Monday, July 18, 2005,1:52 AM
Once A Princess - Johanna Lindsey
Two decades ago in a small country in Eastern Europe, a beautiful princess was born and christened Tatiana Janacek. But she was born amidst chaos for there was a blood feud between her royal family, the Janaceks, and another powerful clan, the Stamboloffs. After several of her family members have been murdered, and with her father, the then King of Cardinia, fearing for his own life, Tatiana was immediately betrothed to the son of Sandor Barany, who became king after the rest of Tatiana's family were murdered. As the only remaining Janacek, King Sandor sent Tatiana to America with a baroness as her only companion. But tragedy seems to follow Tatiana wherever she goes for shortly after reaching America, the baroness died from illness leaving Tatiana at the hands of an elderly couple, with whom she grow up in near poverty and completely unaware of her regal birthright. Fast forward to 1835 and King Sandor decides to abdicate the throne so his son Stefan could succeed. Now Stefan isn't too happy especially with the news that along with the throne comes his imminent wedding to the exiled princess. But worried for his father's fading health, he sails to America, albeit reluctantly, to bring his queen back home. But were he and his three companions in for a shock! For not only are they sent on a wild goose chase trying to find the princess, but when they finally do, it is to discover that she is not the pampered beauty they expected her to be but a feisty tavern wench who is completely ignorant of the circumstances of her birth. What astounds Stefan more is his instant attraction to Tatiana, who goes by the name of Tanya Dobbs. And for a moment, he is actually pleased that Tanya isn't the great beauty everyone claimed she would be, for he had long ago given up on beautiful women after being left scarred, both physically and emotionally, while trying to save his younger brother from being attacked by wolves. But that is another shock for him because Tanya's real appearance is soon unveiled. And this adds to the complication for he knows that he can't afford to lose his heart to the beautiful woman who he believes is repulsed by his appearance.Yet another Johanna Lindsey novel that kept me up until dawn. Again, it totally draws your interest because you're kept wondering when she's finally going to realize that her abduction is not a prank and that she really is a princess. Her many attempts at escaping often left me frustrated, but maybe that's what the author meant for her readers to feel. I probably just felt frustrated because I knew that she really was a princess. All in all, a fun read.
Marichu's rating: 4/5 stars
