The Little Lady Agency and the Prince [Hardcover]

Hester Browne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 5, 2008

Hester Browne created a unique heroine in Melissa Romney-Jones a.k.a. Honey, London's ultimate freelance girlfriend, who won the hearts of readers on both sides of the Atlantic in her "charming and feel-good"(Cosmopolitan) and "funny and original" (People) earlier adventures. Now her New York Times bestselling series sparkles brighter than ever as irrepressible Melissa is hired to reform a playboy prince -- and finds she could get used to the royal treatment.

Making plans for her wedding to American fiancé Jonathan Riley, who now runs a prestigious Parisian real estate company, Melissa agrees to do a favor for her beloved grandmother: transform the notorious Prince Nicolas von Helsing-Alexandros into a proper gentleman for the sake of preserving a family inheritance. Even possessive Jonathan agrees it's a great opportunity to make social connections. But taming a prince might prove too big a professional challenge for Melissa when she's confronting so many seismic changes in her own personal life.

Jonathan needs her in Paris. Her sister Emery's newborn son needs a christening ceremony, as well as a proper name. Emery herself needs Melissa -- to protect her from their bulldog nanny who's returned to do much more than babysit. Most unsettling of all, Nelson needs her to find him a new flatmate because she'll be moving out soon. Balancing all this with late-night dinners, polo matches, and a Mediterranean cruise with Prince Nicky, who is as charming as he is exasperating, suddenly has bride-to-be Melissa dreaming of a fairy-tale ending -- and not the one she expected!

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Melissa Romney-Jones, recently returned from New York, where she got engaged in the last installment (Little Lady, Big Apple) to handsome Jonathan Riley, is a proper British fixer for the romantically impaired. Now she's knee-deep in royal slime after she agrees to turn smarmy prince Nicolas von Helsing-Alexandros into a perfect gentleman. In short order, Melissa slides into her alter ego, Honey, a powerhouse goddess in skin-tight pencil skirts and bust-enhancing tops that help keep Nicky, with his wandering eye and womanizing ways, focused on her and her makeover attempts. Meanwhile, as Melissa and Jonathan plan their wedding, Jonathan devolves from wonderboy real estate guru and dreamy hunk to a controlling jerk, leading Melissa to believe her trusty best friend Nelson could be the man of her dreams. Browne is in great form in this page-turning love story, and Melissa is as endearing and empowering as ever—the perfect lead for this contemporary fairy tale. (Feb.)
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Review

"Browne is in great form in this page-turning love story, and Melissa is as endearing and empowering as ever -- the perfect lead for this contemporary fairy tale." -- Publishers Weekly --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Pocket; PF edition (February 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416539069
• ISBN-13: 978-1416539063
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,095,865 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Melissa/Honey comes full circle, February 21, 2008

By 

A reader (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Little Lady Agency and the Prince (Hardcover)

Of the three Little Lady Agency books, this one was far and away the best one! I felt like Melissa found her true self in this one, realizing how incompatible she and Jonathan really were, confronting her bullying father, and finding that once you know who you really are, only then can you find true happiness. With all of their quirks and faults, I still love Melissa's family (well, except for her father, of course), especially her sisters and Granny, and reading about Alexander and Nicky's lifestyle was like reading excerpts from Hello! magazine, except Ms. Browne makes her characters seem more real, or at least as real as fiction can get. Finally, the scenes Ms. Browne sets in Paris are so vivid that it makes one want to hop a plane there tout de suite! Well done, Ms. Browne!

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Frustrating Third Episode, January 28, 2008

By 

JMcJ - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Little Lady Agency and the Prince (Hardcover)

I was very much looking forward to this new book in the Little Lady Agency series. In the end, I had to struggle to get through this last book.

If you have read the first two, and are invested in the wrap up of the story, read this one if you must know how it all ends (which is not too surprising either). However, if you have not read them...don't bother to start with this one. There is no way you will be able to connect with many of these emotionally barren secondary characters. As lovable as Nelson is, he can't carry the entire amount of adult grown-up healthy relationship ever to be seen in the whole book for very long. Before the end of the book, he too seems to be stunted and unable to move forward.

A quarter of the way through this book I hated Johnathon (the boyfriend) so much I almost put it down. By then he was as bad as her father. Little did I know how bad it would get. Additionally, I really disliked Melissa for putting up with it for so long. I am glad she grew a backbone but that backbone came 300 pages to late.

I intensely disliked the father after the first book and he never turned nicer or relatable. He was never written with a single reason to feel compassion for his character or understand why he was so emotionally abusive to his family. If we didn't have him shoved down our throats so often, it would have been acceptable but as a protagonist, he was detestable and never paid any price for his behavior. Just saying "Oh, that's just how Daddy is, dear" doesn't cut it.

There were a lot of loose ends from previous books that really didn't get answered in this one and a few new ones... After New York, what did she still see in Jonathan? How and when did Allegra and Lars get back together? Neither of them went to jail? what happened with the 10,000 investment into the ski chalet...did it continue to be a good investment? How did Jonathan get a dog into England from America...Isn't the quarantine really long? After seeing the way old Nanny Ag treated Emery, what group of adults would allow someone like Nanny Ag to continue to torment them and their daughter and grandchild like that? How was anyone, a PRINCE especially, able to walk into a secured area and pretend to disable a bomb...even if it was just her purse? What thinking adult (as Melissa generally is) gets into a dingy for a ride in the ocean without a life vest on, especially if they admit to not being a good swimmer? The Prince apparently doesn't need one either.

Additionally, there was one way too convenient coincidence as well...Horrible blackmailer Nanny Ag having information to blackmail the Prince's blackmailer????

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Charming Story, February 20, 2008

By 

LARS (Chicago area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Little Lady Agency and the Prince (Hardcover)

The first two Little Lady books were wonderful, and the main storyline in this one is just as appealing. Melissa/Honey is a joy and her flatmate Nelson should be cloned. Millions of women are waiting to find a Nelson or depending on your taste Jonathan. Two small problems, it's hard to relate to the new character- the Prince without a castle- since he's such a spoiled brat and Melissa's family troubles are tiresome. Actually, her father is a real egomaniac who even makes caring for an infant revolting- which is saying something- but if you can put that aside this is an enjoyable read. LARS