Book Review - The Runaway Princess by Hester Browne

The Runaway Princess by Hester Browne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3 Stars

I am highly disappointed with The Runaway Princess. I love Hester Brown books and I have read all of them and so when I noticed this recent release, I was very excited.

Amy is your typical normal gal; she lives in London and co-owns a garden business. Amy meets Leo at a party and doesn’t know Leo’s a prince. I wish I could say the book is about Amy discovering who Leo is, but it’s not and that was probably the down fall of the book.

The first 60 pages were not necessary, I felt like it didn’t add anything to the book but excess weight. I didn’t like the title and “Runaway Princess” kind of foretells how the story is going to play out right? I think the title could have been something that didn’t reference the final anticlimactic obstacle (I’m not giving anything away; the title did it for you).

The style of writing reminds me a lot like Sophie Kinsella’s “Twenties Girl”, since there were a lot of unnecessary conflicts, annoying situations and silly scenes. I love Sophia Kinellsa, but “Twenties Girl” was not a favorite of mine.

The Runaway Princess should have been two books, book 1 should have been the story of Amy and Leo getting to know each other and in the end she finds out he’s a prince and book 2 should have been the story of Amy and Leo working out the relationship.

I understand the title has to draw in the audience, but I figure Hester Brown would have a huge enough fan base, that she didn’t have to give away the story in the title. The Runaway Princess was simply a very light dull read and even though the book was over 400 pages, I couldn’t feel any chemistry between Amy and Leo. At times, I questioned when/if Amy Leo loved each other, because the relationship didn’t feel organic.

I didn’t like Amy, I thought she was ridiculous and her “issues” weren’t big enough for me to justify her actions. I thought Leo was okay, but I really didn’t see any outward affection on his part towards Amy, it was almost he was just a character written to be there.

I would have rated this book lower if it wasn’t for the fact I do like Hester Browne books, I’m just disappointed with The Runaway Princess. I love a romantic Princess books, instead I got an annoying, long, boring read with silly characters and situations.

I do not recommend.


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