The Princess

If you are looking for a light, make-believe, modern-day fairy tale (but without the fairy, well other then Fairy Cakes, a white cake and frosting confection), then The Princess might be just the read for you. Hannah loaned to me her paperback copy saying I would like it.  Author Lori Wick never kept me from sleeping but the story was a great one to pick up and set down again, reading a page here, a chapter there until the happily ever after ending 294 pages later.  It all begins in the kingdom of Pendaran with a king and queen and a prince in need of a wife.
 
Interspersed throughout the the story is prayer for and from just about all of the major characters, who, by the way, are quite likable.

Without giving away too much, here is a little summary of a speech that Princess Shelby gave to the August Garden Club, for one of her new responsibilities is to be involved with kingdom events.  She begins with sharing how she grew up with memories of her parents enjoying their flower gardens each spring and how the sound of the honey bees would send her mother running for fear of being stung, but her father, who was deaf from birth did not flee the noise of the bees.  Shelby then goes on to say, "I found myself asking, 'What do I listen to that causes me to fear?  It might seem like a small thing to you, but over the years the sight of flowers or trees has often helped me remember to whom I should listen when it comes to the subject of fear..." You can read more of her garden talk on pages 84-85, and the response she receives from Prince Nikolai, who is still acutely mourning the death of his first wife as he is getting to know his second wife from an arranged marriage.

The Princess
Lori Wick
294 pages, paperback
1999 (republished in 2006)