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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Princess Charming: A Sweet Lesbian Romance by Mia Archer

Princess Charming: A Sweet Lesbian Romance
by Mia Archer
Pages: 260
Date: May 4 2016
Publisher: Self
Series: None

Review
Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0
Read: June 14 2016

This is the third book I've read with Mia Archer on the cover, though the fourth if I include the book I read under a different name, that later was rereleased under this specific Archer name. I have, in general, liked the books I've read by Archer, whether by Mia Archer or Lexi Archer.

I start off with something I have a tendency to say - I do not, as a rule, allow errors of word choice, spelling, or the like to impact a rating I give a work. Once again I held to this rule, though it was slightly harder to do so this time. The few misspellings I noticed, and the few misplaced words (using 'their' when the word 'there' was meant, as one example) were just a buzzing fly, easily brushed aside. The occasions when the characters became confused, well, that was harder to brush aside. I did, though, feel the need to mention the issue as I know others find certain things to be difficult to deal with/put up with.

Specifically, in terms of what I mentioned about the characters, I refer to those occasions wherein Amelia and Dani are having a conversation. And during that conversation they discuss certain topics of no real importance. Along the way, certain issues developed. As in, Dani would say something, then agree with herself. I assume, though, that she hadn't actually . . . I mean, I assume that the author hadn't actually intended the character to agree with herself. Instead the wrong name got used. An example would work lovely right here. Sadly this is not something I made sure to make note of prior to this review. And this is not a situation that would be quickly found in a search. Since all that happened was, for example (not an actual quote):
'I rather enjoy watching the films that inspired this theme park,' Dani stopped talking and turned looking towards Amelia.

'I agree, I always found those films to be fun to watch when I was smaller,' Dani agreed.

No matter. As I mentioned, I did not add or subtract any ratings based on this issue. Or the part wherein the book arrived at the 78% mark on my Kindle and, what's this? A message from the author. And samples of other books. The book I had been reading had been completed. I do not, in this specific situation, actually mind that much that the book ended at the 78 percent mark. For I felt as if the entirety of the book was present. This is one of the few occasions wherein I actually looked up, expecting to see I was at, say, 99%, and saw 78%. So it really did feel like a small addition to the Kindle file (even if that 'small addition' was 22% of the entire file).

I suppose I should mention something about the book itself, rather than bumble around with things that didn't really impact the rating.

The book stars one very immature young woman named Dani of Ohio, and one rather immature young woman named Amelia, a princess from some made up country in Europe. About roughly the size of Liechtenstein. Both roughly around the age of 18. And both, oddly, just coming to the realization that they would much rather shag women than men.

Unfortunately, for Dani, she already had a boyfriend when this realization occurred. A boy named Colin. Who, and I hadn't actually realized this immediately, is actually both younger than Dani, and also a grade lower than Dani. I know this because Dani has graduated shortly after the book started (though the book itself opens on her prom - the same night she broke up with Colin), while Dani still has a year or more (probably just a year) in high school. So, Dani realizes she's a lesbian, and comes out as such. By breaking up with her boyfriend during prom (actually on the drive from prom to an after party). Naturally, the boyfriend doesn't take this well and tells everyone at the party. Dani's last months in high school, and her summer before college, has turned hellish (what with her going on a school related trip to whatever that Princess theme park was called during the summer).

Meanwhile, Amelia, remember there's another lead character (and point of view) in this book, is also examining lesbianism. By kissing a rather drunk female friend. While at a party at the palace. Luckily for her she did so in a small out of the way room. Unluckily for her, some gate-crasher with a camera captured the moment on film. Naturally Amelia's parents are upset. And she's sent off to be punished at, oddly enough, the same theme park Dani's band group headed off too.

So. Amelia and Dani meet. Circle. Stuff happens. The end.

An interesting enough book. The immaturity of the main characters was alarming, but that's life. Also, that is one of those things I kind of knew to expect going in. Since I knew it involved immature teenagers. No, not because they were teenagers, but because I had read the description of the book before reading the book. So . . . right.

June 14 2016