A Princess in Waiting

This book has one of the best subplots I have seen in a Harlequin. The two main characters, Charles and Lise share a love of history and are drawn together, on a personal level because of a family mystery. It is the family mystery and how the various characters are dealing with it, it is just a bit of romance, not a dramatic death type mystery--that really spices up this book. Charles and Lise are really great characters, and one gets glimpses of the other characters that appear throughout this series. It is also neat to seem them falling in love over a period of time that is greater than a few days, as is the case in so many of these books. This romance, relatively speaking, takes its time blossoming. My only complaint is that we don't get to see the birth off the child in this book, and I am not sure if it occurs in one of the other books--but either way it is always more interesting to get the reaction of the parents from their pov and not the interepretation of another character. There were clearly alot of loose ends by the end of this book, to be wrapped up later in the series. But ends that were pertinent to this books unique plot would have been better if delt with here. It would have been nice to meet the dastasrdly ex-husband twin. How did he end up so totally awful when his brother is a modicum of perfection? All in all though, a really enjoyable book.

Princess Lise de Bergeron has been divorced and disinherited. Not only that but she is pregnant as well. However this bright determinded Princess vows she is going to make it on her own - she has everything she needs. A place to live(the gardener's cottage on the family estate)her work as an art restorer and her beloved nanny as a companion. She is relieved and happy to be at home in St. Michel again and wants nothing more then to forget the past months as a married woman. She is able to do this until the day that her ex-husband's twin brother walks into her life.Charles Rodin is not only enchanted by his brother's ex-wife but he's ashamed of the way she has been treated by his brother and his parents. To make amends he has traveled to the small country of St. Michel to offer the security and protection of marriage to Princess Lise. At first Lise is determinded to refuse him but when her not so nice stepmother(the Queen) kicks her out of the gardener's cottage Lise feels has no choice but to accept Charles's proposal.Once married Charles and Lise realize almost immediately how attracted they are to each other but each refuses to admit to themselves or to each other how they feel. Slowly their feelings are revealed as they experience together Lise's pregnancy, political tensions in St. Michel, and the unraveling of a historical puzzle concerning their ancestors - one his, one hers.This book was great fun to read and I read it in two days. Charles and Lise were so wonderfully full of life, so real that they practically jumped off the page for me and kept me reading - I really wanted to know what would happen to them. And to the rest of the de Bergeron Family. Though I was slightly disturbed that a lot of the details regarding both the political and emotional issues in the book were gleaned from random, overheard conversations rather than in a direct active way by the main characters themselves. I found it a little hard to believe that two such intelligent people who claimed to be not only friends but best friends would have trouble confinding in each other over gossip or would in anyway make decisions about themselves or each other based on such dubious information. Despite this though I really enjoyed this book and those random evesdropping incidents in no way detracted from Charles and Lise as likeable characters. I can't wait to read the next book in the "Royally Wed" series as all in all the de Bergeron family from St.Michel is intriguing.