[Story] The Mischievous Maiden & The Sleeping Prince

Title: The Mischievous Maiden & The Sleeping Prince
Author: MizA
Genre(s): Historical Romance
Tags: Transmigration, horror, mystery, supernatural, hidden identity, strong female lead, impossible love, slow burn romance
Audience: R
Main Lead: Female
Status: Completed
VB Assessment Score: PDE 2 CDD 2 SWB 3 || TQ 3 SV 3 || Overall: 13
Number of Chapters: 272
Chapter Length: Medium
Reading Level: High
Date of First Release: November 26, 2019
Date of Last Update: October 27, 2020
VB Reviewed? No
Available on Platform(s): Webnovel
Number of Views: 1M
Number of Reviews: 48
Synopsis:
“THE PRINCE IS NOT DEAD!” her words, in front of the court, sealed her fate… Leaving Holstein is impossible, now! Ghosts and Princes want Alexa!
From the first moment Magnus von Wuttenfal met Alexa, he knew she was a liar and a problem. Who’s that girl and why his cold heart pumps so fast for her?
Since Alexa laid eyes on the exasperating First Prince of Holstein, she knew she should keep a distance. Not only he’s sharp-tongued, entitled, and incredibly sexy, but he’s about to marry the kind Lady Cordelia!
Does the First Prince Magnus, think of her as a mere toy… or an actual threat? Or something else?
The fact she was born with a peculiar gift, and raised as someone else, shall not come to light. Her sad past full of betrayal and pain cannot be unveiled to anyone. Never!
Torn between Prince Alexander and Prince Magnus, living and dead, her past and her future, will she love and be loved in return? Or will she once again be used and discarded?
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“Why… did you do that?”
“Well, that was when I regretted acting like a bad son and a vile man, and before God. I had to take responsibility, didn’t I?” 
‘But what nonsense is that ?! It’s not like you really put your… thing… into my… thingy….’ “Oh! OHHHH! You want to use me so you don’t marry your bride! You set everything up! From sending me to the maze to… up to…”
“Having you in my arms, tasting your mouth as I did this peach?! Is that what you’re stuttering on, Lady Saskia? This will be repeated ad infinitum when we get married. That and more.” 

Review(s)

PenelopetheSpider: I love this book. It’s addicting! The story is thrilling and stands out from the rest of romances out here. Alexa is not a bland MC afraid of ML, and there’s much plot past the romance. The characters are deep, and their secrets are intriguing. Must read!

RocketMan: This novel is absolutely crazy! It put you on your toes every chapter! Alexa is really a sweet mischievous main character, you really root for her from the start! She’s smart, funny and tragic, too. The story is a swirl of emotions! 
MizA did it again! I just can’t understand why her books are so underrated.

ErLa_Inertia: This story is perfectly balanced to me. It has humor, intrigue, romance, mystery, and a touch supernatural. I love the MC strong personality and actual strength. I obsessively started reading this from the get go. The fight scenes are well crafted and flow so well without being overly long and descriptive. There’s a lot going on to keep you guessing and interested without being overly complex that you get confused or lose interest. Highly recommend.

DaoistGenerics: The amount of qualities this novel shows is yet to be rivaled. Superb story, thrilling events, lovely smart MC, and deep support characters. It’s not your regular sugary romance with a damsel who does nothing but wait her man take action. This novel has a PLOT, and it’s a huge and intriguing plot. 
It’s full of action, intricate court plots, good setting depiction, and a dash of horror! I’m in love! The plot twists totally make sense and even the weird usage of pronouns his/hers when she is in her hubby’s body is understandable… We get used to it after a while.

euqvinx: I found this book by accident, left it alone for months and I’m so glad I finally started to read it! I binged read this book for three days and now I’m about to read the second part. This book is so good, plot twist left and right and I just cannot predict anything correctly. The setting is in Western Europe, which I’m very much in love with! The main characters are strong. They have their own stories and pasts. I believe the story focuses more on the mystery and supernatural side rather than romance. I find it appealing as the MCs are growing for betterment and not focusing on their carnal desires. This is not the type of book you can speed read. It was difficult to catch up during the first few episodes but you’ll get used to it as you progress!

kalins368: Author MiZa – you are a fantastic story teller with great historical details and interesting character developments. I don’t usually read fantasy romance genre but I couldn’t put your book down. This is a truly hidden gem that has a lot mystery and sweet romance. Your FL and ML are too sweet- well I was pretty sure who I think the ML is then I look at your book title but I will still keep my prince as the ML even though, he is a bit foolish but he is a sweetie in my books. I can’t for more updates and like the other reviewers indicate, it does keep us on the edge of our seats. I found the beginning chapters a little confusing when she was traveling with her fiancée entourage and running into the Cordealius but after reading- I got the gist of it. Your writing improves as the story progresses so while I wait for more future chapters, I will check out your other book. As a suggestion, you might want to reword your story summary to be more concise to attract more readers. Great job! Thanks again

RingRingHello: First off, this book is not for the faint, of for the ones wishing a silly plot. The title might deceive you. The plot can be too smart for lazy readers. 
The author clearly understands her métier as a storyteller, clearly knows a lot about the historical setting, and can write with an enviable flow. 
I’m reading the second arc, and I’m still amazed by how complex, funny, and intriguing this story is. 
Alexa is a spicy and full-fleshed character, from her light spirits, her petty thoughts, and her soft heart. 
Her romantic partner is a REALLY sexy character, not only because he’s on the handsome side, but because he’s perfectly balanced as a tough, cynical man, and a loyal and clever prince. 
The setting and the subplots, and the secondary characters, are colorful and tridimensional. It’s quite rare in ******* novels. 
When you think something was forgotten or it’s just background prop, TA DA! It comes back and blasts in your face. 
The author is a queen of plot twists. 
Language is good enough for the site, but some editing would do wonders. 
Congrats MizA!

Maromar: Alexa, a woman of many secrets, submits herself to a tale of beyond-mortal peril when she decides to befriend Cordelia, a plain woman bound for marriage into the Holstein royal family. The wisdom of her decision in the face of political strife, the charming yet vexatious Prince Magnus, and the harrowing echoes of souls long dead is revealed within The Mischievous Maiden and the Sleeping Prince.  
The piece opens in medias res, teasing readers with prospects of a plot that turns out to be a tad more complex than your typical historical romance with a dash of fantasy. Even if they aren’t hooked by the image of a panicked and injured protagonist dragged away by royalty in a foreign land, MizA’s style is strong enough to ensnare readers with smooth text structure. The paragraph variation, in particular, lets one’s eyes slide from one scene to the next without much exhaustion when binge reading. 
Another strong point lies in the exploration of the title’s genre. Where others tend to tack on the fantasy tag as window dressing to provide easy setpieces to drown shippers in, The Mischievous Maiden and the Sleeping Prince gives the more esoteric elements appropriate consideration. The plot feels very much alive past the romance. 
The characters are palatable overall. I only found slight issue with Magnus and much of the reason for my weariness was put to rest before too long. In the beginning, it felt like he was going to be one of those romantic interests that get portrayed as perfectly attractive and acceptable despite legitimately abusive behavior. I’m glad to say that his faults and actions were recognized by both Cordelia and Alexa and dealt with in a manner that seemed internally consistent and appropriate given the context. The story doesn’t fetishize or romanticize maltreatment despite a few beats implying that pairing up with the right woman could smooth out such a tract in a man. If there was one outstanding gripe I have about him, it’d be that he seems over competent in tests of strength and skill. The issue isn’t so bad as to make him the solution to every conflict, however. 
Reading through the interactions and developing relationships between Alexa and even minor characters brought more than a few smiles to my face. There are enough humorous and heart-touching moments for the work to leave a lasting impression.  
On the mechanical side, the writing is strong compared to your average piece found on Webnovel. That isn’t to say that everything is perfect.  
The story often uses epithets in place of the characters’ names. In some cases, it can provide information while saving up on words, but here it’s done too often and in a way that makes the scenes stutter a bit. It draws attention to description where readers are trying to process actions. Consider the use of so many bland words like “I” “said” “the” “he/she” etc. A character’s name or a single, consistent epithet can be counted among their place. These common bits don’t look pretty, but they are essential for coordinating the text. Think of them as transparent strings on a puppet. When you replace lengths of them with material of different colors (a unique one for each epithet if you want to maintain this analogy) you risk distraction, or worse. 
While MizA does a good job of making readers feel as though they are at the center of things, there are places where the text feels distant. You can catch the odd instance of someone trying to remove a hood rather than lunging for it. I yearned for more vividity in some scenes due to a reliance on adverbs, plain/chunky text, or redundancy. 
Some of the adverb usage even feels like a crutch or worse, signposts implying that readers can’t discern the air of a scene. An early example takes place where Cordelia begs Magnus to not accost Alexa, interposing herself between the two. We already know that such an action could be conceived as brave, it isn’t necessary to say that she bravely held on to Magnus’ arm.  
There are also instances of passive voice that can turn some people off. It weakens the text but isn’t there in a way that rouses too much of an issue. I suspect that some people who are sensitive to it might even pass it by unawares due to MizA’s neat flow.  
Places where I hit a snag and had to stop reading for a moment were scarce but usually occurred when the above issues were found bunched together. 
Another point worthy of consideration is the story’s word choice. It can be very hit or miss. Sometimes the text dips into extremely rare, awkward words rather than ones that are simply uncommon. I understand that some of this is due to an effort at painting an in-period picture, but other options would be understood immediately by a general audience while maintaining the effect such as “direful” or simply “dark” rather than “tenebrous”. A good trick is to seek out words using the more common prefixes/suffixes that were nonetheless left behind in the graveyards of eras long past. 
All that aside, I truly enjoyed reading The Mischievous Maiden and the Sleeping Prince. So long as you keep your wits about you and aren’t terribly frightened by shades, I’d say that the trip to Holstein is one well worth embarking upon.

Story Post Last Updated: November 25, 2020