Bookshelf Friday - Once Upon a Prince by Rachel Hauck

Who doesn't want the fairytale romance? The Kate Middleton moment--a commoner marries a prince? Rachel Hauck delivers a grown-up fairytale for all of us girls who still haven't outgrown our inner Cinderella.

Here's a short blurb:

Susanna Truitt never dreamed of a great romance or being treated like a princess---just to marry the man she has loved for twelve years. But life isn’t going according to plan. When her high-school-sweetheart-turned-Marine-officer breaks up instead of proposing, Susanna scrambles to rebuild her life.

The last thing Prince Nathaniel expects to find on his American holiday to St. Simon’s Island is the queen of his heart. A prince has duties, and his family’s tense political situation has chosen his bride for him. When Prince Nathaniel comes to Susanna’s aid under the fabled Lover’s Oak, he is blindsided by love.

Their lives are worlds apart. He’s a royal prince. She’s a ordinary girl. But everything changes when Susanna receives an invitation to Nathaniel’s coronation.

I loved the scenes with Susanna and Nate. Loved how they met and their time spent on the tiny Southern island Susanna lives on. Where I started to disconnect with this book was around the time Nate went home. I would have liked to see more of his personal life and interactions with Susanna when she came to visit Brighton, and less of the political moments of the book. Now, the politics of his country were a huge stumbling block toward his relationship with Susanna and created the need-be conflict, however they became too much of a focus at times and pulled away from the actual relationship moments of Nate and Susanna. Moments I would have liked to see more of because they were so well written and I truly liked these characters. I wanted more Cinderella with her Prince Charming and less government.

That said, Rachel is a great writer, there's a very HEA delivered at the end (a sigh-worthy moment) and I'm excited to see more of this series.

Once Upon a Prince is available for pre-order here and will be out on May 7th. A start to what promises to be a wonderful series. I happily give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

If you'd like to see a break-down of what my stars equal, check out my page My Ratings System to the right there. And a big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free ecopy of this book in exchange for my honest review.