I was given the chance to read Julia London’s latest novel, The Princess Plan early and I devoured it. Immediately. An out of the norm female heroine too modern for her time clashing with a foreign prince trope? Sign me up! This was a slow burn romance with court intrigue, an unexpected murder mystery and featured a gazette run exclusively by women that possessed a certain gossip girl tone.
The Princess Plan marks my second official blog tour with HARLEQUIN and Harpercollins for Women’s Literature and Romance. This is the absolute perfect novel for any fans of historical fiction with opinionated women as the heroine and for anyone who loves the movies, The Christmas Prince and The Prince and Me.
“She snorted a laugh. The ridiculous confidence of men who believed that if a woman came near, they wanted to be seduced!”
I loved Eliza Tricklebank’s character almost immediately. She’s introduced as an eight and twenty spinster who has essentially given up on the societal norms that her world has to offer. She had one bad reaction to a courtship (which was definitely reasonable to any rational woman) and had been marked ever since. All she has is her role as caretaker to her blind father and what little she can offer to her sister’s gazette which she’s content with. I admired her first for her resilience to make the best of what she had to work with but then she impressed me with her sheer stubbornness with Prince Sebastian. She never let him have the upper hand and his questionable manners and lack of English etiquette allowed her to take the lead despite his Princely status. The divide in their relationship was never one based on gender and in a world less favourable to women that’s an unexpected twist to this romance. They were rather divided by class which was questionable also given that his status extended not in England but instead in his country of Alucia. I adored how he could identify Eliza’s presence in a room through her laugh. The way he would act when he heard her was incredibly adorable!
“And will you put down the sandwich? A gentleman will not be inclined to consider a lady for a dance partner, much less a potential wife, if he fears he must feed her as much as his livestock.”
I laughed so hard when Eliza’s friend, Caroline said this to her at the opening masquerade ball. It was both original to the time frame and definitely what a young lady in the search for potential suitors would say in a friend dynamic. It was great! But you know what I liked even more? Eliza’s quick wit response.
“Eliza put down her sandwich. ‘If a gentleman considers me for a potential wife, he must also consider that I eat. This may come as a quite a shock to you, Caro, but I did not come to this ball in search of a husband.”
It left me thinking a little bit of Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy’s banter in P&P. Their clash in opinions easily match this classic duo and their banter is quality material.
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“Oh dear. Did I mistakenly ask your permission? I assure you, that was not my intent.’ She smiled again, her eyes sparkling with delight.
‘You must be the most irreverent, disobedient person I have ever met in all my years,’ he said with exasperation.
‘Really! In all your years? Perhaps you ought to go abroad more often, sir. I am disobedient because I am not your subject.”
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There is no doubt in my mind that Eliza was a force to be reckoned with and Prince Sebastian was too stunned by her stern manners to do anything but get to know her because of her unique personality. She was a worthy adversary to the Prince and it was that attraction that made him addicted to her. He was attracted to all of her qualities and couldn’t fault her once. The most important thing was how he appreciated her for who she was rather than who he was supposed to pursue.
This was an amazing book that was well-written and had many strong opinionated women throughout, Eliza being the most. I cannot wait for the next one! I hope we get to see more of Caroline's brother, Beck because he was hilarious!
Thank you again to Netgalley and the publishers at Harlequin and Harpercollins for this opportunity!
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