A Hole in the World (novel)

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A Hole in the World is a short young-adult fantasy novel by British author Sophie Robbins. Our protagonist, Bianca Western, is a teenager recently come home from a much-loathed stay at a girls' boarding school that ended in arson and expulsion. Reunited with her best friend Scotty and learning to enjoy the company of his friends Cory and Daisy, Bianca finds herself drawn to a mysterious hole in the middle of a stone wall she once entered as a child. Venturing once more into the hole to confront her childhood memories, Bianca finds herself the reluctant rescuer of Princess Alexandra of Calpaea, who is now entirely convinced that Bianca is her Prince Charming.

Basically, it's a traditional fairy-tale about a prince, a princess and a kingdom whose fate will be determined by the power of their love -- with a bit of a twist.

And it is adorable.

A Hole in the World is currently only available in Amazon Kindle format.

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This book provides examples of the following tropes:

• Cloudcuckoolander: Ditzy personality aside, Alexandra is one weird, spacy girl.

"Music is surely the most beautiful thing to permeate the air!"

• The Ditz: Alexandra.
• Double Meaning Title: Revealed toward the end. There's the literal hole leading to Calpaea, and the hole in Bianca's world without Alexandra in it.
• Everything's Better With Princesses: Lampshaded, played with, and ultimately reconstructed.
• Expy: With her attitude, her vague butch/bi-curious tendencies toward Bianca despite her obvious crush on Cory, and her knowledge of chemical pyrotechnics, Daisy just might be an expy of Ace (whose birth name, coincidentally, is the similar-sounding Dorothy).
• Fairy Godmother: Nissa.
• Five-Man Band
  • The Hero: Bianca
  • The Lancer: Scotty
  • The Big Guy: Cory
  • The Smart Guy: Daisy
  • The Chick: Alexandra
• Girls Love
• Half-Human Hybrid: Prince Michael, the son of the evil sorceress and a dragon.
• Happy Ending
• I Choose to Stay: All the main characters decide to stay in Calpaea at the end.
• Hair of Gold: Alexandra.
• John Barrowman: His cover of "Uptown Girl" is Bianca and Alexandra's love song, and what finally snaps Alexandra out of Prince Michael's spell at the end.
• Naughty Tentacles: Referenced for laughs, but obviously never actually implemented.
• Nice Hat: Alexandra has a pointy pink hat that's apparently impossible to knock off her head.
• Platonic Life Partners: Bianca and Scotty.
• Prince Charmless: Prince Michael.
• Princess Classic: Oh yes, Alexandra is this.
• Schoolgirl Lesbians: Bianca and Alexandra, of course.
• Time Skip: Two and a half years, halfway through the book.
• Transparent Closet: Everyone seems to know Alexandra is a lesbian -- even her parents.
• True Companions: Bianca, Alexandra, Scotty, Cory and Daisy.
• True Love's Kiss: Well and truly given by Bianca at the end.
• The Unfought: We never even see the evil sorceress.
• Year Inside, Hour Outside: Inverted.