Once Upon a Princess by Clare Lydon and Harper Bliss

Once Upon a Princess by Clare Lydon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A princess (or should that be Princess?), fourth in line the English (and other) throne, is weeks away from marrying an ex . . . she's been pushed into this position by her mother, the Queen. The, as in the Princess - Olivia, and Jem dated when both were in their twenties, roughly 9 years before the start of this story, but their time had come and gone. They weren't actually in a relationship when the Queen arranged this situation, and that is what this is about - an arranged marriage.

Instead of tackling what an arranged marriage might look like, the book instead follows the princess as she flees to Cornwall, to 'breathe'. I've read pretend/fake/marriages of convenience, but I do not think I've read an arranged marriage book. I've even read books where the two parties are 'compromised' into a 'forced' marriage - but none of those correspond to an arranged marriage (as in, even in the 'forced marriage' something of the marrying people's own will brought them to that position; not all arranged marriage involves parents putting the marriage together, but that's what I was driving towards, since that is what happened here - the mother arranging both Olivia's sister's marriage (to a man named Miles - years before), and Olivia's marriage, or, at this point, engagement to Jem. Because, you see, Jem is 'the right sort').

Right, so, instead of following a relationship between Jem and Olivia, we follow Olivia 'breathing' in Cornwall, a small town there to be exact, something called, if I recall correctly, Otter Bay. Where she meets the other POV character in the story, Rosie Perkins.

Rosie, roughly 28 years of age (or exactly that age?), has run the family cafe for about 8 years now - after her parents died in a plane crash; and has raised her sister during that same period of time. The cafe looks kind of run down, and is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, but Rosie is still trying to keep things together. Helping her is the chef, Gina, who is trying (and failing) to become a citizen, and Rosie's aunt, Hilly (I've actually forgotten the aunt's name, I think it's something like that). At home in her tiny apartment is Paige, the sister about to head off to college, and Cher - yes, the famous singer. heh, no, that's the cat's name. Oh, and, to round this out, Amy, Rosie's ex, keeps popping up and hounding Rosie into taking her back - to restart their relationship (she, Amy, also has a pet, a dog named Biscuit, to really round things out).

So, that's the situation that Olivia finds when she wanders into town, flees an overly aggressive shop-owner (Connie, who wants to sell Olivia a hideous blouse) and into Rosie's cafe. It is not clear if Olivia remembers their earlier collusion, but Rosie and Olivia actually meet before - when Olivia arrived on the same train Paige came in on, and Olivia accidentally walked through Rosie. Rosie recognized her when she sat down - to a large extent because of the fancy expensive jacket.

Right, so, Olivia, wishing to keep people from gazing upon her, taking pictures of her, hounding her, etc., for being a princess, says that her name is Charlie - which is what her fellow military called her (that's another thing the mother controlled, no not being in the military - that Olivia is no longer in it; pulled out when she was 30, three years before the start of this book, because it was time for her to follow her royal duties, or something like that).

Olivia and Rosie flirt. Come close to dating. Actually go on a date. Etc. etc. Then the truth comes out and . . . . stuff.

Sexually explicit.

Interesting book.

Weirdly reminded me of another book I'd read, though that one didn't include a princess, just someone that was kind of posh coming into a small village and 'wooing' the local favored lesbian woman (both books the small village knew the local woman was a lesbian). That other book was set in Wales, though, not Cornwall. And, as already noted, didn't involve a Princess - and that other woman, the posher one, actually was also from that village, she'd just left to make her money in . . . London? before returning. Thought this book here, the Princess one, was better than 'Poppy Jenkins' - though my feeling about the book was something of a minority view.

Rating: 3.75

July 29 2018



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