Princess Ever After by Rachel Hauck
Series: Royal Wedding #2
Published by Zondervan
Publish Date: February 4, 2014
360 Pages
Source: Bought
Find It: Goodreads / Amazon / B&N
Regina Beswick never dreamed of faraway places. She’s happy with her life as a classic car mechanic and owner of a restoration shop.
But an unexpected visitor and the discovery of a fairytale, drawn by her great-grandma, causes Regina to wonder if she might be destined for something more.
Tanner Burkhardt, Minister of Culture for the Grand Duchy of Hessenberg, must convince the strong-willed Southerner, Miss Beswick, that she is his country’s long-lost princess. Failure could destroy his reputation and change his nation forever.
As Regina and Tanner face the challenges before them, neither are prepared for love to invade their hearts and change every thing they believe about themselves.
However, when a royal opponent nearly destroys Regina’s future, she must lean into God and trust He has sovereignly brought her to her true and final destiny. (excerpt from Goodreads)
My Thoughts: It’s no secret that I have declared Rachel Hauck’s Once Upon A Prince one of my favorite books out there. I loved the first book’s premise of Royalty marrying a regular girl, and this second installment follows through with a similar premise. I thought that I couldn’t possibly love this second installment in this series more than I loved the first, but I was wrong!
Princess Ever After follows Regina Beswick as she learns that she is the newly-discovered heir to the throne of Hessenberg in order to save the country from some major problems. Regina is a car mechanic with her own shop and a passion for classic car restoration. She is happy with her life when Tanner Burkhardt shows up and rocks her world.
I loved that Regina had an independent streak, but the thing that I loved even more about her is her absolute desire to do the right thing. It was hard for her to leave her family and her career in order to run off to Hessenberg, and basically run the nation. Even though it was hard, she sucked it up and did it anyway because she felt that it was the right thing. It was great to see that even though she didn’t initially have the complete and total support of Hessenberg or the world behind her, she persevered, appealed to their sense of tradition (which was wrapped up in her own), and reached out to the people as their Princess. Regina had to learn quickly what it meant to put on a brave face and be an example for others, and I think she did a great job. YES, she was completely freaked out about the huge change in her life. YES, she was completely freaked out at her sudden fame. YES, she was completely out of her element as a American woman in a Royal palace. But she did a great job, and she did it by staying true to herself.
Regina would never have made it through the transition to Princess without help from Tanner. I’m so glad that he was the one that was assigned to convince her to take the throne and bring her back to Hessenberg! Tanner is such a fun character – he is just as attractive as Regina, so there’s that going for him. But I loved that Tanner had this bumbling, confident-yet-sometimes-unsure thing about him. See, Tanner has this great backstory that worked as a neat subplot in the story. He made some choices in his past that came back to make his life a little complex during one of his busiest times professionally — needless to say, Regina finds out about this part of Tanner’s life, completely accepts him, and even helps him navigate these unsure waters with an ease that only a woman like Regina could.
The Royal Wedding Series is one of those series that I just love to pieces. I’m not sure that I can narrow it down to exactly what makes this series among my “favorites” but I know that I have a soft spot for fairy-tales and happy-ever-after romances. Fans of these types of stories will hopefully enjoy this series too. I would recommend Princess Ever After (and Once Upon A Prince) to readers that enjoy fun, clean romances that makes you smile while reading, strong female characters, and great family relationships. For me, these books are reread status/favorites shelf and just OH, SO MUCH LOVE. These books make me happy.
**I think that you could read this second book as a standalone, sure, but I loved reading the first book first because in it you find out why finding an heir is important to Hessenberg and what this means for this tiny, fictitious country. These are companion novels set in the same world, and there is some overlap of characters.
HEA!
Have you considered starting this series?
I LOVE these books.
How about these covers? Aren’t they great?
About Asheley
Asheley is a Southern girl. She loves Carolina blue skies, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and NC craft beer. She loves all things history but prefers books over everything.
You can find her somewhere in North Carolina, daydreaming about the ocean.
Find Asheley on Litsy @intothehallofbooks!
Okay, pretty sure you had me at "Regina Beswick as she learns that she is the newly-discovered heir to the throne" because this girl CANNOT resist a good "btw, you're a princess/you're dating a secret prince" story. I don't care if it's a book or a cheesy Hallmark movie, I will read/watch it. This sounds so perfect and right up my alley. I'll have to look for this series!
I'm so ashamed that I haven't read any of these yet! They sound absolutely delightful. I will fix that soon.
Once Upon a Prince is on my to-read list, and now I'm adding Princess Ever After! Can't wait to read them!