A Princess for Christmas

August 15, 2020
A New York taxi driver picks up a European princess in desperate need of a lift. Leo Ricci is a young man of 25 with a heavy burden: He became the guardian of his 11-year-old sister, Gabby, after their parents died in a tragic car accident. Leo holds down several jobs in order to make ends meet, including driving a friend's cab. One day, while he's driving Gabby home from school, they see a beautiful woman in a ball gown trying to hail a cab outside the United Nations, and Gabby insists they pick her up. Her Royal Highness Princess Marie of Eldovia is in New York determined to kick-start political and economic changes that will improve life in her small European country. Marie appreciates Leo's charming combination of old-fashioned charm and gentle teasing--he's the only person who treats her like a woman, not a princess. She hires him to be her driver for the rest of her visit, and both try to resist the powerful attraction they feel. When her trip comes to an end, she impulsively invites Leo and Gabby to Eldovia for Christmas. Holiday is clearly aiming at readers who enjoy Hallmark Christmas movies, which often feature sweet, everyday characters thrust into extraordinary love affairs with royalty. There is depth and nuance in Leo and Marie's romance despite their vast differences in wealth and status. Marie and Leo are both determined to live with dignity and strive to achieve their individual goals. The novel is charming and self-aware and successfully plays with the conventions of the "commoner falling in love with royalty" script. Sizzling chemistry and witty banter elevate a common Christmas romance premise into a royally entertaining fairy tale.

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 31, 2020
Opposites attract in this thoroughly charming Christmas romance from Holiday (Mermaid Inn). When architecture student Leo Ricci’s parents died, he dropped out of college to take over raising his 11-year-old sister, Gabby, supporting them both with a job as a taxi driver and as the on-site super of their Bronx apartment building. He meets Princess Marie of Eldovia when she commandeers his off-duty cab, desperate to get to an important diplomatic party. Gabby, riding shotgun, persuades Leo to take pity on the plucky princess and chauffeur her to her destination, leading Marie to hire Leo as her personal driver while she’s in town. Leo doesn’t expect to like Marie, but he soon learns that underneath her posh exterior is a sweet, vulnerable woman. The unlikely pair grow close, leading Marie to invite Leo and Gabby to spend Christmas in Eldovia. The snappy prose, charming atmosphere, and Hallmark movie–style plot combine to create a delightful romance, underpinned by strong supporting characters. This Christmas treat, with its intoxicating blend of heat and sweet, is a winner. Agent: Courtney Miller-Callihan, Handspun Literary.

September 1, 2020
New York City, cabdriver Leo Ricci is no knight in shining armor, but he can't resist the pleas of his little sister Gabby to stop and help the princess frantically trying to flag down a taxi. It turns out she is, indeed, royalty, HRH Marie of Eldovia, and she is about to turn Leo's world upside down when she asks him to be her chauffeur for the next three days. RITA-nominated Holiday deftly mixes a dash of Hallmark-style holiday movie magic with the fairy-tale charm of Roman Holiday and then deftly layers in her own brand of sensuality and wit to create the perfect Christmas romance.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

October 9, 2020

Princess Marie of Eldovia and New Yorker Leo Ricci are both trying to keep their lives together in the face of loss and grief. Marie is working to save the economy of her small Alpine country and to have her visions for the future be taken seriously. Leo, caring for his kid sister, Gabby, is holding down two jobs as a cab driver and a building super in the Bronx. When their paths cross, thanks to Gabby's insistence that Leo pick up the "princess" hailing a cab outside the UN, Marie asks Leo to be her chauffeur while she's in New York. As the two move about the city together, they start to relax and grow closer, and Marie, who finds the connection with Leo so different from her normal interactions, spontaneously invites Leo and Gabby back to Eldovia for Christmas. Thought the Hallmark-esque country in the middle of the Alps is a perfect setting to fall in love, the cab driver and princess don't have an easy time of getting to know each other. VERDICT Holiday ("Matchmaker Bay" series) has written a Christmas love story that fizzes with the magic of the holidays while grounding it in two families working through their own heartache and sorrow. With two more books slated to follow, this series should captivate readers who are looking for their Hallmark holiday movies to contain a little more sauce.--Kellie Tilton, Univ. of Cincinnati Blue Ash

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.