Review: Two Moon Princess by Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban

To Andrea, the life of a princess is not a dream; it's tedious and stifling. But the certainties of her life, both good and bad, are thrown into chaos when she accidentally travels to an alternative world, from a cave on a forbidden beach in her family's kingdom to the warm and carefree life of Southern California. Then a careless visit to the cave results in terrible consequences: a brewing war between kingdoms, her sister's love for the wrong man, Andrea's own conflicted feelings for an enemy leader, and dark family secrets exposed. Andrea needs to act to resolve problems which she helped to create, and she faces many difficult choices, torn between duty and desire on so many levels. Readers will enjoy the mix of traditional elements of the fantasy genre,with fresh ideas and a look at our culture through the eyes of a stranger. ~From NetGalley

 Two Moon Princess is the story of Andrea, a princess in an alternate world, who longs to break free from the confines of the royal life. If I understand correctly, the people of Andrea's world are the ancestors of the Spanish people. I found the fact that Andrea is, for all intents and purposes, a Latina heroine, to be a nice change. As there are far too few Latina main characters in most of the books I read.
 Two Moon Princess got off to a fairly slow start for me. I found the description of the daily life of a princess to be a little boring. But as the interaction between the two worlds increases, so did my interest. The author did a great job of portraying the confusion Andrea feels as she experienced the modern world. Imagine not knowing what a watch or television are. The confusion was portrayed well.
  I have to admit, Andrea was the only character who appealed to me at all throughout the first two-thirds of the book. Her parents were distant. Two of her sisters were sweet but rarely used in the story. The other sister was cruel, almost beyond redemption. The man who Andrea thinks she loves in the first half of the book is clueless.
  But, this book was redeemed by the last 100 pages. Andrea becomes a strong, worthwhile hero in her own right. A man who I completely dismissed in the first portion of the book becomes gallant and loveable. There is tons of adventure, wrongs that are righted, and misunderstandings explained. Two Moon Princess had an ending that I felt was "just right".
Go check it out at http://www.carmenferreiroesteban.com/