SOLVED. Childrens Fantasy. Overweight Princess is raised by aunt, learns Spells in secret wizard tower, runs away from marriage. Read around 2016. Spoilers ahead. [s]

[Estela]

I read this around 6 years ago (2016) as just something random when looking through the kids section for my sister and I just can't get it out of my head and its been bugging me that I can't remember it. From what I remember, it was a book most likely printed before the 2000s, was a hard cover book, and I cannot for the life of me remember the names of any of the characters.

Main Plot that I can remember (SPOILERS)







Very small kingdom, princess was initially the queens niece, both parents are alive in beginning, the mom is a really good cook and baker so that's why the main character is overweight, parent die somehow and she goes to live with her aunt the queen, mc hates it because the queen makes her eat far healthier, finds a secret passage way in her room to the kitchens so she uses that to get extra sweets and food, also find a wizards tower, learns some spells, she gets proposed to marry another kingdom´s prince in order to prevent a war, uses a spell that makes a shell of her body that looks like its in eternal sleep but her actual body escapes, ends up working in the kitchens of the enemy countries army camp, kinda gets found out by prince, escape back into her country, gets back into shell, looses some weight because she was doing hard work in the kitchen, theres a ball? where the prince comes and ignores her, mc and prince go out on a ride, find a dragon, both get hurt then princess find a way to help prince kill the dragon i think but ends up falling asleep like sleeping beauty, and it ends up kinda working out like sleeping beauty.

Quote that I remember from the ballroom chapter was something along the lines of ¨whats a lily of the valley compared to a charming rose¨ said apathetically by princess about the other country's prince dancing with a beautiful lady.


That all I can remember so hopefully will help.

[Becca]

Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock.

There isn't a Google Books preview available but there's a copy on archive.org that you can check if you need to - e.g. the flower quote you remember appears on p. 308

“Think nothing of it. How could a man surrounded by such roses note a simple fleur-de-blanc?” (here naming a diminutive local flower).

https://archive.org/details/princessb...

[Estela]

Becca wrote: "Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock.

There isn't a Google Books preview available but there's a copy on archive.org that you can check if you need to - e.g. the flower quote y..."

Thank you so much!