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A review by lmrivas54
The Swedish Prince by Karina Halle
3.0
Sweet and smexy story about a housekeeper and a prince, sorta like Cinderella but without the evil stepmother and stepsisters. The author’s take on the story was lots more fun because the housekeeper has five siblings and they are all adorable.
Maggie McPherson was studying journalism in New York. She escaped her little town of Tehachapi, California as soon as she could. She loves her new life in New York even if finding boyfriends is difficult. She misses her parents and siblings, like an ache in her heart, but she was done with the little town. Until one day when she was hanging out with her girlfriend Sam and she got the phone call from hell. Her parents were murdered at home.
Fast forward one year, and Maggie is surviving. She took over her mother’s job as housekeeper in the town’s sole hotel, and with her brother Pike, who is the next oldest, she’s managing their household and siblings as best she can. She was their legal guardian and had to step into her parent’s place so fast, she hardly had time to grieve. Her brother Pike is helpful, the eleven-year old twins are also helpful. But her fourteen sister April is in the hormonal throes of teenage doom and is giving her a hard time. Likewise, the youngest, Callum, at seven years old, is a holy terror but so cute, inquisitive, innocent, and smiley that it’s hard to get angry at him. Throughout the book, a frequent phrase is : shut up Callum.
On the other side of the world, Prince Viktor of Sweden is having a meltdown. His brother, the Crown Prince, died a month ago, and now he’s being groomed for the position of Crown Prince. After a lifetime of being the spare prince, he’s enjoyed a lot of freedom. Now, he’s required to attend numerous meetings, galas, dinners, etc., under the watchful eye of the world and worse, the press. He hasn’t had time to process the pain of losing his brother and is succumbing under the pressure of his pain and the obligations of his new position. His parents gave him a month of vacation and send him undercover to the United States with instructions to get his head right and get ready to step into his assigned role. Passing through town, he meets Maggie when she entered his hotel room and found him strolling the room stark naked; later on she found him conked out at a bar, totally unconscious. She took him home because it would look bad to take him to the hotel, and the morning after situation was a riot. Imagine waking up with a hangover and facing three inquisitive kids and a suspicious older brother.
The next parts are sweet, funny, and sexy. Viktor finds himself enchanted with this beautiful, strong girl who in the midst of hard times, rises up to the challenge and does the best she can. She inspires him, made him fall for her. His challenge is coming clean about who he is and find out how he can carry out a long-distance with his beauty who can’t leave her job or her siblings.
I found the first part a normal love story, not very mesmerizing. However, the second part of the book, where Viktor and Maggie have a lot of obstacles to overcome, got very interesting. I love angst in my stories! The parts where the Crown Prince of Finland, Magnus, are hugely entertaining.
Maggie McPherson was studying journalism in New York. She escaped her little town of Tehachapi, California as soon as she could. She loves her new life in New York even if finding boyfriends is difficult. She misses her parents and siblings, like an ache in her heart, but she was done with the little town. Until one day when she was hanging out with her girlfriend Sam and she got the phone call from hell. Her parents were murdered at home.
Fast forward one year, and Maggie is surviving. She took over her mother’s job as housekeeper in the town’s sole hotel, and with her brother Pike, who is the next oldest, she’s managing their household and siblings as best she can. She was their legal guardian and had to step into her parent’s place so fast, she hardly had time to grieve. Her brother Pike is helpful, the eleven-year old twins are also helpful. But her fourteen sister April is in the hormonal throes of teenage doom and is giving her a hard time. Likewise, the youngest, Callum, at seven years old, is a holy terror but so cute, inquisitive, innocent, and smiley that it’s hard to get angry at him. Throughout the book, a frequent phrase is : shut up Callum.
On the other side of the world, Prince Viktor of Sweden is having a meltdown. His brother, the Crown Prince, died a month ago, and now he’s being groomed for the position of Crown Prince. After a lifetime of being the spare prince, he’s enjoyed a lot of freedom. Now, he’s required to attend numerous meetings, galas, dinners, etc., under the watchful eye of the world and worse, the press. He hasn’t had time to process the pain of losing his brother and is succumbing under the pressure of his pain and the obligations of his new position. His parents gave him a month of vacation and send him undercover to the United States with instructions to get his head right and get ready to step into his assigned role. Passing through town, he meets Maggie when she entered his hotel room and found him strolling the room stark naked; later on she found him conked out at a bar, totally unconscious. She took him home because it would look bad to take him to the hotel, and the morning after situation was a riot. Imagine waking up with a hangover and facing three inquisitive kids and a suspicious older brother.
The next parts are sweet, funny, and sexy. Viktor finds himself enchanted with this beautiful, strong girl who in the midst of hard times, rises up to the challenge and does the best she can. She inspires him, made him fall for her. His challenge is coming clean about who he is and find out how he can carry out a long-distance with his beauty who can’t leave her job or her siblings.
I found the first part a normal love story, not very mesmerizing. However, the second part of the book, where Viktor and Maggie have a lot of obstacles to overcome, got very interesting. I love angst in my stories! The parts where the Crown Prince of Finland, Magnus, are hugely entertaining.