The Swedish Prince by Karina Halle Also in this series: The Wild Heir
Series: Royal Romance #1
Published by Karina Halle on March 19, 2018
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Royalty
Pages: 458
Format: eBook
Source: Self Purchased
**A standalone romance inspired by the classic film, Roman Holiday.**
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?
NOTE: - The Swedish Prince will be available on iBooks/Nook/Kobo on March 19th and 20th ONLY- The Swedish Prince will have a live release on Amazon KU on March 22nd
When I picked up The Nordic King last year by Halle and LOVED it so much, I love the heartwarming humor that Halle has portrayed in these books and in The Swedish Prince it was done so well and I had a fun time with this book. Not quite as much as The Nordic King, however, it was such a charming read and one of my favorite royal/maid set ups.
Our story begins with Maggie, who had been going to NYU and working on a journalism degree, when she gets a phone call that her parents have been murdered and she is the guardian for her siblings and so she throws her dreams out the window and heads back home on the west coast to take care of her family. Its now been a year and Maggie is working herself to the bone as a hotel maid. Its not the most ideal situation and they are barely making it by financially, but her siblings need her. Then she runs into a naked viking who tempts her more than anything in a very long time.
Viktor has his own pain too. Viktor is the younger son, but then his brother commits suicide he becomes the heir to the throne, a job that Viktor never wanted and now there is pressure for him to be someone he never imagined he would be including grieving for his older brother and not living up to his parent’s expectations. His parents cause an intervention and send him away for one month, anywhere outside of Europe, to have a vacation and get his head on straight. So he heads to the states traveling all over, but when his vehicle breaks down, he finds himself in a small town and being intrigued with Maggie, a beautiful hotel maid who has her own mix of pain and family drama. As the interest between them grow, a love develops and Maggie and Viktor will need to make a choice to be together or lose everything they have together.
The Swedish Prince is a story that I had some great delight in reading, and Karina Halle has the type of reading that sweeps you off your feet. I love royal romances and Halle did a great job with this one. I liked seeing that both of these characters had been grieving over a great loss to themselves personally and so you really see the emotional intimacy between them really grow and it was simply beautiful. I love that Viktor saw the lovely and strong woman that Maggie is and looked beneath her maids uniform and we see so much growth in both of these characters. We see Viktor find love but also find himself in the process and settle into being the kind of leader he needs to be and then we see Maggie learn the true value of family and sacrifice. I love how devoted she is to her family even if its not her dream job but we see her come into her own strength and discover what she is capable of and find true value in her own self worth and confidence.
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 truly enjoyed seeing this love story develop and this book was a story that gave me all the happy feels. The romance that develops is so endearingly sweet with the right balance of serious tones and laughs and you can easily settle into this book with a smile on your face all the way through. I really admired seeing these two find what they need in themselves and in each other and their relationship. There was something so vitalizing about their relationship, it definitely had a “Harry and Meghan” feel to it at times, it just came alive and I enjoyed seeing them work around being in their own “secret world” with no one but Maggie’s family knowing of who they are.
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.
Then we are introduced to some fun times with Maggie’s family, my heart aches for their loss of their parents though especially since they were murdered by a ex con who had it out for their father (who was a prison guard) but the descriptions of their parents just made the reader admire what this family has suffered through. I simply adored this family so much and seeing the various level of grief that each child is going through but how they stick together no matter what is going on and loved that and I felt like Karina Halle handles family relationships so well done, there was a sense of vibrancy to their bonds and you just want to gravitate towards them.
Overall I found The Swedish Prince a fantastic story and it portrays the powerful storytelling ability of Karina Halle, its a tale of pain and loss but also courage, strength and a passionate love worth fighting for!!! MAGNIFICENTLY PENNED!
About Karina Halle
Karina Halle is a former travel writer & music journalist and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal & USA Today Bestselling author of The Swedish Prince, The Pact, Love, in English, The Artists Trilogy, Bad at Love & over 45 other wild and romantic reads. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her adopted pup Bruce, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books.
Halle is represented by Root Literary and is both self-published and published by Atria Books/Simon & Schuster and Hachette. Her books have been published in France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Hungary, Brazil, Bulgaria, Israel and Croatia.
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