Review: The Princess Plan

The Princess Plan by Julia London
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Julia London has written several of my all-time favorite romances, so it truly pains me to rate one of her books as anything less than 5 stars. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy "The Princess Plan" as much as some of her previous works.

One of my main issues with this book is that I did not like Sebastian, the hero, very much, especially at first. I suppose his arrogant, demanding behavior could be considered pretty typical for a prince, but what really bothered me was the fact that he didn't seem to be even remotely interested in the heroine, Eliza, at first. He even slept with another woman after meeting Eliza (and very much enjoyed it!) just because he needed to "scratch an itch." That said, Sebastian did seem to be a good leader who took a genuine interest in the welfare of his people, and he had some good ideas on how to modernize his country. When he finally did fall for Eliza, he fell hard, even though their relationship seemed hopeless. I had a hard time getting over his earlier behavior, though.

By contrast, Eliza was a very interesting and likeable heroine. She was obviously very smart and independent, but when she, her sister, and their friend Caroline put their heads together, they came up with some pretty silly (albeit entertaining) schemes. I particularly loved that Eliza always spoke her mind and didn't easily bend to Sebastian's will. Also, Sebastian and Eliza's conversations were pretty funny. Sometimes it seemed like they were speaking two different languages, especially when they first met. It took a while for them to begin to understand each other's way of thinking.

Besides Sebastian himself, my other big issue with this book was the way in which Sebastian attempted to remove the biggest obstacle standing in the way of his marrying Eliza, which was the fact that she wasn't a "lady." His solution was to pull some strings with the English government to have Eliza's father elevated to the rank of baron so that she would then become "Lady Eliza Tricklebank." I would have said that this was a clever solution IF it actually could have worked the way it was explained in the book. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case because the daughters of English barons and viscounts are not granted the courtesy title of Lady, so Eliza would have been known as "the Honorable Miss Tricklebank" instead. Eliza's father would have had to be at least an earl for her to be addressed as Lady Eliza.

Overall, I did enjoy this book in spite of the issues outlined above. It was remarkably funny and upbeat considering how much of the plot revolved around a murder and potential revolution in Sebastian's homeland of Alucia. Also, the secondary characters were a lot of fun, and I would enjoy learning more about them in future books. I plan to continue with the series.

*ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

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