Customer Reviews

The Little Lady Agency and the Prince

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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!

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????

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

I loved the first two Little Lady Agency books and this one was a disappointment. It took a little while to get moving, but the main downer was how it ended up romantically. Don't read further if you do not want to be spoiled.... I would have been happy if she had gotten back with Jonathan or even wound up with the prince, but she winds up with Nelson, her roommate. He has spent most of the series tilting his nose up and looking down on everyone. He comes across and prissy and snobby. I don't see how Melissa would fall for someone like this. There's zero chemistry felt through the pages and all of a sudden we're supposed to realize this guy is her romantic equal? Towards the end of the book, she all of a sudden think he's hot. Huh? It also doesn't help that there was not much character development of the person throughout the whole series. I would recommend stopping after the second book.

A lot of loose ends tied up in this book. The ending is a little bit "duh, what took you so long?", but it was fun getting there. What is great about this series is that I could hand these books both to my mother (with delicate sensibilities), and my daughter who both enjoyed the romance in the books.

As is definitely NOT the norm, this third book of the Little Lady series was absolutely the best. I enjoyed the first of the three a great deal, the second was pretty good, but this one was GREAT fun!

This series is certainly not deathless prose, and is certainly not trying to be so. But, while it is having great fun romping along through Melissa's small foibles, dietary indiscretions, naively missed innuendos, family circuses, and wild adventures, it is also giving a good look at what it means to try to be yourself, and to assert that self against both enemies and well-meaning friends, family, and lovers. While it is a light-hearted romp, it is not vapid. The characters are all rich and believable, and the story is never trite or 2-dimensional.

It also presents a wonderful little parodical view of London life, with a generously benign view of the U.S. (rare in Brit lit) and its natives.

The book, and indeed the entire series, makes great beach reading, air/train travel reading, or lounging-with-bon-bons reading. Most satisfying!

Melissa Romney-Jones, aka Honey Blennerhesket, is the owner/operator of The Little Lady Agency. The Little Lady Agency's objective is to turn hopeless blokes into proper gentlemen, barring that, a facsimile of one. Honey's latest project is Prince Nicky, a media seeking playboy, who has embarrassed the family one too many times.

Nicky wasn't interested in changing his image or his habits. He liked being the center of attention. Flirting with, and seducing eighteen-year-olds was second nature to him. Why would he willingly give that up? With the threat of losing his allowance hanging over his head, Nicky reluctantly agreed to the plan.

Keeping Nicky on the straight and narrow was a time consuming process, and if that was all she had to do, Melissa was up to the challenge. Unfortunately she had to deal with Jonathan as well. Jonathan, Melissa's fiancée, was making some unexpected demands. The considerate and romantic man she loved was turning into a domineering jerk. Did he love her or was he in love Melissa's Honey persona?

Throw in a dysfunctional family, growing feelings for her flat-mate/friend Nelson, Granny's new romance, Nicky's psycho ex-girlfriend, the paparazzi, and you have a story that will keep you laughing from beginning to end. The story was totally unbelievable, but that was part of its charm. Hester Browne has a way of describing the impossible and making it believable. Her characters were eccentric, but consistent with it. I thoroughly enjoyed The Little Lady Agency and the Prince, and give it a five star rating.

I really enjoyed this book, and just loved the adventures of Melissa/Honey and the group! I like the style of these books and the fact that Melissa is so smart and yet so clueless--it's very endearing. But with the ending...it definitely calls for another book. We can't just be left hanging here! Just imagine the wedding and all the opportunities for her family to misbehave ~WOW~ Please hurry up and do #4 so I can get it into my hot little hands! LOL THanks for the great reads, Ms Browne!

You are all excited about Melissa and Jonathon. The love she seemed to feel about him, the way he looked at her, touched her. Then the author pulled the rug out from under you and made them terrible. DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. It was hard to get through it. Boring. Don't waste your money.

Honey's third outing with her capacious handbag into the wilds of London and Paris was as funny and entertaining as expected with an equally unexpected turn that I hadn't seen coming. I am hopeful for a fourth in the series, so Hester please let us know what's next!