There is something about a fairy tale that captures a deep part of my heart. The notion of leading a kingdom, royalty, and elegant balls all resonate with my imagination and leave me daydreaming in a world where nobility is a reality and true love is always found.

Rachel Hauck's Once Upon A Prince, the first book in her Royal Wedding Series, meets all the qualifications (and more) for an honest-to-goodness, real-life fairy tale.

I found Susanna and Prince Nathaniel to be genuine, honest characters. From the moment I was introduced to the initial setting of St. Simon's Island, I was captured by the beauty Hauck described. I felt the soft Gerogian wind and could see the rolling sea oats lining the shore.

Rachel Hauck has a way of painting a story on your heart. Her descriptions are more felt than read and create the type of experience that transports her readers into the book.

For a plot that could be viewed as 'over done' or 'cliche', I didn't get that feeling at all from Once Upon A Prince. Hauck dealt with a fictitious country, politics and laws of this country, and ceremonies and customs all in a believable and understandable way that added to the plot.

I'd highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys Christian Romance, fairy tales, or just good writing in general! It's an excellent book and I'm looking forward to the next in the series.

Originally posted on my blog: http://eahendryx.blogspot.com/2014/01/once-upon-prince-by-rachel-hauck-review.html

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I received a free copy of this book for review purposes, but was under no obligation to read the book or post a review. I do so under my own motivation and the opinions I have expressed in this review are honest and entirely my own.

Jilted! And from there the story of Susanna, flows and ebbs. Adam, who has been in Susanna's life forever has just returned from a tour of Afghanistan. This is the first day she sees him, though he has been home for three days. Instead of the proposal Susanna is expecting, he tells her he loves someone else.

Rachel Hauck is a fantastic author and uses her unique voice and superb use of words to paint vivid images of the scenes around her characters while making the people realistic, though not perfect. Walking along a beach, I could almost feel the sand between my feet and smell the ocean while seeing the waves rolling in. A modern day fairy tale, Once Upon a Prince is a story that every girl dreams of, where a simple girl can truly win the love of prince.

Faith when plans go awry, Trust that although God's plans are not my plans, things will turn out the way He has planned for me and I can feel His love as well.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers for the purpose of reviewing it. A positive critique was not required, just an honest one. The opinions are my own.

What girl does not dream of meeting the Prince at some point in her life? In this book the dream comes true. I read this book while traveling with my husband/my prince as we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. It was just the right book at the right time. Deep Sigh!!

Age Appropriate For: 13 and up (thematic material, romance)

Best for Ages: 15 and up

I am going to start this review with the one thing I didn't like about this book: the cover. For me, the cover gave me pause. It made it look like the book would have content that might not be appropriate It isn't so much what is shown as what is implied. Thankfully, the cover had nothing to do with the story. I hope this type of cover doesn't become a trend for Zondervan books.

Thank goodness I chose not to judge this book by its cover, because it was an amazingly wonderful story. The romance in it was so clean and so God honoring that even younger readers might find themselves liking it. Seriously, I don't think I have read a romance from a traditional publisher that made me jump up and down saying "That is the kind of romance I want!" until I read this book.

Both characters like each other from the beginning, but feelings are not the center of the romance, only a factor. Most of the time Nate and Susanna spend together is spent talking, often about faith. When they are apart, they don't spend all the time dreaming of kisses, hand-holding, and such, the miss each other's advice, thoughts, and presence.

Nathaniel was so amazing. There are not many heroes in books who think more about duty and honor than their hormones. He was the type of guy I am looking for - the type who treats girls with respect and honor; the type who cares more about a girl's heart than her body. That isn't to say he wasn't attracted to Susanna. Let's be honest, it would be weird to have a romance where there was no attraction. It is simply that he thinks more about who she is than the fact that she is pretty.

The fairy-tale aspect was so fun. So maybe it wasn't 100% believable, but who cares. It was so fun! The settings were so lovely that I could hear the accents, and the history of the fictional country was well presented. Some of the political aspect was murky, but not too bad.

The faith message was awesome. It was well-constructed, not too heavy, and central to the story. Both Suzanna and Nate helped build each other's faith.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a clean fairy tale, God-honoring romance, and characters that are strong of faith and character.

I received this book from Zondervan through Booksneeze in exchange for my honest review. I was under no obligation to write a positive review. The opinions in this review are entirely my own.

I love, love, love this author. She is not afraid to dig deep into a story and take the time and words necessary to fully develop a great book.

Every girl dreams about finding a prince and this book brings that idea to life in a very creative, new, fresh way!

This book is very well-written and I had a hard time putting it down. I also had a hard time not thinking about the story after the book was finished. Such fun to think about how she found a prince... the story seemed very realistic and the writing was believable!

Not to mention that the cover is ADORABLE!