A while back I made a review of Teri Wilson's Accidental Beauty Queen, a romance novel that to this day remains to be one of my favorites (that I have re-read several times). I have since started buying and reading her books on Amazon. While many of those books have been entertaining, I have not found anything that would top or equal my love for the Accidental Beauty Queen until I read Once Upon a Royal Summer.
The book is about Lacey, who works as a theme park princess who encounters Henry, a prince from the fictional kingdom of Bella-Moritz. A single dad, he goes to the theme park incognito to spend time with his daughter, who has always wanted to experience going to an American amusement park. I have always loved royal-related romances, and this one is no exception. I thought it was an interesting plot for a theme park princess to meet and fall for a real-life prince. The contrasting settings of the theme park and the Bella-Moritz were also a good way to show how their lives were different and yet made them into people that perfectly matched each other.
As with most Hallmark books and from what I've read from Teri Wilson, Once Upon a Royal Summer is a very light-hearted, feel-good book. I loved the various sweet moments at the theme park and the romantic moments in Bella-Moritz. I especially loved the parts that featured text exchanges between Lacey and Henry, I felt an intense amount of kilig every time I read a text from Henry as if I was reading it as Lacey. It was so cute!
I know that critics of this genre would say that most romances like this are too predictable and are not realistic (since it is a royal falls for a commoner trope), but I really enjoyed it. I loved that the book took the time to tell the story of why Lacey decided to become a theme park princess to show the kind of person that she is and why Henry fell in love with her. I also loved that Henry wasn't doing the whole sweep-you-off-your-feet thing that is common with stories like this. It was more of a gentle but still romantic approach to their relationship. There was a connection and they explored it in their own unique way.
There were several moments that I loved in the book. Apart from my favorite (the messaging parts), I also loved the scene where they were in the ride together. I felt like I was holding my breath as I wondered whether Henry would make the move to kiss her or not. The scene with Rose and the child at the theme park was also a good one, because it showed how Henry was falling for her because of who she was as a person. I like romances that don't go down the instant attraction route. I love learning how people were growing into their feelings for the other person. This book had that.
Teri Wilson has this magic touch with making her romances give you that warm feeling inside when you read them. You feel the love the characters have for each other and every moment of excitement that they feel with every encounter. It is a book that I think makes you want to fall in love if you are single and makes you cherish the love you have when you read it.
So if you are looking for a romance novel that is royal-related that is light-hearted and would make you feel good after you finish it, this is a book that you would be interested in. I hope Hallmark makes this into a movie (but please, do The Accidental Beauty Queen first!).
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