I've read a few of Rachel Hauck's books and always enjoyed them, but How to Catch a Prince blew me out of the water. Corina Del Rey works for a rag newspaper that deals in scandal of the highest order. Not exactly the kind of life she envisioned for herself, but it's the life she has. She manages to muddle through each day, missing her twin brother since his death in Afghanistan.
Stephen Stratton is Prince of Brighton, a small island country just north of Great Britain, and he's caught in a sticky-wicket. He's married to Corina and now that marriage has been found out by his brother King Nathaniel. It's Stephen's job now to find Corina and get her to sign annulment papers. Corina has decided she will sign only if Stephen will tell her what truly happened to her brother, and Stephen refuses to tell her on the basis that it is classified information.
For the last five and a half years, Corina's parents have been in some sort of holding pattern, not able to move past her brother's death. Corina wants more than anything to find out exactly what happened, beyond the party line she's been told--"He died a hero."
Rachel takes the reader through fairly tough waters in finding out what Corina wants to know and then through the mourning of the death of Corina and Stephen's marriage with a little outrage thrown in for good measure.
In all the ups and downs of the book, Corina finds that she still loves Stephen and would rather spend her life with him than in any other situation, but Stephen feels he has to do what he thinks the crown wants.
There is one integral part of the story that I do not wish to describe here in my review, because it is whimsical and just a bit unbelievable (if it were to happen in real life--that's the glory of fiction). When Corina is asked by her boss to go to Brighton and cover the premiere of a movie there, she finds her motel reservations have been cancelled. A woman in a white coat directs her to a place that is basically a hole in the wall, but quaint. The hosts of The Manor take such good care of her, she has a hard time believing the whole thing is real.
When a book of this quality comes along, I question my rating system for the other books I've reviewed. I have decided that my Star rating system will be to compare the books I read to similar books I've read. So with that said (which really didn't say much), this book is Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and the Prince of your dreams.
Zondervan provided this book in exchange for my honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment