TEST
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.
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Grade: D+
Book Type: Historical Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 15/12/19
Publication Date: 11/2019
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
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And this is *not* self-published, ladies and gentlemen. You’re looking at a Harlequin title. I feel the need to mention this because I often wonder, “What are the editors thinking?” Are they just riding on the name of the author and hoping readers will buy and like *anything* the writer produces? Or is Ms. London on a multi-book contract that forces her to pump out stories like mad? I noticed this sometimes happens to traditionally published authors. Their first books might be pretty good, but as their popularity increases, it’s like they get put on a writing content mill.
Lately, I’m finding that the majority of the self-pubbed titles I read are outdoing traditionally published titles in practically every way. The stories are better written and conceived and I probably find as many typos and grammatical errors in self-pubs as in trad-pubs. I know there’s a lot of self=pubbed rubbish out there, but the major publishing houses have their fair share of it, too, as can be seen by the low grades some of their books are given here!
“The stories are better written and conceived and I probably find as many typos and grammatical errors in self-pubs as in trad-pubs.” Very true on both counts. Self-publishing definitely allows for more original storylines and characters, especially because there isn’t some editor saying, “Make this guy a duke, and then we’ll talk.” As for typos, I am frequently shocked by how many I see in traditionally published books. I know things slip through the cracks, but it’s still shocking at times.
Yep. Rubbish exists in self-publishing, indie publishing, and traditional publishing. But I always think the self-publishers have a little more excuse. After all, we’re often working solo!
This hits the nail on the head RE what bugs me about London’s work – she’s so all over the place, sometimes producing great work, sometimes mediocre!
Yes – I really enjoyed the first couple of books in her last series (HIghland Grooms) but then it went downhill. And now this… I’m not sure I’m going to be reading anything else of hers in the near future.