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Blurb
I never believed in fairy-tales.
Never held out for Prince Charming.
Growing up poor in small-town California as the oldest of six siblings, I knew I would never ride off into the sunset with anyone. That was even more apparent when a senseless tragedy took the lives of my parents, forcing me to become the sole guardian of our dysfunctional household at the mere age of twenty-three.
Then a fateful encounter literally brought Prince Charming to my doorstep.
At first I thought Viktor was just your average businessman passing through, albeit obscenely handsome, six-foot-five, blue-eyed, and mysteriously rich.
But soon I discovered the truth behind Viktor’s façade.
Beneath his quiet, enigmatic gaze and cocky charm, is a man who is running away from who he really is. A role he’d rather not fulfill.
He is Viktor of House Nordin, His Royal Highness, The Crown Prince of Sweden.
Yet uncovering Viktor’s secret was only the first step.
I didn’t expect to fall in love with him.
I didn’t expect to have my whole life turned upside down.
When you’re from two different worlds, can your hearts meet somewhere in the middle?
Or do happily-ever-afters only exist in fairy-tales?
The Swedish Prince is a standalone romance inspired by Roman Holiday.
Review
4.5 “Always more, never less.” stars
When I saw that Karina Halle was basing her latest book on one of my all-time fave classic movies, Roman Holiday, I was sold. When she announced Armie Hamer as her muse, I was hooked. Karina has delivered a sweet, sexy and beautifully romantic story. A handsome Prince with a broken heart, a girl struggling to keep her head above water while caring for her five younger siblings, and a royal fairytale about finding love where and when you least expect it. I loved this one.
Crown Prince Viktor of Sweden’s life has just been ripped out from underneath him. Following the tragic death of his older brother, he has suddenly been thrust into the limelight, becoming the reluctant heir. He is struggling with the increased attention on him, his new responsibilities and what it means for his life and the plans that he once had. But most of all, he is struggling to come to terms with the death of his brother.
Everywhere I go, everywhere I turn, people are there, eyeing me up like some exotic dessert that they want a bite of before anyone else. They want to see the sorrow in my eyes, they want to know how I will handle being the future king of Sweden. They want to see me rise to the challenge just as much as they want to see me fall.
I don’t think I can rise. I can barely get to my knees.
It’s all too much for him, and seeing him on the verge of a breakdown, his parents (the King and Queen), tell him to take some time and get away from it all, so he heads off on the great American road trip. But car trouble stalls his trip and he ends up stuck in a small town in SoCal.
Maggie McPherson was living her dream. She had escaped the small town she grew up in and was partying it up in New York City while studying journalism at NYU. But the new life she created for herself came crashing down around her when her parents were brutally murdered, and she returned home to care for her five younger siblings. Stepping in for her family is something she did without even thinking about, and a year later she is working as a housekeeper at a local hotel and struggling with the demands of work and family. But when she accidentally walks in on a Nordic god as he strolls naked into the room she is cleaning, she has no idea how her life is going to change.
These two opposites should have nothing in common, but they share an instant chemistry which both of them are only too keen to explore. It’s light, fun and sweet, but simmering with sexual tension as the two of them spend time together and get to know each other. It’s not all smooth sailing, and they have their challenges to face, but Viktor’s time in town is limited and they can’t ignore their growing attraction, neither of them want to, and OMG, it’s so, so good!
I don’t want the poised and regal Viktor that I’ve seen lately, the one in the suit, the one who always knows the right things to say. I want a Viktor that’s raw and messy and wile. I want him to fuck me up before he fucks me, fuck me up while he fucks me. I want to see him lose all control and struggle to regain it all back.
I’ve minded my manners, I’ve stayed noble, but when it comes to taking her in the bedroom, all of that is gone. I won’t be royal. I’ll be a savage instead.
Yes, it’s wild and hot and obscenely sexy (*fans self at the dirty talking Swede*), but the emotional connection between these two is so, so beautiful, and just as much as I could feel their mad lust for each other, I could feel their growing emotional connection which is beautifully explored.
“You…you Victor, you are a prince in every way shape and form. You embody the word, you are selfless and kind and proud and smart and noble and you care, more than anything, you care. You’re the prince that every girl had a fantasy about but you’re more than that, because you’re real. You’re so real. And you’re here right now and you’re with me and I can’t…I can’t thank you enough.”
“I could kiss you for a thousand days and it still wouldn’t be enough,” he says. “I could gaze at you for a million days and it wouldn’t be enough. I could touch you, taste you, be so deep inside you that you’re fused to my skin, do this forever and it still wouldn’t be enough. Forever with you isn’t enough.”
Oh swooooooon!
But Viktor’s time in town is limited, and he has a life in Sweden and responsibilities that cannot be ignored. I don’t want to give anything away, so you’ll just have to dive on in to see how these two juggle their unique and all-consuming family responsibilities with all that they feel for each other.
“You are my life and you are my everything and you are my love,” he says gently. “You have shaken me to my very soul, rattled the bars around my heart, and I am yours, Maggie, I am yours.”
I loved this book. It’s sweet and fun, and gorgeously romantic. Viktor and Maggie are wonderful characters, I could feel their connection, and I was rooting for them from start to finish. Their love story is just the right mix of sexy and emotional, with very little drama and the perfect amount of angst to keep the story realistic and exciting without becoming overwhelming.
There’s a wonderful bunch of side characters who bring so much to the story – Maggie’s siblings in particular. And with the introduction of intriguing fellow Scandinavian royalty (the playboy Prince of Norway and the widowed King of Denmark are both conveniently single with fantastic romance hero potential), I’m hoping that we get to see more of these characters if this standalone becomes a series.
Karina Halle has given us another fantastic, lovable contemporary romance with this book. I loved it.
4 stars.
An Advance Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Excerpt
“Do you need any help?” Callum asks Viktor as he sorts things.
Callum has never asked to help me in the kitchen before.
Viktor smiles at him appreciatively and I’m aware of how charmed they are of each other. It warms my heart.
“Well let’s see,” Viktor says and takes off his suit jacket, hanging it on the back of the chair, and starts rolling up his sleeves. His tanned, muscled forearms pop against the white fabric as he folds it around his elbow. Hot damn. Forget about warming my heart, this is warming up other places.
“What are you good at Callum?” he asks.
Callum taps his finger against his chin in thought. “Math.”
“That’s great. I meant in the kitchen.”
“Slicing things,” he says with a big smile. “Or stabbing things.” Evil giggle.
Viktor’s eyes widen briefly. “Okay, so we’ll keep you away from the knives.” He looks at me for help.
I shrug. “Beats me, he’s never wanted to help me in the kitchen.”
“Because you’re not James Bond,” Callum says.
“Well sorrrrrry,” I tell him. I can’t blame the kid. Viktor in his suit in our kitchen is probably the most exciting thing to ever happen to us.
“Have you ever grated parmesan, Callum?” Viktor asks him while rummaging through the drawers and finding the cheese grater. He raises it up triumphantly while I silently shake my head, no way. A cheese grater is just a knife with scales.
“Nevermind,” Viktor says quickly, placing the cheese grater far away from him. “How about you just sit there and sing me songs. I rather liked your rendition of Dancing Queen.”
Oh god. Now that I know “Dancing Queen” was sung to his actual mother the night before she became queen, by ABBA themselves, Callum’s version seems even more crude.
“I forgot the lyrics,” Callum says with a shrug. “But I can rap.” He clears his throat like he’s about to sing an opera. “I like big poops and I cannot lie.”
I roll my eyes and give Viktor a warning look. He asked for this.
“Can I help with anything?” I ask coming around the table beside him.
“An apron would be great,” he says. His hands are already floured from handling the fresh pasta so I grab an apron hanging in the pantry – one that has chickens all over it, my mother was obsessed with chickens – and bring it over to him.
We smile at each other as he lowers his head so I can slip the top strap over his neck. With his head at my height, I take a moment to run my hands through his hair under the guise of fixing it
My god. This is what heaven feels like. His hair is so thick and lush and silky, the ultimate sensory experience. I get a whiff of his shampoo, something woodsy and herbal that makes me want to drool. How I want nothing more than to just grab a few strands between my fingers and give it a sharp tug. I want to see the easy-going expression on his face become something raw and wild. He sneaks a glance up at me and I realize how inappropriate I must be touching him like this.
“Your hair was a little messed,” I say quietly, then I go behind him and tie the straps around his lower back. Damn, if Callum wasn’t sitting right there and watching this whole scene, I’d start running my hands up and down his back, feeling every hard, taut muscle, and then climb him like a jungle gym. He’s just so tall, his shoulders so broad and wide, that I feel like I take up no space at all next to him, like Viktor commands every atom in the room when he’s around.
But Callum is watching, very intently I might add, and whatever intimacy I had conjured up by putting an apron vanishes.
Meet Karina
Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author of The Pact, Love, in English, The Artists Trilogy, Dirty Angels and over 20 other wild and romantic reads. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books.
Halle is represented by the Root Literary and is both self-published and published by Simon & Schuster and Hachette in North America and in the UK.
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