The Princess Plan by Julia London is one of the most intriguing historical romances I have read. Her book starts off with ladies who own and work a lady's gazette. One of them is excited and nervous in meeting a prince. Her goal was to meet at least one at the up coming ball. Low and behold she meet one alright.

He was every bit as demanding, arrogant, and royal as one would expect. However, he thinks the world especially all the ladies should bow to him. All but the heroine. She does not bow to any man including a crowned prince. The foreign prince made me laugh so much. He was speechless that she would treat him like an ordinary man. One of the ton to be exact. I loved how Eliza put Sebastian in his place more than once. I was proud of her. And I enjoyed watching her kick his princely butt on occasion.

Julia London's novel is a breath of fresh air. It's different in some ways but similar in other ways. The mystery around the death of a close friend to the crown prince was interesting. Then the mystery brought on another round of mystery, causing the whole thing to become a deeper and more satisfying read. The growing tensions between the characters was fun to follow. A prince having to do well, always in the spotlight, and having to find himself a bride is not exactly what Sebastian wanted. But he is expected to do certain things and he tries.

Overall, The Princess Plan, is by far a great book. I loved the humor, the high tensions, and the romance.

This book was meh. It was ok. Didn't loved it but didn't hated it either. I may read some of Julia London's backlist.

Another solid romance from Julia London. I really thought the romance sizzled, and the intrigue surrounding the murder kept the plot moving along.

Prince Sebastian is in town to work out an agreement between his country and England. He's also looking for a bride.
Lady Eliza Tricklebank is a self avowed spinster, firmly on the shelf. She's not looking for a groom and she's certainly not looking for a prince. However, they cross paths at a ball. Prince Sebastian is not used to a woman who doesn't fawn over him but that's not Eliza's way. Sebastian grows to love her sassy attitude and found that he wasn't interested in any if the women being placed before him to consider as a bride.
Sebastian and Eliza are destined for heartbreak until the prince conceives The Princess Plan.
I loved this book. I found myself losing sleep so I could read just one more chapter, just another chapter and another.

Royal life can be really difficult and here is a flirty and happy novel that also has a dash of mystery. Eliza meets Sebastian, the prince and the first in line for the throne. Sebastian is to sign a treaty and deal the deal with marriage, But sparks start to fly when he encounters the smart and sassy Eliza.
Sebastian was such an adorable character, very prince-ly and mysterious. Eliza grew on me over time and their connection was so honest and strong, especially combined with the aura of being complete misfits and out of place. I enjoyed reading about them, the context and all the rules they followed and broke.

Julia Londen delivers an impressive romance, that is steamy but also decent and adorable.

I’ve read and enjoyed a number of Julia London’s books in the past, so I thought I’d give her latest title a try. The Princess Plan is billed as a mixture of mystery and romance, in which a visiting prince teams up with a lively spinster to solve a murder and falls in love along the way. It seemed as though it might be an enjoyable romp, but sadly wasn’t. The mystery wasn’t mysterious, the romantic development was non-existent, it wasn’t fun and it wasn’t a romp. Unless you define a romp as pages of inane chatter and un-funny attempts at banter that seem to exist only as a way of padding out the page count.

Miss Eliza Tricklebank is twenty-eight years of age, and a spinster who keeps house for her father, a Justice of the Queen’s Bench (who has recently lost his sight) and mends clocks to earn a little something on the side. Her sister Hollis is a widow who inherited a publishing business from her late husband and now publishes Honeycutt’s Gazette of Fashion and Domesticity for Ladies, and her best friend Lady Caroline Hawke is a debutante (well, she’s described as such, but if she’s the same age as Hollis or Eliza then she’s quite an elderly debutante!), and together the three of them spend lots of time chattering about nothing in particular while also deciding what to put in the next edition of the Gazette. Under discussion when the book opens, is the visit to London by a delegation from the small (fictional) country of Alucia, in London in order to negotiate a new trade agreement at the behest of its crown prince, who is rumoured to be in search of a bride.

Caroline – who, we’re told, knows everybody in London – is able to secure invitations to the masked ball held in honour of the visit for herself and her friends, and it’s here that Eliza, quietly getting tipsy on the rum punch, makes the acquaintance of a gentleman she later realises is none other than Crown Prince Sebastian.

You’re shocked, I can tell.

Flirting and silliness ensure until Sebastian has to go to put in an appearance at the meet and greet portion of the evening, after which he finds himself a woman for the night. This means Sebastian never does go to meet with his secretary and dear friend Matous, who had told him he needed to see him as a matter of urgency.

And who turns up dead the next morning, his throat cut.

Of course the proper authorities are informed, but Sebastian isn’t impressed with the way they seem to be handling things and decides to investigate the matter himself, much to the displeasure of his brother and the rest of his staff. And when, a day or so later, an accusation is levelled against a member of the delegation – printed in a lady’s gazette – Sebastian is furious and demands to speak with the author of such unsubstantiated rubbish.

Thus do Eliza and Sebastian find themselves investigating the murder, but the mystery – and I use the term very loosely – is so incredibly weak that it’s impossible to invest in, and the identity of the villain(s) is telegraphed early on, so it’s obvious to everyone – except Sebastian it seems, who thus comes across as really dim. And when the mystery is solved, the reader is not present when the full extent of the plot is revealed and is merely told about it afterwards.

The romantic relationship is equally lacklustre. There’s no emotional connection between Sebastian and Eliza, no build-up to their first kiss and absolutely no chemistry between them. The conflict in their romance is, of course, that Sebastian is royalty and Eliza is a commoner and thus ineligible to become his wife; plus he needs to marry a woman with pedigree and connections – and Eliza has neither. The solution to this dilemma is ridiculously convoluted and, unless corrections have been made to the ARC I read, doesn’t work. Sebastian’s solution is to find a way to make Eliza’s father a Baron, which will make her a Lady and thus an eligible bride. Er… no. The daughter of a Baron is not a Lady, she’s still a Miss (a Right Honourable). To be a Lady, Eliza’s father would have had to have been made an Earl at least. Seriously, this information is available widely on the internet and it took me ten seconds to find it.

Eliza is obviously meant to be one of those ‘breath of fresh air’, quirky heroines who doesn’t abide by the rules. She points out, for instance, that while other young ladies must be accompanied by a maid when they go out, she goes wherever she likes on her own; she stood in the middle of London without fanfare all the time. Conversely, Sebastian is hemmed in by all sorts of rules and restrictions that accompany his position – he frequently bemoans the fact that he cannot go out alone, that he has very little privacy and so on and so on… so I had to wonder why free-spirited Eliza – who sees first hand just how restricted Sebastian’s life is – would want to subject herself to the same constraints. And Sebastian is… well, I finished the book less than an hour ago, and I can’t remember much about him at all.

The Princess Plan doesn’t work as a mystery or a romance, and the plot –such as it is – is not substantial enough to fill a full-length novel. The characters are unmemorable, the pacing is sluggish and quite honestly, I was bored. As an alternative to The Princess Plan, might I suggest The Watching Paint Dry Plan, or The Watching Grass Grow Plan, either of which might afford a similar level of entertainment.

3/5 stars

I really liked the story and I plan on continuing the series to see what happens in the next book, however the intense feelings and steam I generally expect from a romance novel were both missing. I did enjoy Eliza and Sebastian as the main characters. The most interesting parts of the story occurred when Eliza and Sebastian finally teamed up to figure out who could have killed the prince's secretary. I really liked reading their interactions together.

Overall I liked this start to a new historical fiction romance series. I'm interested to see Sebastian's country play a bigger part in the next books and I would love to see some of the side characters get their own story!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harlequin for allowing me the opportunity to read this free digital ARC.

Great mystery tucked into this romance! It's clearly a romance, though, because the mystery was resolved initially off page so the protagonist heard about it second or third hand. I would have loved to see it resolved like a mystery - right there on the page - but I understand the author's choice. The focus stays on the romantic relationship this way.

The romance is fairly typical for this sort of story - a royal with marriage obligations falls for a commoner. The mystery helped keep this fresh and engaging. Looking forward to reading book 2 in the series. (Sex)

Eliza is on the shelf due to an unfortunate event when she was younger. She is happy to assist her father, a judge. Her sister Holly publishes a gossip paper. Prince Sebastian is in town to finalize a trade deal with England and find a wife. When one of his staff is murdered he reluctantly enlists the help of Eliza as her sister seems to have more information than the police. As they spend time together their attraction grows, but because of her position things can't progress. Will Sebastian follow his heart or duty? A good beginning to a new series.

I usually love this author's books, but for some reason this one just wasn't working for me. I'm sad but will try future Julia London books. Thanks for allowing me to try this!

Prince Sebastian and Eliza story begins when he goes to London for a trade deal and finds himself looking for a wife, but one of the Alucians is murdered and the investigation is not going as it should, so he takes it upon himself to find out the truth and that leads him to question Eliza about what she witnessed that night. Good start for the series hope author kicks it up a notch for the next one.

While this read had the potentially to turn out incredibly cheesy, it instead was incredibly fun.The story revolves around a Eliza, a woman who declared herself a “spinster” after the man who had promised to marry publicly announced he was marrying someone else. Now, a prince from another country is visiting London with the intent to find his next bride. Eliza ends up becoming entangled with the prince while trying to find the criminal behind his friend’s murder. From secret tunnels to murder plots, this novel ended up having all of the elements you would need to turn this romance novel from straight romance into a fun murder mystery. I especially enjoyed how Eliza’s sister’s printing press with “womanly advice” and gossip was woven into the plot’s narrative for hilarious commentary. While the murder mystery could have also seemed extraneous, it instead made the novel even more enjoyable. I don’t know if I would reread this novel, but I certainly plan on reading thenext one.

Julia London has written several of my all-time favorite romances, so it truly pains me to rate one of her books as anything less than 5 stars. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy "The Princess Plan" as much as some of her previous works.

One of my main issues with this book is that I did not like Sebastian, the hero, very much, especially at first. I suppose his arrogant, demanding behavior could be considered pretty typical for a prince, but what really bothered me was the fact that he didn't seem to be even remotely interested in the heroine, Eliza, at first. He even slept with another woman after meeting Eliza (and very much enjoyed it!) just because he needed to "scratch an itch." That said, Sebastian did seem to be a good leader who took a genuine interest in the welfare of his people, and he had some good ideas on how to modernize his country. When he finally did fall for Eliza, he fell hard, even though their relationship seemed hopeless. I had a hard time getting over his earlier behavior, though.

By contrast, Eliza was a very interesting and likeable heroine. She was obviously very smart and independent, but when she, her sister, and their friend Caroline put their heads together, they came up with some pretty silly (albeit entertaining) schemes. I particularly loved that Eliza always spoke her mind and didn't easily bend to Sebastian's will. Also, Sebastian and Eliza's conversations were pretty funny. Sometimes it seemed like they were speaking two different languages, especially when they first met. It took a while for them to begin to understand each other's way of thinking.

Besides Sebastian himself, my other big issue with this book was the way in which Sebastian attempted to remove the biggest obstacle standing in the way of his marrying Eliza, which was the fact that she wasn't a "lady." His solution was to pull some strings with the English government to have Eliza's father elevated to the rank of baron so that she would then become "Lady Eliza Tricklebank." I would have said that this was a clever solution IF it actually could have worked the way it was explained in the book. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case because the daughters of English barons and viscounts are not granted the courtesy title of Lady, so Eliza would have been known as "the Honorable Miss Tricklebank" instead. Eliza's father would have had to be at least an earl for her to be addressed as Lady Eliza.

Overall, I did enjoy this book in spite of the issues outlined above. It was remarkably funny and upbeat considering how much of the plot revolved around a murder and potential revolution in Sebastian's homeland of Alucia. Also, the secondary characters were a lot of fun, and I would enjoy learning more about them in future books. I plan to continue with the series.

*ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book grew to be one of my favorites! It’s such an atypical Prince looking for a bride story that it still makes me smile. A lawyers daughter, having been duped by a suitor and firmly giving up on the thought of love and marriage, meets a foreign prince on the quest for a bride. Yet when he barges into her home demanding to meet with her father, she is less than impressed. And, that is all I’m going to say except, go read it. I loved it and highly recommend this book.

This book had a bit of slow start for me, however I was immediately drawn to the characters, particularly Eliza’s feistiness and friendship with her sister, Hollis, and their friend ,Caro. I enjoyed the sort of Cinderella-esque story of a prince falling for a commoner, but more importantly I love that London flipped the script and had Sebastian fall for Eliza’s intelligence and forthrightness rather than merely her beauty. Additionally, I appreciate that London get class and gender in mind with this book

I’m not sure the mystery aspect completely worked for me. At times it seemed like an odd mix of mystery and romance when I really just wanted to get to the romance. I think this also speaks to the pacing and why it felt like a slow start to me. However, the mystery does bring the two together more so it is important to the plotline, it just wasn’t my favorite aspect of the book.

Despite some qualms about the mystery and pacing, overall, I really enjoyed this book! I would recommend this if you are looking for a historical romance not set in the regency era, has a prince-falls-for-real-girl or sort of fairy tale come to life aspect, as well as some fun things like a ladies gazette and a mystery.

This book has everything - Romance, Mystery, Balls, Strong characters and even a prince! I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I especially loved Eliza. The plot kept you reading right until the end. I highly recommend this fun and intriguing book.

Nothing gets the tongues of London’s high society wagging like a good scandal. And when the personal secretary of the visiting Prince Sebastian of Alucia is found murdered, it’s all anyone can talk about, including Eliza Trickelbank.

Her unapologetic gossip gazette has benefited from an anonymous tip about the crime, prompting Sebastian to take an interest in playing detective- and an even greater interest in Eliza. But with a trade deal on the line and mounting pressure to secure a nobe bride, there is nothing more salacious than a prince dallying with a commoner.”

I don’t read many Historical Romance but this is a genre quickly moving up in my TBR. Eliza was witty, funny, and outspoken. Which is deemed a bad quality for the time era. I love a good strong female character who speaks her mind and is true to herself. Eliza was all of those things. The first meeting of Eliza and the Prince is not what you expect. Sometimes romances can be predictable, but not this one! I was happily surprised! I was kept on my toes with the mystery/romance and finished this book in one sitting! Sebastian is the typical, stuck up Prince, who expected everything to be handed to him, but Eliza challenged him. I started to warm up to Sebastian and ended up really liking his character, and him as a lead for Eliza. And don’t even get me started on their first kiss.. If you like Historical Romance you should definitely give this one a try!!

(This review was commissioned by Harper Collins.)
Historical romances are not usually my jam; they are a bit too formal and stuffy for my taste and reflect a bygone time of judgment and views that are best left in the patriarchal past.
That being said this was enjoyable in a way that those other stories often aren't; a heroine with strong female friendships (Eliza and her relationship with her sister Hollis is refreshingly pure and supportive and strong) and an even stronger and refreshingly forthright personality, not a character whose ultimate end game is happily ever after and who is flat in every other way during that pursuit.
A fun, fluffy ride for those who enjoy a romantic blast into the past.

I don’t normally read stories about foreign royalty but I really enjoyed this one. I think I enjoyed the close connection between Eliza, her sibling, Hollis and their friend, Caroline. The way they told each other everything, even though they didn’t mean to! Also the way they teased Caroline’s brother. I would love for him to have his story. I did wonder if they would be giggling about things at their age but then I thought back to how I am with my friends and thought, yes, they would. Eliza was quite outspoken and honest about her views, which was to be admired at this time, when women were expected to stay in the background. The connection between Eliza and Sebastian had some very heartfelt moments and I did wonder how this would be resolved. It also emphasised how restricted life was for Sebastian. This was a captivating read with engaging characters. I received a copy and have voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was given the chance to read Julia London’s latest novel, The Princess Plan early and I devoured it. Immediately. An out of the norm female heroine too modern for her time clashing with a foreign prince trope? Sign me up! This was a slow burn romance with court intrigue, an unexpected murder mystery and featured a gazette run exclusively by women that possessed a certain gossip girl tone.

The Princess Plan marks my second official blog tour with HARLEQUIN and Harpercollins for Women’s Literature and Romance. This is the absolute perfect novel for any fans of historical fiction with opinionated women as the heroine and for anyone who loves the movies, The Christmas Prince and The Prince and Me.

“She snorted a laugh. The ridiculous confidence of men who believed that if a woman came near, they wanted to be seduced!”

I loved Eliza Tricklebank’s character almost immediately. She’s introduced as an eight and twenty spinster who has essentially given up on the societal norms that her world has to offer. She had one bad reaction to a courtship (which was definitely reasonable to any rational woman) and had been marked ever since. All she has is her role as caretaker to her blind father and what little she can offer to her sister’s gazette which she’s content with. I admired her first for her resilience to make the best of what she had to work with but then she impressed me with her sheer stubbornness with Prince Sebastian. She never let him have the upper hand and his questionable manners and lack of English etiquette allowed her to take the lead despite his Princely status. The divide in their relationship was never one based on gender and in a world less favourable to women that’s an unexpected twist to this romance. They were rather divided by class which was questionable also given that his status extended not in England but instead in his country of Alucia. I adored how he could identify Eliza’s presence in a room through her laugh. The way he would act when he heard her was incredibly adorable!
“And will you put down the sandwich? A gentleman will not be inclined to consider a lady for a dance partner, much less a potential wife, if he fears he must feed her as much as his livestock.”

I laughed so hard when Eliza’s friend, Caroline said this to her at the opening masquerade ball. It was both original to the time frame and definitely what a young lady in the search for potential suitors would say in a friend dynamic. It was great! But you know what I liked even more? Eliza’s quick wit response.

“Eliza put down her sandwich. ‘If a gentleman considers me for a potential wife, he must also consider that I eat. This may come as a quite a shock to you, Caro, but I did not come to this ball in search of a husband.”

It left me thinking a little bit of Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy’s banter in P&P. Their clash in opinions easily match this classic duo and their banter is quality material.
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“Oh dear. Did I mistakenly ask your permission? I assure you, that was not my intent.’ She smiled again, her eyes sparkling with delight.

‘You must be the most irreverent, disobedient person I have ever met in all my years,’ he said with exasperation.

‘Really! In all your years? Perhaps you ought to go abroad more often, sir. I am disobedient because I am not your subject.”
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There is no doubt in my mind that Eliza was a force to be reckoned with and Prince Sebastian was too stunned by her stern manners to do anything but get to know her because of her unique personality. She was a worthy adversary to the Prince and it was that attraction that made him addicted to her. He was attracted to all of her qualities and couldn’t fault her once. The most important thing was how he appreciated her for who she was rather than who he was supposed to pursue.

This was an amazing book that was well-written and had many strong opinionated women throughout, Eliza being the most. I cannot wait for the next one! I hope we get to see more of Caroline's brother, Beck because he was hilarious!

Thank you again to Netgalley and the publishers at Harlequin and Harpercollins for this opportunity!