fight because Mom thinks Dad never listens.[....] No one feels they have to correct the wrongs of one parent to another" (pgs 157-158). HA tell that to kids who are in foster care, whose parents are alcoholics, drug users, abusers, etc. Or to kids whose parents are married, refuse to get a divorce but really they need one.

"I was not put on this earth to be someone's possession. If I want to be in a prison, then I'll rob a bank." pg. 175, I love the grandmother

"Maybe we all just want to feel special, even for a little while, to be fooled for a bit into feeling something beside the truth of our own ordinariness" Quinn, pg. 321

THE SECRET LIFE OF PRINCE CHARMING is an authentic, engaging tale that repeats advice about love and relationships that we already know deep down inside but need to keep hearing even if we ignore the advice the first time. Quinn could be annoying with her viewpoint of being the only vicitm due to divroced parents and at times the narration grew confusing but other than that the women in Quinn's family were spectacular.

(less)

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Jan 20, 2012 Navi rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: feminism, romance, young-adult, self-discovery-fiction

MEN MAN. WHO NEEDS 'EM? WHAT JERKS, AMIRITE?

...That's basically the message of this book, for the most part. Guy bashing and women empowerment YEAH! Okay, while the book states that not all men are bad, I had a strong desire to really hate people by the end of the book. Like, a really strong desire.

This book is... okay. It doesn't really pick up until the half-way point, so if you're impatient I wouldn't suggest it. There's also random words of wisdom just thrown in there that I just decided to...more

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Sep 09, 2011 Amela rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: summer-2011, favorites

This book definitely conveyed an important message for me that I think I've been trying to avoid and shut out. This past year I've been through hell and back relationship-wise and it's left me a complete, emotional wreck - not that I would admit that to any of my friends. I lost interest in a number of things that I thought I loved to do - read, write, bake, etc. I finally got back into reading and this was one of the first books I picked up. I absolutely loved it. It was the perfect book for me...more

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Jun 19, 2011 Karen Kaiser rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: summer-2011, four-stars, realistic-fiction, chick-lit, fiction

I loved this book. It could be categorized as a romance novel, but it's so much more than that. True, it was enjoyable reading about Quinn's and Jake's budding relationship, but Jake didn't even enter the story until half-way through. So much of the story is about Quinn finding and accepting the truth about her father, who she tries with all her heart to love. A father is someone who almost always has some kind of emotional hold on someone, and this story is about Quinn breaking the emotional ho...more

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Nov 19, 2010 Betsy Imhoff added it

The book Secret Life of Prince Charming is written by Deb Caletti. This book is about a girl named Quinn who is 17. Her little sister’s name is Sprout and Quinn loves her very much. She also has an older half-sister named Frances Lee, who she has never met before. Every woman in her family has never had love they have always had heartbreak. It’s about how they all get together to fight against the jerks and to stop the heartbreak that they have all encountered.
I really liked this book because...more

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May 05, 2010 Books and Literature for Teens rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-ive-read-in-2010, comedy-humor, family-drama, favorite, published-2009, realistic-contemporary, teen-romance, young-adult, friendship

It's amazing really, what some people will fall for. Mr. Sensitive, the competitive jerk, the control freak, or the "dirty, rotten, liar" in the words of Dorothy Hoffman, Quinn's grandmother. Sometimes though, you never know about your mistake until you really get to know that person. In The Secret Life of Prince Charming, Quinn explores the world of not-so-perfect men, choices, and the complications of, well, someone who is NOT prince charming and someone who is.
This is my first Caletti book. I...more It's amazing really, what some people will fall for. Mr. Sensitive, the competitive jerk, the control freak, or the "dirty, rotten, liar" in the words of Dorothy Hoffman, Quinn's grandmother. Sometimes though, you never know about your mistake until you really get to know that person. In The Secret Life of Prince Charming, Quinn explores the world of not-so-perfect men, choices, and the complications of, well, someone who is NOT prince charming and someone who is.
This is my first Caletti book. I know, there must always be a "first" for everything, but I'm very sorry I didn't read one sooner. No, wait. If I had, I wouldn't have enjoyed this one so much! It was fun, had a creative plot, and a colorful set of characters––especially Quinn–– that made me really loved reading this book. It was a breath of fresh air from me to read a novel for teens that had some sort of maturity, a guideline, or a message told to you by someone with experience on this subject. And in a way, it was.
I really liked the way Caletti presented the story. Many people would dramatize it by making the adults shallow as possible, thrown in all kinds of so-called "average teenage stuff", and pull the normal "this is how a love story is" plot. Because of this, I am very hesitant when picking up books about "love stories" among teenagers because everything has gotten to be too cliche. Not so in Prince Charming; every bit of it was original, and even though you might suspect a few things to happen with Quinn, it was exciting to watch her discovery and her adventure unfold all while knowing that there is a good chance of a happy ending.
Another key concept to Caletti's writing with Prince Charming (and maybe in her other books as well) is humor. Realistic, everyday, family humor. Love that. It really makes the characters personalities go far. While showing you characters you could only wish you knew (like Quinn), you also meet some characters that make you cringe, like Berry, Quinn's father, the exotic, smooth-talking casanova that many women (too many) have fallen for. Again, very neat set of characters.

Overall, The Secret Life of Prince Charming was a fantastic story that teen girls would enjoy and appreciate the message of finding a real Prince Charming Caletti. Highly recommend to teens ages fourteen and up.
|Age Group: YA, ages 14+|Buy/Borrow?| Buy|
|Content: Some language and family drama;
will be more appealing to older teens|
|Recommend?| Yes

Courtesy of Books and Literature for Teens (booksandliteratureforteens.blogspot.com)(less)

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Apr 23, 2010 AnnaBnana rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-fiction

This book is about Quinn, the women in her life, and the man who ruined them all (her Dad).

Quinn is 17. She has a little sister named Sprout and an older half-sister (largely unknown) named Frances Lee. She lives with her mom, grandma, and aunt and goes to stay with her dad every other weekend. But her dad has really only been around for a couple of years and Quinn is starting to discover some things about him she doesn't like and is having a lot of trouble coming to terms with loving and needi...more

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Apr 16, 2010 Meredith rated it 5 of 5 stars

Quinn has learned from her mother, grandmother, and aunt that there are warning signs when a man is about to break your heart. All have been burned by love, and Quinn, who tries her hardest to make good, safe choices, When her dependable boyfriend dumps her and she discovers that her self-absorbed, Prince Charming father has been stealing objects from every woman he’s ever married or dated, Quinn snaps. She enlists the help of her younger sister, Sprout, and Frances Lee, the half-sister she’s on...more

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Aug 26, 2009 Mary rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: high-school-books, adult-books, realistic-fiction

This book was published for YAs, but I don't think middle schoolers will have the patience - or interest to stick with it, and often as I read it, I wondered if Deb Caletti was feeling equivocal about whether she intended her audience to be teens or middle aged women. Quinn and her younger sister Sprout (Charlotte) join up with a half-sister they hardly know on a quest to return sentimentally valuable items their father has stolen from former girlfriends and wives to their rightful owners. Along...more

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Jun 20, 2009 Kelly Moran rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-reviews

Reviewed for Amazon Vine program.

Besides a writer, author Deb Caletti is also a painter, a lecturer, and a lyricist. She is a National Book Award Finalist with other titles including: The Queen of Everything, Honey, Baby, Sweetheart, The Nature of Jade, and The Fortunes of Indigo Skye. She resides in Seattle with her family.
Quinn is an ordinary teenager, or so she feels. She is surrounded by women who have had their hearts broken and has grown up hearing nothing but cautionary tales about men....more

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May 29, 2009 Rachael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Growing up with women who’ve had nothing but bad relationships, Quinn has only heard bad stories and dire warnings about the male gender. Still, she tries to remain optimistic. After all, her father is back in her life after years of absence; that must be some proof that men aren’t entirely bad. But being suddenly dumped by Daniel, the boyfriend she thought was perfect, jars her back into reality, and a shocking discovery in her father’s household makes her question the trust she’s placed in him...more Growing up with women who’ve had nothing but bad relationships, Quinn has only heard bad stories and dire warnings about the male gender. Still, she tries to remain optimistic. After all, her father is back in her life after years of absence; that must be some proof that men aren’t entirely bad. But being suddenly dumped by Daniel, the boyfriend she thought was perfect, jars her back into reality, and a shocking discovery in her father’s household makes her question the trust she’s placed in him. Is her father just a handsome charmer or also a cruel womanizer? Emboldened by a reconnection with her spunky half sister Frances Lee and opportunity, Quinn embarks on a road trip with her younger sister, her half sister, and a tagalong musician to fix her father’s wrongs and ultimately find the truth.

There are a lot of partially contradictory statements I can make about The Secret Life of Prince Charming. I liked most the story a lot, but there are some elements I wasn’t pleased with. Caletti takes an extremely long time—practically the first third of the book—to set up the story, and unfortunately, this was rather hard for me to get through as it wasn’t that interesting. After that, though, the story turns around and becomes much more exciting with adventure, humor, and especially romance. Too bad I often felt Quinn’s romantic interest was a little too good to be true. I had a difficult time connecting with the characters as well, and this may have something to do with Caletti’s writing rather than their realism. I have no problem with creative literary sentences filled with symbols and metaphors and whatnot, but Caletti, I felt, laid it on a bit too thickly, especially in the first section; this sadly made me feel bored instead of intrigued. While I was bothered by these technicalities, I did enjoy the messages behind the story. Caletti does a wonderful job of exploring all the facets of relationships between family and significant others, from the pits of the bad to the dizzying heights of the good.

The Secret Life of Prince Charming is a sweet story with a great message, if a slightly disappointing execution. Having really enjoyed Caletti’s Wild Roses and The Nature of Jade, I was expecting a little more from this novel than I got. Nevertheless, fans of Sarah Dessen’s Lock and Key and This Lullaby and C. Leigh Purtill’s Love, Meg will still enjoy this book.

reposted from http://thebookmuncher.blogspot.com (less)

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Mar 11, 2013 Annie rated it 3 of 5 stars

The romance here is adorable, if completely contrived. Really, it's a family story about the relationship that a daughter (and her sisters and her mother and stepmothers and other women) has with her father. The father is a complete narcissist to a pathological degree. He uses the people in his life as essentially props for him to create his own grandiose and fabricated vision of himself. The daughter wants his love more than anything, and the deformed relationship she has with him shades her vi...more

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Oct 13, 2012 Lo♪ rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

These words like honey smoothed through an original story line, a hot and sensitive boy, a family coming together, and an inspiring lesson...so why isn't this five stars?

When I finished the book, I literally sat there, rereading the last few pages, trying to come up with some sort of meaningful emotion, and I got...nothing. I couldn't feel anything! There I was, reading and rereading these beautifully written words about one of the greatest lessons on love of all time, and I couldn't even muster...more

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Nov 05, 2010 Brittany rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The book is called The Secret life of Prince Charming, it’s written by Deb Caletti. This book is fiction, if you like a tiny bit of mystery, along with talking about love then this book is for you.
Personally I really liked this book. I didn’t love it because to me certain parts were boring and didn’t have enough details. I also didn’t love it because the ending left me with tons of questions. But overall it was very good! I really liked how she had details about people. And the surroundings wer...more The book is called The Secret life of Prince Charming, it’s written by Deb Caletti. This book is fiction, if you like a tiny bit of mystery, along with talking about love then this book is for you.
Personally I really liked this book. I didn’t love it because to me certain parts were boring and didn’t have enough details. I also didn’t love it because the ending left me with tons of questions. But overall it was very good! I really liked how she had details about people. And the surroundings were very detailed, to the point where it painted a picture in my mind. I also think I liked this book because it relates to my family in a way. My parents are also divorced like in the book, Sprout (Charlotte) and Quinns’ parents are also divorced. Also, my parents are much like Sprout and Quinns, they both live in different cities, and we have to travel to get to each house. My parents don’t talk to each other at all they talk through me. My mom always gives me tips about love just like Sprout and Quinns, because she has been heartbroken before.
In the beginning of the book, it talks about how Quinn and Sprout live with there mom, Aunt Annie and Grandma. Each one of them has been heartbroken but the mom is the one who has been hurt the most. There mom has big problems with love, she has been making a list of things on the fridge about relationships and what not to fall for. There mom and dad have a bad past because there dad cheated on there mom with a lady named Abigail Renfrew. Quinn is the type of girl who keeps to herself, and is a really bad liar, she confesses to everything! She is also trying to find “real love”. Since she found out that her boyfriend Daniel cheated on her with a new girl when she was at her dads house. Then as the book goes on Quinns dark side finally starts to show! And shockingly her and Sprout can keep a secret and sneak off. But are they really going to Disneyland with there dad or some other place? As Quinn is lying to her mother, she meets her step sister Frances Lee, and they go on an adventure of there own. When they are on this trip with Frances Lee her friend Jake comes along, because on there way they pass a place where he has a gig and he had no other ride. On this adventure, Quinn thought she was just going to give karma to somebody, but she ended up doing more than that. She fell deeply in love where sparks flew every time they touched! If this interests you then ready the book to find the little details out.
The author Deb Caletti, wrote this book because she made part of her life, but changed it to make it more exciting. For example, like her real parents are really divorced and it was hard for her. But mainly she wrote it to encourage younger people to read. I hope if you read this book you enjoy it.(less)

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Mar 14, 2010 Courtney rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Caletti fans

Shelves: coming-of-age, young-adult-literature

Quinn comes from a long line of betrayed women. In fact, her father is the culprit who broke her mother's heart, then abandoned the family. While visiting him one weekend, Quinn notices that her father has an interesting collection of artifacts. Upon closer examination, she discovers that each of her father's prized possessions actually belongs to ex-lovers, which he stole. Determined to find the truth about her father, she enlists the help of her half sister to find these women, return their po...more

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Aug 25, 2009 Vanessa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Quinn knows a lot about love. She lives with her mom, aunt, and grandma - all tried and true love gurus who have withstood many storms caused by love gone wrong. Magnetically stuck to their fridge is the comprehensive master list of things to watch out for - signals that identify a guy who will only bring hurt. Formally educated and ready to stay away from love for good, Quinn decides to rectify some bad love tales on her own. Beginning a quest to right her father's womanly wrongs against more w...more

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Mar 31, 2013 Taylor Reimer rated it 2 of 5 stars

Love, Divorce, Turmoil, and hurt, these things happen in real life. In this book by Deb Caletti, there is a place for all of these in a family. The theme is centered on the ups and downs of family life, and where lying and cheating gets you. Quinn, the protagonist, has always followed the rules, and colored inside the lines. Although she is a model student, is cautious in relationships, is responsible and reliable, she does find her way into trouble. Quinn’s parents are divorced, because of her...more

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Jul 08, 2009 Valerie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic-fiction

Great advice, great interesting characters, and a unique story. After finishing the book I smiled, so that's got to say something. At first I was a bit iffy about the cover. I even saw another book with this same cover at the book story so I was a bit peeved to see how little work some put into the covers. But you shouldn't judge (or rate) a book by its cover right? And the book deserves 5 stars.

I really like the characters. Quinn is exceedingly nice and polite which you don't see a lot in books...more

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Jan 15, 2010 laaaaames rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'm giving you another chance, Deb Caletti! I liked your first books, and then you made me angry with your lame studies in class in America, a.k.a. The Fortunes of Indigo Skye.

This one kicks off with a quote from a sexist John Mayer song. God, guys, not to go off on a tangent, but how much do I hate that song? First of all, if I were to rerecord it (and I'm not sure the twisty path of circumstances that would lead to that happening) it should just go "parents be good to your children, it's your...more

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Jan 04, 2012 Michelle (Pink Polka Dot Book Blog) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: quarterly-challenge-4

Cute story idea and well written, but it only got 3 stars from me because the author went too overboard on all the descriptions and lead-ins. The quest is what the book is all about, and it just took too long to get to it, which would've been fine if it the before part was filled with really great stuff, but it just wasn't.
The essays were cool, and surprisingly I didn't find it to be male-bashing... it was more like: know who you are first and beware of certain types of guys. Nothing wrong with...more

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May 27, 2009 Clara rated it 5 of 5 stars

The story of a 17 year Quinn who is searching for the real story of the father she thinks she knows. Her father has left a trial of good women behind him and Quinn wants to know why.
She finds the family she was looking for closer than she thought. The women in the book give tips about life and men, some worth writing down.
I love Deb Caletti and recommend her to any teen wanting to read something more than angst novels.

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Jun 10, 2009 Jaime rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, young_adult

In many ways, The Secret Life of Prince Charming is a book every young girl should read, before we fall in love (or "love") for the first time. There’s actually a lot of good advice in this book about character traits that maybe one should be wary of when choosing a mate – and really, they’re not traits that are exclusive to men. And along the way, there’s a sweet story about a teenaged girl who’s trying to figure out her (mostly absent) dad, and maybe finds a little love of her own along the wa...more

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About Deb Caletti

Deb Caletti is an American writer born in San Rafael, California. She was a National Book Award finalist, as well as the recipient of other numerous awards including PEN USA finalist award, the Washington State Book Award, and SLJ Best Book award.
Deb went to Lake Washington High School in Kirkland, Washington, U.S.A., and graduated in 1981. She earned a BA in Journalism/Communications from the Uni...more

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“It starts so young, and I'm angry about that. The garbage we're taught. About love, about what's "romantic." Look at so many of the so-called romantic figures in books and movies. Do we ever stop and think how many of them would cause serious and drastic unhappiness after The End? Why are sick and dangerous personality types so often shown a passionate and tragic and something to be longed for when those are the very ones you should run for your life from? Think about it. Heathcliff. Romeo. Don Juan. Jay Gatsby. Rochester. Mr. Darcy. From the rigid control freak in The Sound of Music to all the bad boys some woman goes running to the airport to catch in the last minute of every romantic comedy. She should let him leave. Your time is so valuable, and look at these guys--depressive and moody and violent and immature and self-centered. And what about the big daddy of them all, Prince Charming? What was his secret life? We dont know anything about him, other then he looks good and comes to the rescue.” — 288 people liked it

“I used to think that finding the right one was about the man having a list of certain qualities. If he has them, we'd be compatible and happy. Sort of a checkmark system that was a complete failure. But I found out that a healthy relationship isn't so much about sense of humor or intelligence or attractive. It's about avoiding partners with harmful traits and personality types. And then it's about being with a good person. A good person on his own, and a good person with you. Where the space between you feels uncomplicated and happy. A good relationship is where things just work. They work because, whatever the list of qualities, whatever the reason, you happen to be really, really good together.” — 232 people liked it

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The Secret Life of Prince Charming

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