The Princess Wore Plaid Series: The Oxenburg Princes #2.5 by Karen Hawkins
Published by Pocket Star on March 21, 2016
Genres: Adult Historical Romance
Pages: 125
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher
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Sizzling Scottish romance abounds in this e-novella in the Princes of Oxenburg series, a spinoff to New York Times bestselling author Karen Hawkins’s delightful Duchess Diaries series.
A princess once bejeweled but now tattered…
Royal princess Tatiana Romanovin is the beautiful, wealthy, and spoiled favorite of the King of Oxenburg. On her way to her cousin’s wedding in the Scottish highlands, she and her entourage are held up by a gang of ruffians. Frightened, her servants flee, and Tatiana soon finds herself alone in an inn with no servants, no funds, and no proof of her identity. Destitute, she accepts the offer from a sympathetic (but unbelieving) innkeeper to work for her room and board while she waits for an answer to the missive she’s sent to her cousin Prince Nikolai. With no other recourse, Tatiana scrubs floors and dirty linens, waiting for her prince to come…
A proud lord once lost and now found…
After a brutal, bloody battle with the French Navy left Lord Buchan limping and surly, abandoned by his betrothed because of his twisted leg, his lordship hides away at his manor house in the countryside. He leaves only once a week to eat at the local inn, drawn by the expert cooking of the innkeeper’s wife. One day, Buchan arrives to find that the innkeeper has a new servant, a beautiful scullery maid with a queenly air, and flashing green eyes that leave him breathless and increasingly aware of his lonely existence…
Love may find them yet…
The challenge of winning his way into Tatiana’s heavily protected heart stirs Buchan back to life…but can he and his twisted leg—and broken heart—win a proud princess whose only goal is to leave Scotland and return to the court where she’s the crowning jewel?
The Princess Wore Plaid is a short and romantic retelling of Beauty and the Beast. This is my first time reading from author Karen Hawkins and I enjoyed this story.
I love historical romances for the beautiful settings, romance and charming heroes. But in The Princess Wore Plaid the hero is a grumpy Lord Buchan. Lord Buchan was injured in battle and has been hiding in his countryside estate. He leaves only once a week to visit the local inn for a meal in their private dining room. Normally he enjoys being left alone to eat but that changes when he meets the new scullery maid. The maid is beautiful and seems odd as a servant. The reason why is because the servant is Princess Tatiana, who is stranded after an accident. The relationship between Buchan and Tatiana is a slow build and the author created a sizzling chemistry between them. I loved watching them get closer. But what really stood out for me is Tatiana. She’s a princess lost from her family but instead of sulking and acting like a royal snob she works hard to survive. This was refreshing to read a historical romance without a damsel in distress. I enjoyed Buchan and Tatiana so I wished this was a little longer, but it is a nice short story to quickly add some romance to your day.
This is a novella from The Oxenburg Princes series but it can be read as a standalone. I haven’t read the previous books and I was able to follow along and enjoy this. I can’t wait to read the other books in the series. I recommend this to fans of historical romances in the Scottish highlands.
I received this book as a member of the XOXperts, XOXO After Dark’s official street team, in exchange for an honest review. Visit XOXOAfterDark.com for the best in romance, urban fantasy and women’s fiction.
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About Karen Hawkins
New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Karen Hawkins is known for her wonderfully humorous and emotion-tugging historical and contemporary romances. The author of over 30 novels, Karen writes for a living between shopping for shoes, playing around on Facebook and Pinterest, looking for fun items for Hawkins Manor, and napping, although usually not at the same time. Sometimes, for fun, she takes Instagram pictures of her two rescue dogs, Sadie and Teke, and posts them online.
Yeah, she's a wild one.
Karen lives in balmy Orlando, Florida, with her husband, aka Hot Cop, and her two dogs. Her children are both out of college and have become productive, non-violent members of society. Karen writes six to eight hours a day when not obsessively reading research books on Regency-era Scotland, snacking on chocolate, or looking out the windows of her house and thinking about gardening. Her hobbies include sculpting, oil painting, playing badminton, and -- ok, ok, she doesn't have any hobbies, but if she did, she's sure they'd be something refined and fascinating.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2016 New Release Challenge
I like a good grumpy hero. Karen Hawkins was one of the first historical romance author I read ages ago but it’s been so long since I’ve read one of her books. This sounds fun and I like that I can just jump in with the novella. I’ll have to give this one a try!