vThank you to NetGalley for giving me a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and honest review.

I have to be honest, I went into this book with low expectations but I'm pleased to say that was crushed pretty quickly. I really liked the characters especially Eliza. I thought it was quite an interesting read which I couldn't put down. A good first novel by Julia London.

A sweet, fairly lighthearted story, filled with humour. Eliza Tricklebank, a spinster, and her sister Hollis, a widow, write and publish Honeycutt’s Gazette of Fashion and Domesticity for Ladies, a very popular little magazine. Together with their friend Caroline they have some delightfully dotty escapades, all in the cause of gathering snippets of gossip to include in their Gazette. Eliza is generally a chatty person, but when she gets the unexpected opportunity to go to a ball given by Queen Victoria to welcome the Crown Prince Sebastian of Alucia to England, she acquires a taste for rum punch which makes her even more chatty, and flirty.

There is a tragedy within the Alucian delegation, and the Crown Prince is determined to discover why it happened. His first clue is something Eliza writes in the Gazette, so he and his brother find their way to her house, where they think they should be speaking to her father, as the owner of the Gazette. One thing leads to another and soon Eliza is helping to solve the mystery, falling in love with the prince in the process! Of course, this is futile, he has to marry someone from a family with great influence ... or is it? The Crown Prince would rather marry someone who will be his equal, who will love him for himself rather than his title; can he find a way to get round the royal marriage rules?

Worth reading

I rarely don't finish a book, whether one I pick up for pleasure or a review volume; however, on this occasion I'm afraid this one has defeated me.

I read about a fifth of the way through and the plot was still rather hazy, what there was, was contradictory and the characters were mostly unsympathetic.

It is strange that the author is writing about the UK but the detail is so American and nothing appears to have been that well researched. For instance, Hollis as a given name, if you Google it, comes up entirely given to Americans. Her references to 'the Covent Garden Market' (author's grammar) was annoying - small details but these are those that take a book, any book, even a Mills and Boon romance, from believable to otherwise. Using English , olde worlde phrases with US grammar doesn't work.

The scenes from the point of view of Eliza are comedies and are written for chuckles, entirely at odds with the more serious passages concerning a murder and the Alucian prince. What is this novel, a light-hearted comedy, or a tragedy? I will say that that author has constructed the amusing dialogue between the women very well, but what is amusing about a man with his throat cut? And the publisher formatted the file very poorly making it harder to read.

I was hoping for an easy, light read with tons of romance but thus far, no romance, only a sordid one-night stand Victorian style.

This was a delightful story of forbidden love, set in the time of Queen Victoria. The cast of characters were entertaining and the storyline compelling, with its ups and downs, intrigue and the anguish of a forbidden liaison. I was delighted with the conclusion, which was very clever.

Eliza Tricklebank having faced heartbreak once has resigned herself to assisting her blind father with his duties as a judge rather than hoping for marriage.

Her widowed sister also keeps her busy with the production of a ladies Gazette.

Prince Sebastian of Alucia is visiting to secure a trade deal and possibly a marriage when Eliza is given the opportunity to attend a ball in his honour.

Sebastian is devastated when his closest friend is found murdered after the ball and sets about attempting to uncover the culprit. Eliza find a herself caught up in the mystery and although at first Sebastian finds her rude and disrespectful it's not long before his opinion changes and the two find themselves the centre of a whirlwind romance that can surely only in heartbreak.

This was a fun read and I liked the characters especially Eliza's father. He is caring and witty. I also liked Caroline she's fun and sassy. Eliza, I didn't like at first, I found her annoying with her drunkenness and rude behaviour but as I kept reading I began to like her.

This is a book that can be read easily and I enjoyed it over a weekend. However, I did note a couple of errors where Americanisms have been used which didn't fit in with this being set in London e.g. sidewalk. I also wasn't too happy with the loose ending about Leopold and Caroline, I want to know what happened!

Other than that I quite enjoyed it. I'd recommend for someone looking for an easy read that you can pick up where you left off.

A really great romantic read for a cold winters night. It is great to find not only a beautiful love story between two people worlds a part but also a murder mystery with intrigue and treason which runs throughout the book and Is not resolved until the end.
It is a feel good book with characters that are credible and areal page turner.
I just loved it and could not put it down and read it in one day.

I loved how this book started. Eliza Tricklebank, lives with her father a blind Judge, and having been dreadfully disappointed in love before, is happy being a spinster, looking after her father, fixing clocks and helping her widowed sister produce the ladies gazette. She is very excited as she is going to a ball and is hoping to meet a prince, although she isn’t hoping to be swept off her feet by him. She is happy to see it as a exciting opportunity to dress up, drink champagne and meet royalty,

Prince Sebastian of Alucia is in England, to secure the future peace and prosperity of his nation. He believes a trade agreement with England will help to avert a constitutional crisis and potential war with a neighbour. His father the king has also recommended he find an aristocratic bride.

He bumps into Eliza at the ball, and is momentarily interested in the masked stranger, then his faithful confidante and private secretary is found murdered, and he is on a mission to uncover the murderer and potential conspiracy. The Ladies gazette publishes some rumours which stir the controversy and prince Sebastian is determined to investigate the owners himself.

Eliza completely disregards his rank and his formality, and refuses to fawn over him or treat him any differently. She is quite happy with her life, and isn’t looking for an HEA, which is refreshing in a historical romance. Sebastian is infuriated and then fascinated by Eliza, they are pulled together into the mystery, and grow closer, but how can the respectable commoner marry an eligible prince. She can’t hope to compete with the aristocratic beauties being lined up for his perusal. How can Sebastian uncover the killer and find his HEA?

This was really well written, and I enjoyed how the author developed Sebastian’s character. He was an uptight and formal person at the start, and relaxed and softened in a good way over the course of the story, Eliza was a delightful character who made me smile a lot.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Recommended.

I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book and all opinions are my own.

I received a copy of this ARC to give an honest review.
I loved the cover and I am a fan of Julia London.
It is a quirky historical romance between a foreign Prince and a commoner with some connections to The Ton.
It took me a little while to get into the story but once I did I was able to enjoy the conversations between the main characters and some of the lesser ones, but I did feel let down by some of the story lines. For me the plot was not consistent several things I felt tI had been left up in the air, I am one of those irritating readers that likes to have my I’s doted and T’s crossed.
Fortunately, they had their Cinderella ending which always brings a lump in my throat and a tear to my eye.
Julia London is one of my favourite authors and I am positive her next one will be up to the usual standard and I shall thoroughly enjoy.

It took at while for me to warm up to this story, but once I’d reached halfway I got caught up in the antics of the two principal characters. Again it took a while for me to actually like our leads, but once I warmed to them, I began to enjoy the story much more.
This is a story of how a pompous prince has to change his ways after the death of his personal assistant and his subsequent developing relationship with a feisty, young woman connected to the incident. The two form an unsteady partnership as they investigate the murder, whilst trying to ignore their growing attraction.
There’s some funny moments and the expected HEA. A fun read if you enjoy dislike to adore relationships, a murder mystery (which does take a backseat role) and the usual mistakes and confusions on the path to true love.

As someone who enjoys a good historical romance I had high hopes for this book despite not having read anything by the author before. Unfortunately though, despite a promising premise, this really didn't work for me and I came very close to DNF ing it more than once.

Given the story is about an unconventional woman who gets mixed up with a foreign prince I think I was expecting a sort of a Cinderella story, and there are elements of that, but the story as a whole feels very confused and is trying to be too many things. There's a murder mystery, political intrigue and 'romance' all in a historical/fantasy setting. OK it's not actually fantasy but the author does seem to have made up a whole country including language and customs for some unknown reason.

There were some elements that could have been good and there was the odd moment I enjoyed but these were far outweighed by the many things I didn't.

First up the characters, I found it incredibly difficult to find anything to like about them. Eliza comes across as flighty, silly and incredibly rude and insensitive. I think she's supposed to be making a statement about being independent and not caring what anyone thinks but it's just really rude and inappropriate (the way she speaks to the Prince, getting drunk all the time, putting herself in risky situations). She treats the whole murder thing as a fun game and withholds information to tease the Prince even when she knows the victim was his best friend. It's horrible.

Sebastian, the Prince, is not a whole lot better either. After the initial meet cute (that's really not cute) he gets his staff to find a woman for him to sleep with. He's inconsistent and distant and I just didn't find it believable that his feelings changed so quickly... which leads me on to the next issue the romance.

There is a bit of a spark between them when they first meet (right before he goes off and sleeps with someone else) but after that I just didn't feel it. Maybe it's because I didn't like their characters but I couldn't see the attraction for either of them.

The story is actually told from both points of view so you do get a sense of them both but there were a few times when I felt like I was with the wrong person. I guess the author doesn't like writing action as whenever anything exciting happened, usually around the murder mystery it jumped to the person who wasn't there.

I think the author really missed a trick with the murder mystery. It was treated as some kind of secondary add on rather than central to the story. I don't know why she bothered having a murder mystery, particularly as it was pretty obvious who was behind it and it was never taken very seriously. I'm not wholly convinced by the use of a murder as a plot device for a romance.

As you can probably tell I'm struggling to find much good to say about this. It was a quick and easy read and some of the secondary characters showed promise. I don't think I'll be rushing back to read more though I'm afraid.

I really enjoyed this novel.. The characters of Sebastian & Eliza were well written, as were the secondary smaller characters and the initial interactions between the leafs were very amusing.
My only small gripe, which is the same for all American authors is the use of American words rather than English ones eg sidewalk.
Really enjoyed it. Thank you for allowing me to read a preview copy. I will definitely be reading more by Julia London.

A quick read that unfortunately wasn't my favourite and I've struggled to finish.
There's a love story between a Prince and a commoner that should grow while trying to solve a mystery.
For as much as i loved the female character, she's funny and wise and lovely, i found the prince quite lacking in many parts.
They didn't seem to complement each other as it usually happens in love stories and there are also a few words used that aren't English/British for the time setting.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my review copy.

This book has been a bit of a struggle.... there are two stands to this story. Firstly, Prince Sebastian has come to Victorian England to sort out a trade deal for his country. While visiting his Personal Secretary is murdered but no one knows why. He has also come to find a bride. The second story is about Prince Sebastian's friendship with Eliza Tricklebank - quirky, sassy, clock repairing daughter of a judge. Eliza and Sebastian both want to solve the murder and work together to do so.

The feel of this book is a bit off.... it doesn't read like a historical romance. It has a modern feel about it. If there weren't frequent mentions of Queen Victoria I'm not sure I would have known what period of time this book was set in. It also doesn't seem to know what it wants to be.... the murder mystery runs through but is a real secondary plot - so secondary that as a reader I didn't feel I knew any of those involved and therefore had no real interest. Despite this I thought the culprit was really obvious which consequently makes all the chasing around a bit pointless and makes the characters seem a bit stupid.

The relationship with Sebastian and Eliza lacks any real emotional warmth and connection. It started quite promising at a masquerade ball but then I couldn't decide whether he remembered her or not when he met her again. I don't think he did which also seemed a bit unlikely... I just didn't really connect with either of them and couldn't feel the angst caused by his lack of ability to marry Eliza because she is a commoner. The ultimate solution was also too convenient and I was annoyed he didn't think about it in the first place.... it just made him look a bit stupid.... again... when we are supposed to think him clever.

There are some Americanisms in the language too - we don't have sidewalks in England, for example.

This is an easy read, but it's not particularly compelling and consequently it was a bit of struggle to get finished.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.