B
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Theme: Bodyguard, Mistaken/False Identity
Archetype: Billionaire, Royalty
Elle lives in Harbor City, where’s she’s lived for the past ten years as stylist for a high end department store. Before that, however, she was Eloise, Princess of Elskov, a small island nation between Norway and Scotland. A violent coup murdered her father and she’s spent the past decade in hiding, hoping that the faction that killed her father won’t find her.
Of course, she gets princess-napped by the Resistance faction that’s sworn to protect her (in the form of a hot bodyguard dude), and she needs to decide if she’ll take the throne and the crown, or leave her country to make it for itself.
This wasn’t deep, and boy, do these Resistance dudes have bottomless bank accounts but it was definitely enjoyable.
Elle’s main choice comes down to feeling like she’s already sacrificed everything for this stupid little country, so why should she have to sacrifice the rest of her life, as well? I mean, sure “the rest of her life” is keeping her head down and dying her hair and wearing contacts, not getting close to anyone or ever telling anyone the truth about who she is, and feeling like she completely alone in the world (oh and also hoping that the rebels don’t find her and kill her).
Then she meets (and is rescue-napped) by Dom, and they have CRAZY sexual tension, and it also comes out that the Resistance has been keeping an eye on her the WHOLE TIME- to the point he knows every sexual partner she’s had. It’s uh…. kinda weird (and called out as creepy). They bond in a safehouse in the (unnamed) mountains that has all the things and all the toys. They practice self-defense and watch Audrey Hepburn movies and eventually bang, and then the plot shows up.
Dom wasn’t that deeply drawn- he’s a bad-ass type who’s also sacrificed everything to bring about the restoration in this country, and the responsibility weighs on him as he tries to help Elle make her choice. He totally has a preference of which direction he’d like her to go, but he also knows her well enough to know that she needs to choose the throne on her own, and not because someone forced her into it.
The last half of the book is primarily romantic suspense-y, with plotting and running, gun fights, and an explosion or two. The climax of this book isn’t Elle deciding she’ll accept her duty:
There’s barely any falling action, which is kind of like a lack of cuddling after sex.
What I really liked was that everything was given a chance to breathe a bit: Elle has time to think about what she wants in the short and long term, and Dom has time to let her and to make his own choices. I liked that Elle had serious, legit reservations about taking her place in history, and that Dom was able to present the other side as “this is your duty” in a sensitive way. He gets her, and she gets him, and together…
Well, in terms of general adorableness, the rest of the Scandinavian crowns better watch out.
This book is available from:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!
And after a quick glance at the cover, my brain misread that as His Underwear Princess.
Omgosh @Lostshadows me too!
I just feel the need to point out that “Elskov” is a (very old-fashioned) word for sex and/or romance in Norwegian (and probably Danish).
Haven’t read this series but I really enjoyed Flynn’s “High-Heeled Wonder” for light romantic suspense.
I am glad I am not the only one who saw His Underwear Princess at first glance!
A small island nation between Norway and Scotland? Does this mean the Faroe Islands? A Faroe Islands with a violent coup against a monarchy only 10 years ago? This is a contemporary rather than a historical, right?
I suppose I could search through the centuries for the last violent coup against a monarchy in the UK or Scandinavia but really, life is too short.
Sorry, this one’s not for me. Even those unstable southern European types have had stable democracies for the last 40 years or so.
@Faellie! YES! This really made me “??????” – I just… have a really hard time imagining passionate coups/overthrows/resistances/assassinations in contemporary Scandinavia.
This princess thing is my catnip. Y’all know my lurvvve for the Molly Jameson royals series, so this sounds like it needs to be on my kindle now!
@Faellie and Cordy – Co-sign! Also, given real issues in that part of the world at the moment….is this violent coup-wracked little island (I was picturing an iceberg and all the characters secretly being polar bears) somehow not part of the EU? NATO? Wouldn’t serious political upheaval in that part of the world mean that several nuclear powers were VERY interested? Also – I’m sorry, but “Ellie” is working as a stylist and the author seriously presents going and being a princess as her “duty” as opposed to having a real job? That was already pretty thin for 19th C Ruritanian romance, but the only possible way not working another day in her life and getting deluxe tax-payer support for looking pretty and having no skills is “duty” in the present day is if this is not a constitutional monarchy with a titular head but actually involves really being a head of state. In which case….I’m totally with the rebels. Why should some twenty-something stylist be running the country? Maybe the “rebels” are people who want elections to choose their leaders like the rest of modern Europe, and the “resistance” are the fat cats wringing money out of an oppressed people and stashing it in Switzerland. That would explain their deep pockets. They’ve stolen it all and are just trying to hang onto their ill-gotten gains by putting a pretty face on their greed.
(Unless they’re all polar bears, desperately seeking climate change accords to protect their shrinking icebergs. I’d read that.)
\End rant. I can only handle royalty as heroes in historicals.
I saw the cover, read the bit about her being a stylist, saw princess of island between Norway and Scotland and some wire in my brain crossed and I was like omg it’s a historical, must be set in the Orkneys, that means Vikings give me this book I need it now.
And now I’m really disappointed.
@Rebecca – I hear you! If anyone can point to a contemporary romance where a modern figurehead tax-haven type royal chafes against the photo op-duty lifestyle and becomes a radical anarchist, I would be interested in hearing more.
If anyone wants to check out a narrative about an actual contemporary Scandinavian coup, there’s this show OKKUPERT (“Occupied”) on Netflix. Basically Russia invades Norway because of Norway’s oil reserves. It’s pretty good, but it’s SO NORWEGIAN – people call the Prime Minister by his first name, there is a great deal of silent brooding, and a pivotal moment between two lead characters revolves around one person wanting the other to leave the city for safety and the other person basically reprimanding him for trying to get out of his turn picking up their child from her excellent state-funded daycare.
Anyway, if I had not had that on the brain, perhaps this type of thing would make more sense to me.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2016/02/02/occupied_a_political_thriller_on_climate_change_now_on_netflix_reviewed.html
kkw, I’m disappointed to, but for different reasons. I bought a copy after reading this review but I have to admit the lack of plot and character development were major letdowns for me and I’ve actually returned it for a refund! Sure, Dom was physically gorgeous but his character had all the depth of a teaspoon. I found Elle’s behaviour unlikeable and essentially unbelievable for much of the book too. So it was hard to engage with either of them.
There was hardly any unresolved sexual tension between these two characters- just insta lust – and that annoyed the heck out of me. If the author had spent more time getting into her characters heads’ rather than their pants, I’d have been way more satisfied at the end of the ridiculously hasty conclusion.
The plot (such as it was), only seemed to serve to link together the sex scenes and I need more of a reason to care about the characters. There were no secondary characters to speak of. Even the bad guys were little more than ciphers existing to force their intimacy. What really annoyed me though was the teaser at the end of the book, where Dom’s offsider, who had all the presence and personality of a door jamb in this book, is setting up the plot for next book in the series. It will be a pass for me.
I really wanted to like this book. I love the bodyguard trope normally.