THREE WEEKS with a PRINCESS by Vanessa Kelly was a wonderful story... Vanessa drew me right in and kept me there til the end. Jack grew up to be the Marquess and Lia was the by blow of the Duke of York. Her grandmother (who raised) was the mistress of Jack's uncle who was the Marquess and she grew up in a house on Stonewall estate. They have an interesting journey to love...she meets other royal relatives who were also born on the wrong side of the blanket...they help her on her journey.. I hated to have the book end...

***ARC Provided by the Publisher (Zebra) via NetGalley***

4.5 Stars

Lia and Jack grew up together. Well, sort of. He was the son of a nobleman, she the granddaughter and daughter of a courtesan and actress, so they were around one another, but there was always a separation, one that his mother definitely wanted to remain in place.

I liked the resolution of the situation with his mother, as I was worried this was going to be handled in a way I did not relate to...but no worries there, I believed the resolution. I admit, I was worried the more we saw of Jack's mother, that I was not quite sure how this was going to work out. And, I love it when the book (and the author) handle the issues they create for their characters in a way that feels authentic and realistic.

Historical romance is, by definition and necessity, a cleaner and often a sweeter romance. The author is left with the task of moving the story without being able to rely on the physical chemistry. This story was charming, and the attraction and friendship between Jack and Lia was wonderful. You genuinely believe that he really does care about her, and how she feels. And, the time he takes with her at the very beginning, in the prologue, gives you an idea of how drawn he is to her, even though it will be years until they actually start a relationship.

And, the reason she says she wants 3 weeks? Well, that is explained, it is wonderful and leaves the reader, and Jack, feeling like this was a match that has been destined from the beginning.

I definitely recommend this book.

Lia Kincaid's family is decorated with infamous courtesans. Hidden away in the country she lives with her grandmother. Life is at its fullest until the Marquis dies and the estate is in turmoil. Lia does all she can and is hopelessly in love with Jack. He assumes his role and is forced to make changes that will effect both of their lives. Lia feels at a loss and will do anything to protect her grandmother and rise above her station with Jack by her side. I received an advance copy for an honest review and loved reading about the sordid past of the ton of London.

Lia has known Jack her entire life, she idolised him as a child and those feelings transformed into a deep and abiding love as an adult. However though Jack has always been indulgent and affectionate towards her, she knows nothing can come of it. She is the unacknowledged illegitimate daughter of a Royal Duke and an actress/courtesan and Jack needs to repair the family fortunes not be embroiled in scandal. When Lia and her grandmother find themselves destitute, she knows they can't live on Jack's charity and that she must find some way to provide for them. Her idea is to join her mother's acting troupe, whilst her grandmother thinks she should take a protector and be a courtesan. I enjoyed this book set in a time when woman had little control over their lives but could have kicked Jack for not articulating his feelings sooner, it would have saved Lia a lot of heartbreak. The characters, including supporting ones, were well developed and engaging and made you want to read Ms Kelly's other books.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley I was not compensated for my review, and I was not required to write a positive review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

4.5 stars
In Vanessa Kelly's captivating series, three young women are descended from royalty--in the most improper way. But that doesn't stop them from pursuing lives rich in adventure. . .

Lia Kincaid, illegitimate daughter of the Duke of York, comes from a long line of courtesans the Notorious Kincaids. Lia was aised by her grandmother, formerly mistress to the late Marquess of Lendale, she has little hope of a respectable marriage. But the new marquess, her childhood friend in fact her only friend, Jack Easton, would make a very desirable protector
Jack has inherited the title & an almost bankrupt estate so he must marry a wealthy bride but that would mean resisting Lia the beautiful woman he desires far too much. Then Lia makes another outrageous suggestion: asking Jack to devise some tests to find her the perfect paramour. Tests that involve flirting, kissing, and other pleasurable pursuits.
A lovely story of best friends to lovers. The plot is straightforward but is very well paced & held my attention all the way through. The characterisation is very good both Jack & Lia are very likeable although I did find Kia frustrating at times over her differing about her relationship with Jack. It was good to see that Gillian doesn’t change too. A lovely romance, Jack itemising Lia’s jewels was very touching as was his Christmas present to her. This is the second in the series but could well be a stand alone book. I look forward to reading more from the author

I am giving this honest review in return for this ARC. A very nice long read. Well written story with lots of great characters, romance and a bit of cheek as well. It will make you believe in love that crosses borders and all obstacles.

This is a wonderfully witty and charming tale. Both Lia and Jack grab your heart from the very beginning and just won’t let you go. You’ll weep at their sorrows and laugh at their joys.

Lia has three strikes against her from the moment she is born. Her mother is an infamous actress, her grandmother is an infamous courtesan and she is the illegitimate daughter of the Duke of York. Her grandmother is the mistress of the late Marquess of Lendale and Lia and her grandmother live in Bluebell Cottage on his estate, Stonefell. She’s been raised in gentility, but she knows she’ll never find a man of quality to marry. She has lived on Stonefell since she was three years old and she loves it, the village and the tenants. She’s always taken an active interest in helping to look after the property. Her bright spot is Jack’s regular visits to the estate. They’ve been friends since she was a toddler.

Jack’s parents are in a contentious marriage. His father is a profligate womanizer who flaunts his paramours in front of his wife constantly. His mother has become a bitter woman and has a particular dislike for Lia’s grandmother. Jack looks forward to his visits to his uncle’s estate, Stonefell, for the peace and serenity and for the time he gets to spend with Lia.

When Jack’s uncle passes away, Jack becomes the new Marquess of Lendale and learns that the estate is nearly bankrupt. He also learns that his uncle didn’t make any provision in his will for either Lia or her grandmother. Jack has every intention of continuing to care for them, but he also has to find a way to turn the estate around. Not an easy task and he certainly doesn’t want to have to make a marriage of convenience to an heiress in order to rescue the estate.

Lia loves Jack and doesn’t want him to feel responsible for her and her grandmother. When she learns that there isn’t any provision for them in the old Marquess’ will and that Jack is almost broke, she decides to take off to London to be an actress – and if she can’t be an actress, she’ll be a courtesan. Jack takes off to London after her and is intent on returning her to the estate.

Lia leads Jack on a merry chase through London. She discovers she doesn’t have a career as an actress and she decides to learn to be a courtesan – she finds she’s not very good at figuring that out either. It is a good thing Jack likes to be the knight in shining armor because he has to come to the rescue quite often before they finally get their HEA.

A number of characters from the first book in the series have fairly prominent roles in this book and it was really nice to catch up with them. They are a loving, giving, lighthearted bunch and you’ll love them. You can read this as a stand-alone book, but knowing the background of the characters from the first book will make this one more enjoyable.

"I requested and received this book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher."

Vanessa Kelly writes stories that are a dazzling mix of beauty and magic. With classic tales of bewitching romance, daring rogues, passionate damsels and unstoppable drama, who could ask for anything more? Three Weeks with a Princess spins it's web of seduction rather quickly. Jack and Lia find themselves entranced by emotions beyond their control. Every heartbeat brings them closer to the point of no return. Can their friendship survive the hypnotic lure of love? A stunning tale of sensuality that cast a spell from beginning to end.

Lia Kincaid and her grandmother live in a cottage on the grounds of Stonefell Hall, a once-grand mansion in the countryside of Yorkshire, England in 1807. The eldest son of the Lord John and Lady John is Jack Easton who frequently visits his uncle at Stonefell. He is a childhood friend of Lia and the story continues with their attraction and the hopelessness of their relationship. I really liked the plot and enjoyed the main characters. Sadly, I felt like a great portion of the book was full of unnecessary subplots and banter that bogged down the progression of the story. I also thought that there were too many characters. Just to be able to explain the exact relation of Jack and Lia to Stonefell would have taken unnecessary words in this review. The introduction of so many characters on Lia's side must have been a nightmare for the author to keep straight; imagine how difficult it is for the reader. Then you add all the group connected to Lia's mother, you have a story that is so full of characters that I continually had to go back to sort out who was who. I definitely thought the story was too long, filled with constant banter between Lia and Jack arguing about her life or their lives. Jack was a great character but I almost thought that he developed "Superhero " status in the end by his inevitable appearance in all of Lia's ridiculous exploits. Have to give this book a 2.5 rating although I did like the basic plot.

Three Weeks with a Princess by Vanessa Kelly will be available June 27, 2017 by Zebra, an imprint of Kensington Books. An egalley of this book was made available by the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

Three Weeks With A Princess is the second in Vanessa Kelly’s Improper Princess series. Overall, this was an entertaining story with memorable characters, some of whom returned from the previous book. Lia Kincaid is the illegitimate daughter of the Duke of York, whom she has never met and believes that he has not ever acknowledged her. Her mother, a former courtesan (obviously) and current actress sent Lia to her Grandmother, the mistress of the Marquess of Lindale to be raised. With such a background, Lia has no hopes for a respectable marriage. Her best friend, and lifelong secret love is Jack Easton, the current Marquess of Lindale, whom she grew up with in the country. If only she could be a good match for Jack, all of her problems for a good future for her and her Grandmother would be solved. Jack has his own problems since the former Marquess ran his estate to the ground physically and financially. He needs to marry someone with a good dowry to fix his mess. But this childhood friendship is much more than either Jack or Lia realize.
Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this very well written romance filled with charming, likable characters, witty dialog, and even some intense intrigue. I’m looking forward to the next Improper Princess and her Happy Ever After!

Lia Kincade and Jack Easton are a couple you want too see end up together. Lia touched my heart with her charm and Jack's wanting to protect her made them a loveable couple.

Trouble thy name is Lia. A madcap comedy of situations that Lia found herself enmeshed in throughout the story that was thoroughly entertaining. I loved the dialog and general banter between the characters. There were several laugh out loud moments. I thought Jack and Lia were enjoyable and fun characters.

I am curious about Sebastian Sinclair…..

I received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review. Loved the book. Lia is brash, sassy and very much in love with her childhood friend. Jack loves her but has yet to realize it. The book is well written and keeps your attention. Lia is a royal by-blow and is trying to find a way to support her grandmother and herself after her grands long time love, a Marquess, dies and leaves them nothing. It is a wonderful read and I would highly recommend it. I hope there are more books about this family in the works as I think they could be interesting stories, especially Gillian and Dominic.

Overall an enjoyable regency romace, but there was a fair amount of uncomfortable scenes where women were beaten and either verbally or physically abused. The provided description of the book implied it would be more of a lighthearted read, so these scenes took me completely by surprise and definitely lessened my desire to continue reading. I am, however, interested in reading the Duchess's story, so I'll probably seek out other books by this author.

‘Three weeks with a princess” follows Lia Kincaid, the illegitimate daughter of the Duke of York and her friendship with Jack Easton, the Marquess of Lendale. Lia has been raised by her grandmother, who was the mistress of Jack’s uncle, the late Marquess of Lindale. She believes that she must remove herself from the home where she grew up, now inherited by Jack, so that he is free to marry a rich bride and return the estate to its former glory. However, Jack believes that he needs to protect Lia and so begins the battle of wills. Lia offers to be his mistress but Jack refuses, believing that Lia should marry him.
I loved the friendship between the two and cheered whole heartedly for Jack. I loved the sincerity of Lia but at times, just wished that she would agree to Jack’s wishes, as they were both obviously so enamoured with each other. I really enjoyed the supporting characters of Gillian and all of Lia’s relatives. They managed to bring a smile to my face on many occasions.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My first ever historical fiction book, and I’d say it went very well!!
Although I don’t have previous books to compare it to, I actually found that this book makes me want to read more books from this genre. Regency, London, plays, dancing… It was all very overwhelming, and extremely fascinating, to say the least. Though I’d say that Lia was a little naive at times…
Gillian was my favorite, to be honest. Her tomboyish attitude isn’t something I expected to find in a historical fiction book, which was very compelling. She spiced up the story, and made it thoroughly interesting and funny. Her and Charles’ bickering was just downright hilarious. Bossing him around and all that. She was more like a duke than a duchess, to be honest.
Loved the childhood best friends to lovers trope going on *squeals*. I enjoyed seeing one of my favorite tropes come to life… in the 1800’s. Never in a million years would I have imagined myself reading a book set in the 1800’s, let alone saying that! But dammit, I loved Lia’s and Jack’s arguments. They were very comical and interesting to read.
The writing style was incredibly fancy, it truly makes you feel like you’re living in England and in the 1800’s. I absolutely loved Lia’s character transformation, and her discovering a bunch of family members along the way and realizing how much they root for her.
The pace was a little slow at first, but I’d say that was somewhat necessary to make the reader feel settled in the world they’re diving into.
I absolutely loved this book. Will definitely have to check Mrs Kelly’s other books soon, if they’re anywhere near as good as this one!

Another delightful read from Vanessa Kelly. Lia Kincaid is an illegitimate daughter of the Duke of York, who has never recognized her. Her mother is a talented well known actress. Lia was raised by her grandmother, the mistress of the Marquess of Lendale at his country home, Stonefell Hall. Her best friend is Jack Easton, the marquess's nephew, who lives in London but comes for frequent visits. But hard times have fallen them all. Jack's uncle had purchased him a commission in the army had gone off to war but has been called back after the death of both his father and uncle. Neither men had been very careful with the family coffers. The marquess had been devoted to Rebecca, Lia's granny, but had been too weak to marry her and failed in his promise to take care of her. The responsibility of both households, now falls on Jack's shoulders. Lis realizes that she needs to take care of herself and her grandmother. Jack's mother hates them both and will be pushing for Jack to marry a wealthy heiress who will want them off the property. Despite Jack's assurances that he will always take care of them, Lia flees to London, first to her mother, at the hopes of becoming an actress. However, she is a totally failure at that. Meanwhile, she is unaware that she has many relatives on her father's side, who are all eager to meet her, especially Gillian, the heroine of the previous book. Jack follows her to London to bring her safely back to Stonefell, but she has now got it into her head that she must find a protector. She manages to get into all kinds of trouble, while her relatives try to bring her into society. Will Jack find a way to save the woman he loves and still restore Stonefell and the mansion in London?

This is my first book by Vanessa Kelly and after finishing it I definitely want to go back and read My Fair Princess because I loved Gillian in every scene she was in. But back to Three Weeks with a Princess, it started off as a 4 - 5 star read for me and I was totally engrossed in the story. However, the further I got into the book it lost a little of the allure for me.

The main reason was while I really liked Jack at the beginning he started to get on my nerves with his high handedness and really patronizing behavior towards Lia. While Lia made some questionable choices throughout the story from the background he knows she's an intelligent, practical sort of woman whose thoughts and opinions he should respect more. So every time he tried to order her about it really irked me and made him a little less desirable in my eyes.

Lia also did occasionally fall into one of my pet peeves and that is doing something that is obviously not the smartest thing either just to prove she doesn't have to listen to others or because she's being stubborn. If a heroine has a good reason for doing something that gets her into trouble I can accept that. When they do it just because it rankled them that someone else tried to tell them what to do, that's a whole other situation.

What rescued the rest of the book for me though was the supporting cast of characters. There were so many I wanted to get to know better and I'm hoping they have or will have their own books! So while not an exact hit for me the author's style of writing and great cast of characters has me wanting more.

Lia Kincaid is charming, kind and an illegitimate daughter of a duke with royal blood running through her veins. Lia’s mother gave her up to be raised by her grandmother who was the mistress of the Marquess of Lindale. They lived on the Lindale estate so the Marquess could visit her grandmother at his convenience. Somehow Lia grew up to be a sweet innocent winning over all of those around her with her kindness, except for the current marquess’s mother, who harbors a huge grudge against having Lia and her grandmother on the family estate.

Jack, the current marquess has had a friendship type relaitonship with Lia through the years. They spent a bit of time together forming a friendship unknown to Jack’s mother. Through the years, Lia, also, comes to know the estate and how it is run just from always being there and helping out with a servant’s heart.

The estate, Stonefell, has been run into the ground by the former marquess and now is close to financial ruin. Once Jack tells Lia and her grandmother that he will make sure they are cared for regardless of the estate’s situation, Lia and her grandmother decide Lia must enter the family business to find them a protector since the former marquess left them with nothing.

All that to say Lia’s determination to become a courtesean is not successful. The efforts she makes to keep from being a courtesean, then realizes she really has no choice are what make this an interesting, light-hearted romance. Jack is in love with Lia, but just does not realize it. His efforts to thwart her keep the romance alive.

You will love their journey, their heart aches, their challenges and their HEA, including the explanation for the three weeks. This could easily be a stand alone, but I appreciated having read My Fair Princess with Gillian and Charles’s story first. Ms. Kelly has not only interwoven their romance, but has included characters from the Renegade Royals series. Both series are about the illegitimate children of royal princes and dukes. Ms. Kelly has written these series to appear as if they could really be part of English history and the bastards of the royal family.