A Royal Christmas Princess

A Royal Christmas Princess by Scarlet Wilson is a sweet fairy tale type of story and is also part of the Royal Christmas series. It is a charming story that focuses on finding an unknown princess for a small European country before the ruling Prince dies. Holly has been holding down at least three jobs to help pay the bills following her parent’s illnesses and death. She decided it was more important to have a flexible schedule in order to take care of them than find the perfect job. One wintry day while walking dogs, one of her jobs, she became aware of the search for a missing princess,the Lost Princess of Coronia. As part of the coverage, a picture was shown of a baby in a dress. Holly knows that picture as it used to be on her mother’s dresser. Holly returns home to search for the picture. As she does, she encounters other paperwork, showing that she was adopted along with other mementos and documents. Holly takes these belongings to the people searching for the princess. Felix de Luca was an almost Prince. Or he would be, if they didn’t find another heir before Prince Alfred died. He was some very distant relative on his mother’s side. He was in charge of the search. Within minutes of meeting Holly, he knew she was the one, even before having a DNA test preformed. He would have preferred to stay in America, running his business conglomerate, than take over as the Prince of Coronia. Holly agrees to travel to Coronia and learn more about the place as long as Felix is her tour guide. Felix not only accompanies Holly around the country, but helps her have fun in the country near the Alps. Holly helps Felix remember why he loved his country before leaving it behind. It didn’t hurt that they are each falling for each other. One of my favorite scenes takes place in the library. Holly had worked part-time in a library back home and knew how to appreciate the room and all of the historical, and valuable, books housed in there. It felt like a scene out of Beauty and the Beast. This was a sweet, fun and entertaining story with very likeable and authentic characters that you want to cheer on, hoping for that happy ending. The characters were well written with complex characteristics. The story line was riveting and kept my attention to the very end. The story line was riveting and kept my attention to the very end. I genuinely enjoyed reading this book and had trouble putting this book down, reading it in one day. I highly recommend this book to other readers. I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

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.

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.