I have such a fascination with the royal family and all the traditions that they hold so tightly. When I saw that Rachel Hauck had a series based on a royal family and their reign, I knew I had to read it.Once Upon A Prince introduces us to Susanna as she is being ceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend of 12 years. We learn very quickly that Susanna is one of those people who thrives on a plan and on doing the right thing. My heart immediately went out to Susanna and I found myself cheering for her early on in this story.Then we meet Nathan, or Prince Nathaniel, while he is visiting the states. I also found myself really liking this down-to-earth guy who didn't let his royal title go to his head.Of course Susanna and Nathan find themselves falling in love, but the political situation of Nathan's country quickly gets in the way. One of the things that really drew me in to this story was that it is so much more than just a love story. Hauck goes in great detail about the politics and traditions of the country and of the royal family. For me, the pomp and circumstance of Nathan's life is just as fascinating as the relationship between him and Suzanne.This is a fairy tale, so we have to get the happily-ever-after at the end... or do we??The only thing that kept me from immediately starting on the next book in this series was the low battery warning on my reader. I can't wait to get started. After having just finished reading this book (and really enjoying the ending) I want to gush about how much I loved the whole thing. But that would not be honest. I loved the second half of the book.Throughout the part of the book, I had a hard time finding the characters believable. Susanna was just hard to get a good handle on her personality and the 12 year relationship with her high school sweetheart, just felt contrived. As for Prince Nathaniel, he shows up almost too perfectly. I’m not sure if I can quite peg what it was, but I struggled with wanting to keep reading this book that I really wanted to like. It also wasn’t helping that there were some political issues happening with Prince Nathaniel’s kingdom that were hard to fully understand (at least on my part).Somewhere in the middle though, something changed. It was like the characters just came to leave. Things didn’t feel as forced. Their emotions were real and the plot had me reading pages as fast as I could. I had to know what was going to happen. The love story that develops between Susanna and Nathaniel is complex. While I thought I had the ending figured out, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting.While I did struggle with this book, I’m planning on picking up the next book in this series, Princess Ever After. As well, as Rachel Hauck’s novella, A March Bride. The struggle in the beginning was worth it in the end, and hopefully I won’t have the same issues with the next book.**I received a free copy of this book from Zondervan and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review**
What do You think about Once Upon A Prince (2013)?
This was cute. A cheapie purchase from Amazon and better than I expected for that.
—squaw
It's a cute fluff piece. Rent the movie Prince and Me and you've got the premise.
—priya
This is a Christian Romance, very clean. Cute story.
—Naeemaa_x
