Karina is lying abed one day, having caught a virus from which she is resting, when a stranger in dark glasses suddenly breaks into the room, telling her not to be frightened, he won't hurt her!    Intrigued, she asks the man – whom she discovers is very  handsome once he removes the glasses – if he is there to kidnap or rob her.  Neither, he assures her, he has come to interview for the position of head of security, and has simply entered the Beverly Hills home of the Duke Roseanova via the balcony to show weak the current security is.  She explains that she is there because of having a virus – his response is that the best way to be cured is to give it to someone else – and then he kisses her!  Her head is spinning as he bids her farewell to go to his interview, leaving her reeling!  Just after he leaves she places a call to the security advisor, instructing him to hire the  young man.  And of course he agrees to do just as Princess Karina wishes!  Karina hopes to herself that perhaps she will have some fond memories of her last summer of freedom after all, as we enter the world of Jack and the Princess, a Harlequin e-romance by Junko Okada/Raye Morgan.

Highlights

 

After this summer, Karina will return to her homeland,  Nabotavia, and a marriage which will have been arranged by then.  It is her fate, as a princess,  one she cannot escape.  Jack Santini is the new security advisor's name, and he believes Karina to be one of the maids.   She brings him tea and a snack, and when she questions him regarding the princess of the place, finds he knows nothing and cares nothing about her – causing her to relax around him, and to be herself, rather than just the princess of her country.  Jack doesn't tell her that he plans to return to police work, some day.  Shortly after this pleasant tete a tete, he is called upon to meet his new employers, the Duke and Duchess of Nabotavia – and their niece, the Princess Karina!  Karina is dismayed to think that Jack is mad at her for her innocent deception, even as her aunt begins to make plans for her to be wed as quickly as possible, for the good of the country!   Karina has not had an easy life, her parents having been killed in a coup when she was but a baby, and having been raised apart from her three brothers, taught to put duty above everything else – including her own happiness.  Which also means a lifetime of being alone.  When Jack learns that Karina is to be married, he vows to make guarding her his top priority.  Although when he goes out with her, as her bodyguard, he lets her know that he does not appreciate being lied to!  Karina is devastated to think that Jack hates her now.  She goes to a boutique to get some clothes which her aunt has picked out for her , but although she accepts her aunt's choices, Jack objects, telling her that he can't allow her to wear such stuffy clothes, that they make her stand out and therefore become a greater target for kidnapping!  Instead, he helps her pick out a more suitable wardrobe, and they  have fun going through the clothes together.  Small wonder that the salesgirls think they are a couple!  Jack is appalled that Karina doesn't even have a cellphone, grumbling about how medieval these people are.  But they come to an agreement, and become friends…

 

Jack takes her to places she's never been before, and shows her things she's missed all her life.  She realizes how very much she is coming to care for him!  And how very much she dreads going back to her own country to be wed to someone she doesn't even know!  What can she do about this?  And is there any chance that Jack might return her feelings?  He hints at having gotten into trouble as a policeman, something involving a woman, that he needs to straighten out, and Karina fears the worst, that she has lost him without ever having him!  Is there a chance for these two, or are the differences in their stations an insurmountable obstacle – not to mention the mystery woman in Jack's life, and Karina's own aunt and uncle?

Overall

 

I have to say that Jack and the Princess is a very cute story, from beginning to end, and although I knew how I wanted it to work out, I wasn't always sure it would, and I found myself moving breathlessly from frame to frame to see what would happen next.  The art isn't bad – Jack is certainly nice looking.  Karina is pretty, even if she doesn't look her age of twenty-two.  On the whole it has the feel of a storybook romance, you know the kind – princess meets commoner, they fall in love, and obstacles are placed in their path because of course their way can never be smooth.  It is a story with heart, and very pleasing.  I'm glad that I read it.  And yes, I am the eternal optimist.

 

Comicsonline gives Jack and the Princess 4 out of 5 Ferris wheel rides.