Review: A Princess by Christmas (A Royal Wedding #3)

Title: A Princess by Christmas (A Royal Wedding #3)
Author: Julia London
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance
Publisher: HQN Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: October 13, 2020
Rating: ★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

Review:

Hollis is adjusting to her new life without her sister and best friend, who are now happily married. She is the editor of a women’s magazine that she inherited from her deceased husband. When the King of Westloria visits England, Hollis discovers a possible coup. At an event with Queen Victoria, Hollis meets Marek, a mysterious stranger who has traveled from Westloria with the King. Marek is investigating his own suspicions of treason in the kingdom. Hollis and Marek are drawn together to investigate the rumors of a coup within the kingdoms.

This story is the third in the series, but I didn’t feel lost without reading the first two. I could tell by the way that Hollis’s sister and friend were settled into their marriages, that they were probably the focus of the first two books. The characters were introduced enough that I understood what was happening, and didn’t need to read the first two books first.

I didn’t find the romance in this story believable. Hollis and Marek were strangers who were suspicious of each other, since they both were searching for answers to the rumors they’d heard. Then all of a sudden, after spending some time together, they were in love. There wasn’t a build up to a romance that I would have expected in this kind of story. There also wasn’t the Christmas theme I was expecting. The story ended at Christmas, but I thought there would have been more of a Christmas theme throughout the story, since it had “Christmas” in the name.

This story was a little disappointing, because it wasn’t the holiday romance I was expecting.

Thank you HQN Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Other books in the series:

• The Princess Plan
• A Royal Kiss and Tell

Have you read A Princess by Christmas? What did you think of it?