The Little Lady Agency and the Prince [Large Print] [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!

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

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