A swoon-worthy, sexy & utterly charming STANDALONE romance inspired by the classic film Roman Holiday, from the New York Times bestselling author of Bad at Love and The PactI never believed in fairy-tales.Never held out for Prince Charming.Growing up poor in small-town California as the oldest of six siblings, I knew I would never ride off into the sunset with anyone. That was even more … sunset with anyone. That was even more apparent when a senseless tragedy took the lives of my parents, forcing me to become the sole guardian of our dysfunctional household at the mere age of twenty-three.
Then a fateful encounter literally brought Prince Charming to my doorstep.
At first I thought Viktor was just your average businessman passing through, albeit obscenely handsome, six-foot-five, blue-eyed, and mysteriously rich.
But soon I discovered the truth behind Viktor’s façade.
Beneath his quiet, enigmatic gaze and cocky charm, is a man who is running away from who he really is. A role he’d rather not fulfill.
He is Viktor of House Nordin, His Royal Highness, The Crown Prince of Sweden.
Yet uncovering Viktor’s secret was only the first step.
I didn’t expect to fall in love with him.
I didn’t expect to have my whole life turned upside down.
When you’re from two different worlds, can your hearts meet somewhere in the middle?
Or do happily-ever-afters only exist in fairy-tales?
WARNING: The Swedish Prince is oh-so sweet, enchanting and funny, but it does contain foul language (lots of the F word) and graphic sexual scenes (lots of dirty talk). Reader discretion is advised for those who are sensitive.
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The Swedish Prince checked off all my romance reader requirements – sweet and sexy, yet hot and steamy, and alpha you can love, a fairytale for a strong heroine, two adorable princesses and their pet pig. King Askel has my heart.
The Swedish Prince by Karina Halle is a standalone romantic tale about, you guessed it, a Swedish Prince and a blue-collar American girl. I absolutely, completely, totally ADORED Viktor and Maggie’s story. I truly could NOT get enough. Having not seen Roman Holiday (at least not as an adult or that I really remember) I didn’t go in with any preconceived notions about the story.
Maggie has had a rough time in the past year, having lost her parents and moved back home. Taking care of her family is her number one and only goal and she is doing great but also getting buried in the mundane life that has become her day-to-day. As a maid at the hotel in town, she walks in on a very naked, very hot, very endowed man and is embarrassed beyond belief. When he is later passed out a bar she happens to be at, she takes pity on his unconscious self and takes him home. The memory of him naked didn’t hinder that decision at all.
Viktor is grieving. He lost his brother a month ago and the pain is raw. Having to step into Viktor’s shoes and be under public scrutiny is causing the pain to fester. After a near breakdown he is permitted to go to the States for a month to get away under an assumed name. No entourage, no bodyguards, just Viktor. When he gets stuck in a California town with a crazy unpronounceable name on his way to LA he is content to wait for the parts to repair his car. Doesn’t hurt that the maid who walked in on him stark naked was hot as sin. Especially when he wakes up in her bed the next day.
The back and forth – the give and take – I was blown away page after page by the romance and angst. The heat and steam and dirty Swedish meatballs! Le Sigh! I kept picturing Armie Hammer as Viktor as the cover model kinda reminds me of him, and more swooning commences…
The book is funny and sexy but also a thousand times much more than that. The angst and pain BOTH the characters and their families feel is palpable throughout the book. Loved It! Enjoy!
Enchanting from start to finish!
And Karina Halle has done it again. I LOVED LOVED LOVEEEEED The Swedish Prince . Whether Karina writes dark or contemporary romance, it doesn’t matter—she makes my heart sing with her words.
I found Halle’s voice spellbinding; once I start reading her books, there is nothing that breaks my connection with them until I hit the end. And this time was no different. I devoured The Swedish Prince. Viktor & Maggie love story consumed me from beginning to end.
Maggie was one of those characters that were just so adorable you couldn’t stop yourself from loving her, and Viktor… well, let’s say he made my heart fluttered and managed to turn me into a puddle of warm mush every time he made an appearance. Every page sizzled when these two got together, but this book was so much more than a royal hot romp. This story had heart and lots of it.
You guys! Honestly, I loved all the characters. Even April and her teenager drama, and please don’t make me start talking about Callum…Bork Bork! Seriously, so crazy in love with them!
My heart is so full after finishing this book, and even hours later I haven’t stopped thinking about the characters. I even looked up for recipes from The Swedish Chef, LOL! This story has definitely left me with a book high!! I’m irrevocably in love with this book and its fairytale vibes. A Prince and a maid? A love story you cannot help but embrace.
Wonderfully written, The Swedish Prince has it all… a royal romance, family, heartbreak, longing, fun, and a smoldering hot chemistry that bleed from the pages and will keep you glued to your Kindle. Definitely a top favorite of 2018.
Ahhhhh! This story made me so giddy that I hope this is not the last I hear from some of the characters here. (Hint, hint, Pike, Magnus, and Aksel.)
I’ve never read a royal romance, but I loved this one! I couldn’t get enough of the characters. You felt like you actually knew them. It’s easy to escape inside this world of poverty meets royalty, but the author makes it so believable. Bravo!
Definitely a favorite
This story had me singing ‘Someday my Prince will come’ in my head. Viktor and Maggie were a wonderful couple and the obstacles they had to overcome made the story. Absolutely a tearjerker ending in a HEA. Highly recommend.
Doing the right thing isn’t always easy but in this case it leads to something beyond Maggie’s wildest dreams. Her very own Swedish Prince Charming. They bond over their grief and find happiness despite the fact that she’s from Nowhere USA and he’s the heir to the Swedish throne. Sure there are a lot of missteps and crossed wires along the way but in the end love does prevail.
No. No. No. This is what I probably thought while listening to the audio book of The Swedish Prince. Though the premises may look nice on paper, they aren’t, actually. Truth be told, this book was too long and too boring for my taste. And it saddens me because I like this author and I know that she can do much better than this.
The story starts with our main female character, Maggie, that is drinking with her friend. She receives a call that changes her life: her parents are dead, they were killed. So Maggie has to fly back to California and give up her studies at NYU. One year later, she is taking care of her brothers and sisters and the house and works as a maid in a hotel. During her shift, she catches one of the guests naked. It’s a big guy, and she can’t help but look at his cock, which she seems to think over and over again for hours after the accident. Now, if we were in Maggie’s place, of course we would think about what we saw too, but it seemed that she couldn’t think about something else and move on. Blah. Starting from this, I didn’t think I would like her personality, and I was right as the book moved along.
My main issue is not only with the story but with the main female character as well. Maggie is 23, she has to give up her dream to become a journalist to take care of her family, now that her parents are dead. Ok, this seems depressing but I think anybody would have probably reacted the same. What I don’t get, though, is how the judge can give a woman with no job and no means to provide her big family, the custody of her younger bros and sisters. One of her bros is almost of age and later has a job so I understand, but the other 4 are all minors and there’s one sister that knows the wrong crowd, so Maggie and the oldest brother Pike need to pay attention to what she does. Not even the fact that she’s offered a job from the hotel were her mom worked is enough to make her a legal guardian. But I don’t know American Law, so I have no idea how it works.
Anyway, if that would be my only issue, it wouldn’t be much. But I also didn’t like Maggie as a character. She looked after everyone and didn’t have time to do what she wanted and I understood that. But she was also shallow, weak, and in general I felt she lacked character. It was as if others had to push her to do things, otherwise she wouldn’t do anything. She rarely took the initiative, and this doesn’t sound “strong” to me.
The main male character, prince Viktor, was so and so. I didn’t like him 100% but I didn’t hate him either. He was a bit better than Maggie in characterization, but still not a deep character. He also felt flat and it never once made me swoon.
Another bad point is the insta-love aspect of the story. While I find insta-lust ok because it’s something superficial that deals with the exterior of a person and the need to satisfy one’s sexual desires, I hate insta-love with a passion.
After the second encounter Maggie and Viktor have, they spend some moments together. It’s been a day since their first awkward meeting at the hotel where she works, and they decide to start with a clean slate. Since the book is in first person POV, we could read their thoughts on each other. Well, I was bored to hell when most of what was said was that meeting the other changed his/her life… It’s so unrealistic. The pace of the story was slow, since the author didn’t make the MCs kiss until we’re deep in the story, and in my opinion, had she not mentioned these cliches in the inner monologues of the characters, I think we could have had a better build up despite Maggie and Viktor spend only a few days together.
One last thing. I know that this is inspired by Roman Holiday, but reversed. But it was incredibly slow. I usually like slow burn, but this was too slow. Too unnecessary scenes, too predictable developments, when I would have loved more dept in the love story that was being crafted through the story. Reading this book tired me to the point I didn’t care if the characters ended up together. And I hate this because like I said, the book had good premises and it could use more angst. But nope. Whatever.
This is just my opinion on this book and it doesn’t change the fact that I like the author and how she writes. Maybe it will go better with the next book from this series.
This book is a cute story about a Swedish Prince whose life is thrown in turmoil because of his brothers sudden death.
He travels to try and get his head around the loss and meets a young woman who walks into his hotel room naked.
They meet again under crazy circumstances and a relationship begins. Call it fate.
“Never less, always more”
It’s been quite some time since I’ve read a Karina Halle book—for no particular reason—but reading The Swedish Prince just reminds how much I love her writing! Though there are some sad situations in this story, with each character battling their own demons, overall it is a refreshing, fun and incredibly sexy read! I like the “hidden royalty” theme! I love how Maggie and Viktor meet and how their friendship grows, and of course how it turns into something much more! Maggie and Viktor have great depth as characters, and so much personality! Their dialogue was wonderful to read. 5 stars for The Swedish Prince, a great take on a modern classic! I’m definitely reading the next one!
Meh. I know, I know that the classic tale of a crown prince who finds Miss Poor and Ordinary and falls in love and makes her his princess is far-fetched to begin with, but when he was able to order acquavit at every bar and restaurant in a little one-horse town in California, even my credibility was stretched. A miss.
ok, FWiW the premise of this book is that there is a now in existence a Crown Prince of Sweden who is a member of the “House of Nordin.” Uhuh… There is a real country of Sweden that has a real live royal family, and the current heir to the Swedish throne is a CROWN PRINCESS. A while back, the swedes change the succession to be the first child of any gender; thus a Crown Princes in this generation. Also, the family name of the swedish royal family is “Bernadotte.” How can anyone enjoy a story based on this twaddle? The time honored solution is to make up a country – “Scandia” or “Nordlandia” etc. but I just can’t with this.
I loved this book. The story kept me reading; I couldn’t put it down. It’s amazing how 2 people from 2 totally different worlds would hit it off like they did. The need they developed for each other, both emotionally and physically was so strong that they couldn’t stay apart. I really enjoyed the humor, the wit, the romance and of course the happily ever after. I didn’t want the story to end, hopefully there will be a sequel coming in the future.
I liked that the book had multiple acts, multi-layered characters and a reality to the character reactions. I liked it so much I bought both books that followed and I enjoyed them immensely as well.
I enjoyed the book. I found the first half better than the back half. Her time in Sweden was harder to believe and it didn’t do either of the main characters any good.
A cute story. A bit steamy. A lot romantic. Every little girl dreams of finding a Prince Charming. But it’s really about finding your Prince Charming. This story had me smiling a small smile the whole time.
The Swedish Prince – A fairytale romance by Karina Halle.
This story is a little sad, a whole lot of sweet and to top it all – it’s funny!
Karina Halle takes us out on a new journey, this time visiting Sweden and the Crown Prince Viktor.
What happens when two people from two different worlds accidentally meet?
That’s how it all started. When Maggie opened a door…
Short review. An enjoyable book, and some likable characters I just wish there was a little bit more show and a little less tell. I felt like I was being told about the interaction between characters and not shown their interactions and them getting along.
Love Love Love this book TEN STARS **********
I can’t even put into words how much I loved this book. It is smart, funny and very sexy.
The language translations are terrific, I see my new book boyfriend- Viktor
Must read of 2018
***4.5 ‘Always More, Never Less’ Stars***
When Ms. Halle announced that she was writing a book based on the movie Roman Holiday, a movie I have seen though it’s been AGES since I watched it, I was all in. (Well…fangirl here, so I’d have been all in if she said she was writing a novel based on the 1980 B-movie cult classic Prom Night.) And I have to say this book was a lot of fun to read, it had its moments where my heart broke for the characters as well as moments where I wanted to take a 2×4 and smack some sense into them, but overall it was a fun, sweet and OMG smexy ride that made my HEA loving heart all kinds of twitterpated with every word.
I couldn’t help but admire Maggie. This poor girl hasn’t had an easy life, not a bad one per se, just not easy. She’s worked hard for all she has achieved and is now working harder to keep her family’s heads above water. I had to give this girl credit, she stepped up to the plate and didn’t give into the ‘poor me’ thing, it does surface every once in awhile, how couldn’t it? But she continues to do what needs to be done. Her determination though does cause a bit of a blindspot in how she handles things, but no one can deny that her heart is in the right place.
Viktor. I loved Viktor. I did. The man, when simply being Viktor, is all kinds of sweet, flirty, cocky ~ but in a really good way ~ kind, compassionate and generous…and hello Alpha AF smexy!! But I did have a few moments with him. I know it was necessarily his fault ~ it was more a case of being shortsighted and wanting to protect than anything else ~ but I did growl at him, so it needed to be said.
The journey to their HEA definitely started off with a bang ~ and what a hell of a bang it was ~ and though there were quite a few obstacles to maneuver around it was more sweet than angsty and I loved watching them fall for each other despite the odds. They connected on a level neither could have ever imagined and that connection both healed them while giving them strength. I loved their flirty bantering and sexual chemistry was off the charts! The big ‘ole bump in their road was a rough one, but I loved how it all worked out for them in the end.
I’m sitting here writing this review and dopey smiling as I remember all that went on in the book, not just with Viktor and Maggie, but with Maggie’s siblings and Viktor inner circle. I had a lot fun with all of them, I did want to smack some sense into a couple of them, but I also empathized with where they were coming from. Although I have my reservations about Callum, he definitely had me laughing out loud and I really want more of Magnus (Pretty, pretty please?!?!). So, if you’re looking for a fun, flirty and smexy read with a lot of heart with just enough drama to keep things interesting, then this is a must read for you!
~ Copy provided by the author via Social Butterfly PR & voluntarily reviewed ~
I absolutely loved this! It was entertaining, sweet, and heartbreaking all rolled into one. I loved the characters, the way the met, and the wonderful adventure that ensued. I was smiling and cheering all the way through!