cameracrzy99 (Jean G)
This was a fun story. Holly had no idea she was adopted, or that her real father was royalty and didn't have long to live. The news is hard for her to accept. Felix doesn't want to be next in line for the throne, so he wants to find the lost princess. Holly certainly didn't handle things like the typical fairy tale. She was way to concerned about everyone else to get carried away with becoming instant royalty. Holly and Felix were a great team. He was seeing Coronia through Holly's eyes as a newcomer and it gave him a whole new perspective.
Lenore Kosinski
3.5 stars — Did you ever notice that it’s easier somehow when a book is just solidly meh? This was not that book. This book had meh moments interspersed with delicious Hallmark Christmas movie feels, and so it makes for kind of a hard review to write…and hard to decide on a rating. In the end I really enjoyed myself though, so I’ll give it a half star fist bump. It’s hard to quantify what I liked and didn’t like. The characters were pretty one-dimensional…or actually, like two-dimensional. Like, they weren’t full three-dimensional, but they weren’t completely flat. They were kind of endearing, and they made me feel exactly like I do about the characters in those cheesy Christmas movies. They’re easy to like (or hate in the case of the villains), but they’re almost a bit too good to be true, you know? Like Holly was unbearably caring and thoughtful and self-sacrificing. Believable? Mostly, but not completely. And Felix was sweet and understanding, making some swoony moves…but the parts where he interacts with Cass made me confused about him. As for the story? It both gave me Christmas magic, and felt completely formulaic…like I practically see the author checking off a checklist of a Christmas romance. I don’t always mind that though, and I could live with it in this one. It gave me what I was looking for. The part that has me rounding down instead of up is that the book felt like it needed another editing pass. I’m willing to give Indie books a bit more of a pass on that, but this one had a publisher, so I really don’t understand why it felt a bit sloppy. I noticed timeline inconsistencies, at one point Prince Alfred became Albert, and the writing just in general felt clunky in parts. If I’d been reading an ARC I might have understood it, but not in the final published copy. It was a bit disappointing. So yeah. If you want a Christmas book that will give you that perfect formula like a Hallmark movie, I’d say give this one a shot. But I’d also wait for a sale given the quality issues.
1 person found this review helpful
Shari Bartholomew
The perfect Christmas fairy tale of a lost princess. Holly is at her wits end after loosing her parents and mounting bills when she finds out that she was adopted and now might be the lost princess of Coronia. Her birth father, the king has one last wish on his death bed to find his daughter before he dies. Felix, soon to be prince ( he does not want) goes to the states to find Holly. He will whisk her off to Coronia to meet her father. Everyone falls in love with Holly, and even Felix. I so enjoyed this Christmas fairy tale. Great characters and very descriptive writing of the scenes. I high recommend this book. I received this book from Netgalley for an honest review.