To Love A Prince

"All refining, or healing, comes in phases. Embrace the process with its pain and ugliness and you'll soon find yourself at a beautiful end." What a gem of a book, filled with angst, hurt, love, loyalty, and true forgiveness! Rachel Hauck is magnificent at creating these magical royalty worlds and I'm so glad to have returned to the island kingdoms in the North Sea. This book is the inaugural book of the True Blue Royal series which takes place on the island of Lauchtenland, west of Brighton Kingdom and Duchy of Hessenberg (for those who loved Royal Wedding series, you'll see some cameo appearances). This book also has a couple of crossover characters from The Fifth Avenue Story Society and I was delighted to see closure and redemption. The author knows how to write characters that grab your heart and bring you physically and emotionally into their world. Prince Gus is a tender-hearted "spare heir" to the kingdom who has been beaten down by his own broken heart and wounded pride after two broken engagements. Daffy is one of the royal curators with a history of friendship with the royals but is hiding a secret. When Gus and Daffy start spending time together for planning his brother's wedding ball, their connection is pure sweetness wrapped in a sense of rightness, humor, and fun. The romantic air in the area of Dalholm is undeniable and the author's trademark weaving of the supernatural into the plot is seamless. The thread of redemption, healing, and forgiveness through faith runs strong in this book, which is another trademark of the author's excellent writing. Once you start this book, you won't be able to put it down. I'm eagerly awaiting the next book! I received a copy of the book from the author via Celebrate Lit Tours and was under no obligation to post a positive review. All comments and opinions are solely my own.

I enjoyed the story but I like some of the other "princess" books better. This is the story of Prince Gus who has been dumped by two fiances and his childhood friend Daffy. Their love story is enjoyable in seeing them reminiscence about their childhoods and how they've grown into adults. I love how Rachel brings in characters from other stories and has them interacting in the new story. Some of my favorite characters are the "spiritual" characters like Emmanuel (God with us) and how they interact with the characters and lead them to God's presence but also draw the reader to God's presence in our own lives. I'm excited to read the next book in the series.