Between the world going down this week, my computer just... we're still not sure what it was doing, and being on/off sick this week, I've gotten nothing done. Well, that's not true, but nothing seems to be working the way it's supposed to so everything is all mixed up. I don't even know what day it is and I thought for sure this morning that it was Friday and yeah.... no. It's only Wednesday. Sigh.
A Royal Christmas Fairy Tale
Karen Schaler
A charming Christmas village, a storybook castle, a royal ball, and a gorgeous prince are the last things New York City reporter Kaylie Karlyle expects to find on her holiday freelance assignment to Europe. But when the family she's interviewing turns out to be the royal family of Tolvania, Kaylie has a meltdown when the quirky queen wants her to write a Christmas fairy tale for the spunky, young princess. Kaylie must battle the princess's father, who doesn't trust the media, and her own insecurities about writing anything beyond the news.
To spark inspiration for the fairy tale, the queen recruits the prickly Prince Alexander to show Kaylie the family's most spectacular royal holiday traditions. And sparks definitely fly when the only thing Kaylie and the prince agree on is that they're both more "bah humbug" than "ho, ho, ho."
But somewhere between sleigh rides and snow angels, merrymaking and mistletoe, upside-down Christmas trees, and a legendary Christmas crown, Kaylie and the prince open their hearts to Christmas and start believing in themselves and each other. It's a real-life fairy tale in the making until Kaylie discovers a secret about a royal Christmas heirloom that jeopardizes everyone's happily ever after. Can the magic of the season save this holiday happy ending?
In this one we have Kaylie, a reporter who doesn't think she has what it takes to write anything outside of investigative pieces, taking on a holiday freelance job and quickly finding herself in over her head. She realizes that she's not working with regular folks, she's actually working with royalty and immediately becomes overwhelmed with her assignment, which becomes writing a unique Christmas centered fairy tale for the Queen's granddaughter. Of course, that means interacting with the granddaughter's father, who happens to be the seemingly grouchy, anti-Christmas, definitely anti-media, father, Prince Alexander. Which, isn't the worst because they at least have the same outlook on Christmas, which they aren't completely in Grinch-mode, but they definitely aren't eagerly volunteering to decorate and lead any kind of celebration because the holidays highlight a significant loss in their lives they don't want to celebrate. Regardless, he makes it his mission to be the rudest possible and make this an impossible assignment in the hopes Kaylie will give up and just go home.
Of course, in true Christmas romance fashion, things start turning into a Christmas miracle, thawing both of their hearts and perhaps turning into a real romance until.... (dun, dun, dun) we have drama and some things that threaten the budding romance and more, but that's the charm of a good Christmas story, right? You have to have something threaten to ruin it because the best part is the characters overcoming it/that. I won't tell you what it is because of course that would ruin it, but I'll tell you the ending is sweet and once you finish this book you'll be itching to get your Christmas tree up. I'm not joking, I kind of want to put mine up in my office. I'm holding out until November 1, at least!
Any book that gets me wanting to put my tree up and skip holidays, and dig out my Christmas baking tools gets a 5 star from me, no question! A huge thank you to TLC Book Tours for having me on this tour and Karen Schaler for sending me the cutest Christmas themed package that made me want to get all of my wrapping supplies out. She always sends the prettiest things!
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