Nashville Sweetheart by Rachel Hauck: a book review

In this intriguing romance set in Nashville, Aubrey James has been a country music star for a decade. She had performed on stage since she was a small child, but rocketed to fame after her parents, who had pioneered gospel music, were killed. A private person, Aubrey is forced to enter the public eye after a former close friend and associate betrays her. Yet the reporter interviewing her for the country music magazine 'Inside NashVegas' digs up someone from her past she would rather forget. As her world seems to collapse around her (Aubrey breaks off her engagement to a rich businessman and fights with her label over the sort of music she wants to produce), Aubrey finds herself falling in love with the reporter and at the same time rediscovers her faith in God.

I love Rachel Hauck's books and take every opportunity to read her writing and have, in fact, read this book twice (I obtained it free of charge from Booksneeze in exchange for an unbiased review). Yet I found the language difficult. Not only is much of it written in the first person, but also the points of view change as each of the two main characters speak in turn. This is not a writing style I enjoy and I found it distracting. Nevertheless, I was drawn into the story and started caring about the characters.  By halfway through the book I had become involved and found that I really did want to know the ending.

I'm not sure I'd read another book in the Nashville series, but can recommend Rachel Hauck as a writer.

A March Bride

I love Rachel Hauck's writing, so, yet again, I leapt at the chance to review her novella A March Bride. It is a sequel to Once Upon A Prince, where American Susanna Truitt meets, falls in love with and is wooed by Prince Nathaniel of Brighton. This story tells of their wedding.

Prince Nathaniel had convinced Parliament to amend the Marriage Act of 1792 which forbade marriage  between foreigners and royals in line to the throne. We meet Susanna, now living in Brighton and trying to learn Brighton law, tradition, customs...and how to be the wife of a king. But Susanna is missing her family and the warmth of Georgia, while Nathaniel seems busy, preoccupied, apparently less in love with her: and she begins to have doubts.

Misunderstandings creep in. Parliament throws difficulties in their way. Susanna's homesickness begins to get the better of her. Her family need her...and so she goes home for a 'visit'.

Susanna has many doubts to overcome and we walk with her through different encounters as she comes to realise that yes, she does love Nathaniel enough to endure the rigours and responsibilities of royal life. And, in turn, he proves once again how romantic he can be...

This was a light and enjoyable read but I must confess I was a little disappointed. It was all just rather too predictable: we know -the girl ends up with her prince. It felt too much like a Disney fairytale: perfectly saccharine sweet with few surprises for the reader. But then, Once Upon A Prince was a hard act (too hard perhaps?) to follow...

This was a Booksneeze review copy I received for free: I have enjoyed all the other books by Rachel Hauck, but this is the first one I wouldn't have bought. (That doesn't mean I'll give up on her, though: she crafts beautifully written books!)

'Once Upon A Prince' - a book review

I came across Once Upon A Prince as a free book offered for review on Booksneeze. Sounds fun, I thought, completely forgetting that I had already read gobbled up The Wedding Dress by the same author. Once I started reading this fairytale romance, I was similarly captivated.

Susanna Truitt is our heroine, a Georgia girl who is dumped by her long term boyfriend/anticipated husband at the start of the novel. Having dated no one else since high school, she has waited through 12 long years and all his spells of military duty overseas only to discover that he has fallen in love with a colleague.

This is not going according to plan, and plans are what Susanna lives by. Even her career as a landscape architect is going nowhere and so she works in the family eatery business in between trying to work for an old friend and branching out on her own: both enterprises fail.

This is not a story, however, about how an independent woman builds a successful career: anything but. It is almost Cinderella - except that Susanna is surrounded by loving family and friends. She soon meets her prince, who introduces himself as `Nate Kenneth' - the name Prince Nathaniel Henry Kenneth Mark Stratton uses when he is travelling incognito. Susanna has no idea that he is the heir apparent to a small European country. Modest and unassuming, he keeps such a low profile that she discovers his identity only by chance. As mutual attraction develops, so too do the complications. He is a prince of a foreign country; she is American. He has a life planned out for him; she is trying to discover the plan for her life. Both of them find they have to surrender their wills to God's perfect plan, while using the talents and gifts they have been given.

Rachel Hauck skilfully develops the characters of hero and heroine, their friends and families. Without too much introspection, we understand how Susanna and Nate think. Language is frequently quirky; often amusing; on appropriate occasions, it is tenderly romantic.

Of course, the story ends in happily-ever-after. The beauty of it is in discovering how the author works the threads together to achieve this. I have read it twice now: the first time quickly, then again a few weeks after for the purposes of this review. The second time was almost as fresh as the first, as I enjoyed noticing the twists and turns in the plot.

The only jarring note for me, as a British reader, was the name of Prince Nathaniel's country: Brighton, which is actually the name of a well-known town on the south coast of England. This really hindered me from understanding what the country was like, which was a pity. I had to invent a completely different pronunciation of the word as I read, so that it didn't continually grate on my nerves!

Perhaps, were the book to be republished in England, the name 'Brighton' could be changed?!