Holly Jacobs, Once Upon a Princess

Once Upon a Princess

Holly Jacobs

Parker Dillon informs her two best friends Shey Carlson and Cara Phillips that she needs a job so she becomes a waitress at Monarch's, Shey's coffeehouse in Erie, Pennsylvania. That would not be strange for a business degree graduate to work tables, but Parker is not your typical waitress as her full name is Princess Maria Anna Parker Mickovich Dillonetti; all she wants is to be middle class not royalty.

She waits on a man with a small girl and boy who is their Uncle Jace O'Donnell, a local private investigator who knows that his server is not an ordinary waitress as he has been hired by her family to keep her safe and to feed them information about her. Now Prince Eduardo Matthew Tanner Ericson of Amar is coming to marry her. Parker blames her mess on Shey who insisted she call home to tell them she is safe. She does not want to marry Tanner; she wants Shey to deal with the prince (in July) as Parker prefers exploring the princess and her private eye.

ONCE UPON A PRINCESS is a fun fairy tale reminiscent of Roman Holiday. Parker is a delightful protagonist who wants to live life outside the royal fishbowl while Jace believes she deserves better than a small town sleuth and also feels guilty for spying on her with her family though he rationalizes that it is for her good. Holly Jacobs provides a fine contemporary romance that her retinue will enjoy and look forward to riding a motorcycle with Shey and Tanner in the sequel ONCE UPON A PRINCE.

Silhouette Romance, May 2005, $4.25, 186 pp.

ISBN: 0373197683

Harriet Klausner