Once Upon a Prince by Rachel Hauck

Thomas Nelson publishers just sent me a free copy of Once Upon a Prince to review.  With a modern day setting off the coast of Georgia, readers are in for a royal treat.  Susanna Truitt has a plan for her life- get married to her boyfriend Adam of 12 years and work as a landscape architect.  But God has other plans.  First, Adam decides they are better off as friends and makes plans to marry someone else.  Then she finds herself without a job and has to work at her parent's diner.  Prince Nathaniel, from the small British island of St. Simons, has come to Georgia for vacation time before becoming King.  His father is close to death and he is next in line for the crown.  Susanna and Nathaniel meet under the fabled Lover's Oak and have an instant connection.  Susanna, not realizing he is a prince, accepts his offer to landscape Nathaniel's family vacation home in Georgia.  Nathaniel gets a true dose of southern living when he helps out at her family's diner.  He loves this chance to be himself before taking on the duties and stress of King.  Susanna is the perfect girl for him!  Yet Prince Nathaniel's advisors and family have a future queen in mind for the good of their nation and a long ago royal law states that the king can not marry a foreigner. Nathaniel can't think with his heart anymore, he must think of what is best for his country.  Susanna knows she isn't queen material and this wasn't part of her "plan".  Yet when Susanna travels to St. Simons for Nathaniel's coronation, she feels like she fit into this fairy tale life.  But will their love be enough and what is God's plan for their lives?  This was a new author for me.  Rachel Hauck was recently chosen by Family Fiction readers as one of the top 5 romance authors in CBA.  According to her biography, she has already written over 15 novels.  Overall, I liked her writing style.  At times the story seemed to drag along at too slow of a pace.  And so much of it seemed to not be close to real life that I had a harder time getting into the book.  But for those that like stories about royal life, life in the south with a touch of British, this story is for you!