Title: The Princess Plan
Author: Julia London
Series: A Royal Marriage #1
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Harlequin
Pub Date: November 26, 2019
Pages: 384
My Copy: Courtesy of Harlequin and NetGalley
Book Summary:
Princes have pomp and glory—not crushes on commoners.
Nothing gets the tongues of London’s high society wagging like a good scandal. And when the personal secretary of the visiting Prince Sebastian of Alucia is found murdered, it’s all anyone can talk about, including Eliza Tricklebank. Her unapologetic gossip gazette has benefited from an anonymous tip about the crime, prompting Sebastian to take an interest in playing detective—and an even greater interest in Eliza.
With a trade deal on the line and mounting pressure to secure a noble bride, there’s nothing more salacious than a prince dallying with a commoner. Sebastian finds Eliza’s contrary manner as frustrating as it is seductive, but they’ll have to work together if they’re going to catch the culprit. And when things heat up behind closed doors, it’s the prince who’ll have to decide what comes first—his country or his heart.
Book Review:
A great start to a new series. I love how these two people who come from two different backgrounds find each other thru some unusual means. One is a prince. The other is a lady who helps her father, a judge and also runs a ladies gazette and things get much more interesting than either of them ever thought possible.
The way this book starts is with Sebastian, who happens to be a prince. He is the crowned prince of Alucia and needs to marry an English Women of some social standing with connections to help secure a trade agreement. This would make him more secure and the Alucian crown help avoid a war with another kingdom. They need the alliance with England.
So it’s a matter of necessity to do what is in the best interest of his kingdom. Eliza on the other hand has a bit of a different situation. She is a spinister, someone who never married and takes care of her father, who happens to be blind and has a sister and a housekeeper, Poppy. Plus she is visited by her friend (RN: This person has been in another Julia London series), who has a lot of connections. So we learn that things are not always what things seem. Plus she was burned once before in a relationship and that makes her quite hesitant to start things. Not to mention she writes a gazette that talks about women’s fashions for the most part and then sometimes gossip.
Of course, at a party to find a suitable bride and meet some of the most elite ladies with great social connections, things get very interesting. Eliza gets lost and ends up meeting the prince who is in a mask at the party along with the other Alucians. She is drinking some rum punch and he partakes of the rum punch. Somehow Eliza ends up on a line to meet him and realizes that the man she met is the prince.
So then things become even more twisty as there are tons of people and something very bad happens to someone who is close to the prince. This person is murdered and is/was a close personal friend to Sebastian (the prince) and therefore begins an investigation. Somehow Eliza and the gazette get a hold of this information and put it in their gazette which leads Sebastian and Eliza to but some heads. During this course of butting heads Sebastian is stunned that anyone would talk to him the way this woman has talked to him. He is surprised and a little bit baffled by this development.
Him and Eliza somehow get involved in a murder investigation. This ends up getting them even closer and developing at first a weird kind of friendship that is different from any other relationship he has ever had with a woman. This ends up getting much more intense as both Eliza and Sebastian realize their were things they didn’t know and realize that they need each other. Sebastian also realizes that people have kept secrets from him and that’s not a good thing as it can affect the safety of his people. He also is having to deal with the trade agreement and marriage proposal.
Yet he has to wrestle with the fact that both him and Eliza would make a good match love wise, but the fact that she doesn’t have a title makes it hard. Somehow an idea comes to him that will give Eliza the title after a long thinking over the situation. Plus he realizes that life and the crown isn’t worth all the frustration and broken hearted his life would be without the woman he loves. So he manages to find a solution to their problem and Eliza’s father gets a title and this will enable him to marry the woman he loves and Eliza the man she loves he hopes.
So when he proposes to Eliza she is stunned, but he tells her that being his wife will not be easy, but together they can overcome the challenges. She accepts the proposal and is very happy in a way she never expected. Sebastian and Eliza do get their happily ever after, but it was a lot of work to get the happy ending that both of them needed and wanted.
I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next one in the series.
Rating:
Four Hearts
