A witty, enemies to lovers Victorian romance between a European Crown Princess and a rakish Scottish marquess.  

Justine is the heir apparent of the fictional European country of Wesloria. She struggles with crowds and is coming back from a scandal involving an affair that nearly ruined her reputation. With her father gravely ill and Justine still unmarried, she and her sister, Amelia, are sent to England so Justine can receive advice on reigning as a queen in her own right from Queen Victoria and receive the aid of matchmaker, Lady Lila Aleksander, to find a husband. Since her prime minister and her mother don’t trust Justine to make the right choice, they each enlist someone to help keep them informed: the queen chooses Lady Bardaline and the prime minister chooses Scottish marquess, William Douglas.  Unfortunately, William and Justine dislike each other from their first meeting several years previously. Justine works hard to dismiss him while William can’t seem to stay away. The two get closer and closer as Justine is presented with ill-matched suitors, and despite a possible scandal coming between them, they fall in love. 

I have to say, this was a rather charming and sweet Victorian romance. It was borderline clean, but had a few steamy moments that stay vague. I love the banter between William and Justine. I could definitely see their chemistry. I wasn’t a fan of William’s accent though, it felt forced and unauthentic. Plus, as a Scottish lord in the 19th century, it’s most likely he would’ve been taught in English boarding schools and his accent/speech would be pretty close to the Queen’s English. I know it’s historical fiction, but given the historical aspect, the customs, language, and clothing should be semi-on par with the times and geographical location. I will say, the hunt for a husband as a queen in her own right during this period, was pretty similar to the process other English queens had to go through. 

There were a few lulls in the story that made it difficult to stay engaged. This is the type of romance where the burning and the longing is anticipated and that just wasn’t here. We went from one kiss to full on hand sex, like it obviously happened in this period, but it just escalated rather quickly. 

And though it goes with the time period, I didn’t like the sexism. That Justine needed to get married so her husband could guide her to rule and she believed the same? Just bleh. I would’ve preferred that she went out of her way to find a match that would respect her role as queen and that he would fall in line as one of her subjects rather than just happening upon him. Even William believed she needed a Prince consort to steady her. 

Slight Spoilers Ahead. 

I couldn’t see the purpose of Queen Victoria’s role given Justine only saw her thrice despite being mentored by the Queen being the main reason of her traveling to England. William’s potential scandal was also resolved quickly and it felt rushed. I did like that there wasn’t any miscommunication or break up before the HEA. The side characters were pretty unbearable. Amelia was whiny, Lady Bardaline was nosy, her mother was mean and controlling, and Lila was just incredibly smug. I thought it could’ve done with some more unfortunate suitors to amp up the comedy and the tension between Justine and William. Though I was definitely glad Justine didn’t end up almost marrying her genuinely good suitor just to leave him for William. 

It was pretty funny and witty. Just a really cute historical romance. Will consider reading the next book in the series.