A Princess by Christmas (A Royal Wedding #3)
by Julia London
Blurb:
She's discovered his secret.
Now the trouble really begins...
After three years
of mourning—and turning her dear deceased husband's gazette into the ton's
sauciest source of fashion and gossip—Hollis Honeycutt feels her life has been
strangely bereft of late... Her sister is living abroad, and her best friend
moved to the country. What must a young widow of rank and reputation do? Why,
transform her society gossip sheets into serious investigative news, starting
with a rumored coup...and the rather dashing, mysterious gentleman whom Hollis
suspects might be the villain of her first real story, and she is the only one
who can write it.
Marek Brendan is
investigating terrible rumors of treachery and treason that threaten his home
country of Wesloria, but he must proceed with caution. No one can discover the
truth. After all, who would ever believe he is Wesloria's lost crown prince?
Only Hollis Honeycutt's cerulean-blue eyes seem to know more than she's letting
on—and worse, Marek can't seem to resist her curious charms. But even as
betrayal threatens a nation and a throne, nothing is quite so dangerous as the
lovely young widow who's determined to find the truth...and a prince of her
own.
Themes: Historical
Rating: 4 stars
Heat Rating: 
Review:
Another fabulous historical romance series by
one of my favorite authors of all time has come to an end, and while it was
bittersweet, the story itself was fun to read and sweet and romantic enough
that I didn’t shed too many tears. The
Royal Wedding Series is one that took me a little bit to get into, not going to
lie, but once I became invested in the characters and their lives I began to
really enjoy the story. Beginning with a
fictional country in Europe and their royalty was a bit of a stretch but the
descriptions of the country and its peoples were so rich and interesting that
it was almost as if the country came to life for me. London has that unique ability to bring her
readers into just about any world she wants them to accompany her to and this
was no exception. The great thing about any new series is getting to see it
blossom from beginning to end, the characters, the overall arcs, and the
connections that form between each individual story line. I have loved every
moment of this series, but this final story about Marek and Hollis was
wonderful on its own as well as the way it fed into the other stories in the
series. The end of the series was beautiful and heartfelt, and I am dying to
see what is coming next for this author because I think I might have gotten a
little hint of a spin-off at the tale-end of the story.
Hollis
Honeycutt has been feeling a little bit despondent lately ever since her sister
and best friend moved so far away with their new husbands, Princes of Alucia,
and men that have captured their hearts.
Hollis is determined to find her way in the world independently, but the
more she experiences in the world, the more lonely she finds herself and the
more she wants something more. When her
sister returns for peace talks with Alucia’s neighboring country, all the girls
are back in the city together and she has never been happier, but when she goes
to the palace to visit her sister she encounters the stranger, a most intriguing man. Soon every time she is around the royal groups, the man is there again
and again and Hollis is too intrigued not to learn more about him. Marek Brendan has traveled to England with
the Weslorians in order to serve his king and country as advisor on the peace
talks, but he never imagined he’d find himself in the sights of a
seemingly-crazy English woman or the middle of royal intrigue. The more Marek and Hollis spend time together
trying to solve the mystery around the peace talks, the closer they become and
the more she learns about his long held secrets. Marek finds himself drawn to the sweet and
loving, if slightly odd woman, but he knows that she isn’t for him and there
can be no future the way things currently stand. Can they find a way to give each other what
they have always wanted, perhaps the greatest Christmas gift of all, or will
they end up having to go their separate ways in the end?
I
have loved Hollis from the very beginning of the series, seeing her as a woman
well before her time, living her life as a widow in a time when most women
jumped straight to the protection of the next man. She is brave, independent, smart, and curious—sometimes
to a fault—but she is also loyal to her friends and family, giving of herself even
to her own detriment. I loved getting to know more about her and seeing her
find more of her own confidence as she learned more about herself as a woman
and an investigator. She began the hunt
for Marek’s secret determined to unmask whatever his secret was, but she was
smart and sweet enough to know that sometimes keeping a secret is the right
thing to do for all. She was also so sweet with her family and you could see
that she is a little bit lonely until she begins to open her heart again to
Marek and allow herself to slowly offer her love, even knowing nothing may come
of it. Marek has lived with one foot in
two worlds most of his life, even before he realized it, and he is determined
to keep his life solitary in order to keep anyone he cares about safe from
danger. I loved seeing him finding his
feet with Hollis and coming into his own as both a man and as a leader among
his peers because of his skills and his knowledge. He refuses to give up when he is faced with a
challenge, even when it could put him in physical and mortal danger. I loved
his very dry wit, his intelligence, bravery, and his sweetness as well. Watching him come out of his shell with
Hollis, opening himself to her and her friends and family, shows him that he
really just needs to make a decision and chose a side once and for all, and in
my opinion he definitely chose correctly.
It was great to see them working together and their friendship growing
as they learned more about one another and themselves, they truly were a
perfectly matched pair.
While
Hollis truly did become a Princess by Christmas, it isn’t the ending
most of us expected and I loved seeing Marek and Hollis find what truly made
them happy together and find their place in the world. In order to get a believable HEA for these characters,
London truly had to make sure that both Marek and Hollis truly understand what
would make them happy individually before they could find a way to be together
forever. Hollis had to do a lot of soul
searching in her short time with Marek, but she manages to learn enough that
she knows she can’t be happy without this man by her side, in whatever form of
life that takes. Marek similarly learns
that if he doesn’t put himself out there in order to show Hollis how much he
loves her, there is no way he will ever be able to have the true love and
happiness for life that he needs. Both
Hollis and Marek have a kind of quiet and subtle passion that drives them in
their lives and when they clashed that heat was sweet and warm enough to burn
for the rest of their years. I was thrilled to see all of our favorite characters
from previous stories, including the main couples, and the way they are
moving forward in their new lives. It
was also interesting to meet a few new friends and see some unconventional
perspectives that I suspect will come forward in maybe a future series, though
of course I can only hope. As always the
series ends with a lovely epilogue that lets us see how the couples from all
three stories have continued their happiness and give us glimpses of their
lives years down the road, which is my favorite part. London continues to be a magical touch with
her historical series and I can promise that as soon as I learn whatever might
be coming next I will be the first in line requesting my copy to read! MORE,
MORE, MORE please.
*eARC provided by author (via
NetGalley) for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review. No compensation was provided.
No comments:
Post a Comment