#4: Who Made You a Princess

Shani Hanna returns to Spencer Academy for her senior year after an amazing summer spent with her friends Lissa, Gillian, and Carly. But the best part about summer was meeting Danyel Johnstone. Danyel is cute, smart, cool, and super nice. All Shani has to do is get him to see her as more than just one of the gang.

But when the girls return to school, they find a new addition to the distinguished student body: Prince Rashid al Amir of Yasir, an oil-rich desert kingdom in the Middle East. Prince Rashid moved to California to prepare for an eventual MBA at Stanford . . . and to romance his future wife: Shani Hanna!

It turns out, Shani's family and the prince's go back for generations, entwined in tradition, obligation, and family honor. In each generation, members of the two families have expanded their business interests through arranged marriage. Will Shani put aside her feelings for Danyel to pursue her family's wishes? Or will God answer her prayers for an intervention?

Shani Hanna returns to SpencerAcademy for her senior year after an amazing summer spent with her friends Lissa, Gillian, and Carly. But the best part about summer was meeting Danyel Johnstone. Danyel is cute, smart, cool, and super nice. All Shani has to do is get him to see her as more than just one of the gang.
But when the girls return to school, they find a new addition to the distinguished student body: Prince Rashid al Amir of Yasir, an oil-rich desert kingdom in the Middle East. Prince Rashid moved to California to prepare for an eventual MBA at Stanford . . . and to romance his future wife: Shani Hanna!
It turns out, Shani's family and the prince's go back for generations, entwined in tradition, obligation, and family honor. In each generation, members of the two families have expanded their business interests through arranged marriage. Will Shani put aside her feelings for Danyel to pursue her family's wishes? Or will God answer her prayers for an intervention?

Shelley Adina is a world traveler and pop culture junkie with an incurable addiction to designer handbags. She knows the value of a relationship with a gracious God and loving Christian friends, and she's inviting today's teenage girls to join her in these refreshingly honest books about real life as a Christian teen--with a little extra glitz thrown in for fun! In between books, Shelley loves traveling, listening to and making music, and watching all kinds of movies.

"I only wish Shelley Adina's All About Us series had been around in my day. I recommend it for any young adult who wants to escape to another world and find that they are not alone in their feelings and experiences."

"At last! A real book, about real young women, who love God and are struggling to 'do the right thing.'"

Average Rating:

3 of 3 Reviews Showing:

Reviewed by Michelle Sutton (AZ), July 15, 2009

This was a decent story, but I found myself skimming a bit at the end. Maybe because it seemed a tad unbelievable - the characters were sort of like people in 90210 only richer. Then again, I have no clue about how wealthy people live. Maybe their lives really are exactly the way they were portrayed in this story. The teens seemed a bit mature for their ages, too. I kept thinking they were in college by the way they acted until I realized they were in high school. I did enjoy the female characters and the minor romantic elements. Shani was believable and so was Rashid. (I could even hear his accent when he spoke.) The relationship with Shani and Danyel seemed a bit surprising to me in regards to how it came together. It's hard to say too much without posting a spoiler so I'll just say this was a nice story but not one that I'll be raving over and telling people to run out and buy. I must add that I was impressed with the author's knowledge of fashion, couture and shoes. Maybe this is just one of those books that would have been more enjoyable had I read the prior books in the series first.

Reviewed by Deborah (Reston, VA), June 21, 2009

Who hasn't dreamed once in their life of becoming a princess? Thus is Shani's predicament in this book and it's one most girls would give their right hand to have. This story involved more paparazzi and outside influences than any other book in the series. This is the closest that one of the main characters acts and is treated like a celebrity. It's handled very well and it's interesting to see how Shani handled the incredibly difficult decision her parents put upon her. I would have loved to visit the virtual club that the gang visits where you choose an avatar to represent you in the restaurant. It sounds very high tech and very cool. It's really nice to read a Christian book where people especially teens can go out and have fun yet still be decent, clean and wholesome. One thing though that was distracting to me was the spelling of Danyel's name. Call me traditional or whatever, but when I see a name that's spelled with a y in place of another vowel, it makes me think it's a feminized name. Therefore for the first couple of chapters, I kept thinking he was a girl! While I enjoyed this book a lot, it didn't leave me enthused as the past two books in the series had. The last book in the series had a lot of action and suspense, so this book was a lot slower in comparison. I think part of the problem also stemmed from the fact that I couldn't relate to Shani at all with her dilemma in trying to fend off royalty. While it's an enviable situation, I just couldn't relate to her as I had done the other girls in the series. Still I enjoyed the book a lot. I really liked the ending as it showed gumption and being able to stick to your morals. Once again the visit to the lives of the inhabitants of Spencer Academy has been enthralling and I'm looking forward to reading what else is in store for these girls.

Reviewed by Christy Lockstein (Oconto Falls, WIsconsin), May 30, 2009

Who Made You a Princess by Shelley Adina is the fourth book in the All About Us series about a group of teenage girls attending the elite Spencer Academy in San Francisco. Shanni Hanna has been on the sidelines in the previous novels, but she takes her turn on center stage here. In her senior year at the school, Shanni's deciding between Stanford and Harvard to get her MBA in business, but her love life has been pretty boring up til now. After meeting surfer cutie Danyel, Shanni's ready to find out what it means to be in love, but then Rashid, the Prince of Yamir, a oil-rich kingdom near Saudi Arabia starts attending the school and paying hard to ignore attention to Shanni. Shanni's hard pressed to choose between the two hotties: Danyel prays for her and writes sweet poetry, but Rashid gives her a $2 million diamond necklace and and never goes anywhere without his two bodyguards. What's a girl to do? I really love this series for teen girls. The characters are real without being cardboard stereotypes, and they struggle with issues of faith along with the real world troubles that make being a teen heaven and hell all wrapped together. The characters have been growing with each novel, and that makes them a joy to read. I was a bit worried that Adina was going to take the cliched road with this plot of prince vs pauper, but the twist is an unexpected doozy with implications that will still be rippling in future novels. I hope the senior year at Spencer Academy is extra long, because I will miss this series when it ends.

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