Summary:
A charming Christmas village, a storybook castle, a royal ball, and a gorgeous prince are the last things New York City reporter Kaylie Karlyle expects to find on her holiday freelance assignment to Europe. But when the family she's interviewing turns out to be the royal family of Tolvania, Kaylie has a meltdown when the quirky queen wants her to write a Christmas fairy tale for the spunky, young princess. Kaylie must battle the princess's father, who doesn't trust the media, and her own insecurities about writing anything beyond the news. --bn.com
The latest Christmas has arrived and it's got Princess Diaries at Christmas vibes. While I don't think this year's book is as good as previous years offerings have been, you will still want to crawl into the story. If not just to live amongst Tolvania during Christmas, you'll love the characters.
Kaylie Karlyle's career looked like it was going in the direction of a major promotion- until it doesn't and she gets let go instead. With his hands tied, her boss, Bob, informs her of a freelance assignment she could take while she looks for another permanent job. With no other prospects, Kaylie agrees to write do a feature on a family's Christmas traditions. However, there were a few things he left out: the family is a royal family and the feature is more of a fairy tale the Queen wants written for her Granddaughter. But those details come to light once she lands at a remote area of Eastern Europe.
Kaylie's holiday is about to take a turn she couldn't possibly see coming when she meets said royal family and quickly likes them. Although, the Queen's son may have gotten the wrong impression when Kaylie fell into his lap. (It was an accidental falling when the wind pushed her into the wrong car. I swear.) As things get to a bumpy start everyone learns more about each other as the Queen has said Prince Alexander walk Kaylie through a list of family Christmas traditions.
I loved the characters more than the story. I have to say, I wasn't a big fan of Prince Alexander. Queen Isabella was my favorite. She was so sharp, discerning and loving all in one. The Prince's daughter, Anna was adorable, too. I loved reading the descriptions of Tolvania! I just wanted to climb into the book every time they went around the town. I wanted to be there with the characters.
Like I said, this wasn't my favorite of Karen's Christmas books, but i enjoyed it. She has a gift with creating a Christmas scene! She makes the Christmas season come to life on the pages of whatever story she's created.
