The regular references to January as a fairy princess symbolize her romantic nature. When the term is introduced, the reader gets a flashback to Gus asking Shadi about January. At the time, Gus has only been able to observe January and read her consistently positive stories in their workshop classes. Gus remarks that January “acted like a fairy princess who’d been raised by woodland creatures” (45).

January regularly refers to this observation by Gus as the book progresses. At the beginning of the book, when January feels that she’s lost hope in love, Gus remarks that January is different now, to which she replies, “You mean I’m not a fairy princess anymore” (74). January herself relates the fairy princess title to her inner romantic nature and acknowledges to Gus that she’s lacking that piece of herself. However, January hasn’t fully accepted the title and feels that Gus calling her a fairy princess was his way of making fun of her romantic outlook, which she becomes more protective of throughout the book. When Gus toasts to happy endings, January becomes upset, thinking “he was calling me a fairy princess all over again, laughing to himself about how naive and silly my worldview was” (192).