Always a Princess by Alice Gaines

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
After reading this book in 24 hours I have to say I really enjoyed it. The available blurb made it sound cheesy and common. I would have to agree that yes the story was slightly common, nothing new in the saturated historical romance genre. However I have to add that how the author handles the story is what makes the difference, turning it into a good experience for the readers.

Phillip, Lord Wesley, is a bored aristocrat who has taken up stealing jewels to chase away his boredom. One night he encounters Eve Stanhope, who is parading as a Princess to conveniently rob the rich. See, the story is not all that inspiring but I enjoyed it immensely. This was not love at first sight but a slow process of finding each other interesting and slowly falling in love without realising what exactly is happening. The dialogues were laugh-out-loud, reminiscent of Julia Quinn. The characters were loveable and felt I could easily understand them. None of them had any tortured past or issues, which was good as it would have darkened the atmosphere quite a bit.

The heroine was head strong and world weary. Eve had seen the world and its hardship and was determined to make a better life for herself. Phillip on the other hand was funny. He was someone I would call a Beta Hero, who had a laid back attitude and as society used to call him slightly ‘odd’. Still it did not put me off him. Instead it just endeared him to me. Without giving out spoilers, I would like to mention a scene where he drunk and instead of being angry like most romance heroes become when drunk he was cute. I also have to put in an honourable mention of Long Tom. I wanted to give him a hug and feed him cookies (not Long Tom, but Phillip I mean).

What some reader may not like is that some scenes end abruptly. I have seen this type of writing before and it doesn’t bother me. Moreover, it reduces fillers which is always an added bonus for me. On the other hand what I found slightly discerning was the sex. I mean it was great and sexy but it was slightly strange that they went from innocent sex to full on blowjob by the third time they did it.

Nevertheless, I rate books on how much I enjoyed reading it, hence the 4 stars. I would definitely recommend Always a Princess to anyone who is looking for some light historical romance like the fans of Julia Quinn.

ARC provided by NetGalley.