REVIEW The Princess Wore Plaid by Karen Hawkins

The Princess Wore Plaid
(The Oxenburg Princes #2.5)

by Karen Hawkins

Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books

Sizzling Scottish romance abounds in this e-novella in the Princes of Oxenburg series, a spinoff to New York Times bestselling author Karen Hawkins’s delightful Duchess Diaries series.

Categories ~ Historical Romance

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A princess once bejeweled but now tattered…

Royal princess Tatiana Romanovin is the beautiful, wealthy, and spoiled favorite of the King of Oxenburg. On her way to her cousin’s wedding in the Scottish highlands, she and her entourage are held up by a gang of ruffians. Frightened, her servants flee, and Tatiana soon finds herself alone in an inn with no servants, no funds, and no proof of her identity. Destitute, she accepts the offer from a sympathetic (but unbelieving) innkeeper to work for her room and board while she waits for an answer to the missive she’s sent to her cousin Prince Nikolai. With no other recourse, Tatiana scrubs floors and dirty linens, waiting for her prince to come…

A proud lord once lost and now found…

After a brutal, bloody battle with the French Navy left Lord Buchan limping and surly, abandoned by his betrothed because of his twisted leg, his lordship hides away at his manor house in the countryside. He leaves only once a week to eat at the local inn, drawn by the expert cooking of the innkeeper’s wife. One day, Buchan arrives to find that the innkeeper has a new servant, a beautiful scullery maid with a queenly air, and flashing green eyes that leave him breathless and increasingly aware of his lonely existence…

Love may find them yet…

The challenge of winning his way into Tatiana’s heavily protected heart stirs Buchan back to life…but can he and his twisted leg—and broken heart—win a proud princess whose only goal is to leave Scotland and return to the court where she’s the crowning jewel?

Karen Hawkins is one of my all time favorite authors. I have been reading her books for years and have every single paperback book of hers till I received my first Nook. Her Historical Romances have always been exceptional and in this story she continues her mastery of historical writing skills with Buchanan and Tatiana's story.

Buchanan is portrayed as a bitter physically damaged man. The author works his leg injury and his recovery into the story line creating a believable character where you can feel his pain and why he chooses to be alone rather that seeking out company. The timing of his awareness of wanting Tatiana and wanting to not be alone is not too rushed. I love that he is honorable and willing to do the right things for Tatiana.

Since I have not read the previous books I can't judge Royal princess Tatiana's character based on past knowledge. From this book though several things stood out that I would love to have known more detail about. For instance, what happened to all the servants she was traveling with? If her family was truly Royal why did they send her out unattended by guards. That being said, I love how she was smart and forward thinking. I enjoyed how her character became humble understanding the value of her servants and how hard they worked. As her character was tried by circumstances she learned to take joy in learning how to live and take care of herself.

The ending was handled in a surprising manner. I loved the ending but was intrigued with how her cousin Prince Nik handled everything. I wish I could of been there while that conversation was going on and that it was expanded upon for the reader. Since I have read her other series this ending does make sense based on her other series character developments.

I give this 4 stars and though it can be read as a standalone I am a firm believer that it's best to start at the being of any series.

A copy was gifted in exchange for an honest opinion via Netgalley.

~ My Reviews of the series ~

The Prince Who Loved Me (The Oxenburg Princes, #1) ~ Review Coming

The Prince and I (The Oxenburg Princes, #2) ~ Review Coming

The Princess Wore Plaid (The Oxenburg Princes #2.5) ~ Review

Mad for the Plaid (The Oxenburg Princes, #3) ~ Review

New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Karen Hawkins is known for her wonderfully humorous and emotion-tugging historical and contemporary romances. The author of over 30 novels, Karen writes for a living between shopping for shoes, playing around on Facebook and Pinterest, looking for fun items for Hawkins Manor, and napping, although usually not at the same time. Sometimes, for fun, she takes Instagram pictures of her two rescue dogs, Sadie and Teke, and posts them online.

Yeah, she's a wild one.

Karen lives in balmy Orlando, Florida, with her husband, aka Hot Cop, and her two dogs. Her children are both out of college and have become productive, non-violent members of society. Karen writes six to eight hours a day when not obsessively reading research books on Regency-era Scotland, snacking on chocolate, or looking out the windows of her house and thinking about gardening. Her hobbies include sculpting, oil painting, playing badminton, and -- ok, ok, she doesn't have any hobbies, but if she did, she's sure they'd be something refined and fascinating.

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