This book was absolutely delightful every step of the way! There were princes and princesses, matches in the making, and a missing prince! How do you misplace a prince? I loved the fixes that Drina and George seemed to continually find themselves in! It made for laugh out loud moments and I wondered what mess they might find themselves in next. Wonderfully written, A Royal Christmas Quandary is a Christmas romance you will not soon forget! I received a copy of this book for free; all thought and opinions are my own.

I loved this story. I love holiday books (especially romance) and this one didn't disappoint. Honestly, all the characters are great. I love the dialogue. And some of the shenanigans these characters get up are a hoot.

Add this one to your holiday TBR. You will not be disappointed.

4.5 Stars

Samantha Hastings sprinkles plenty of fun, adventure and romance in her latest Victorian historical romance, A Royal Christmas Quandary.

Lady Alexandrina Gailey is looking forward to spending a fun Christmas in Windsor Castle with her best friend, Princess Alice. Drina and Alice have made plenty of plans for the holiday and not only is Drina counting down the days until she can spend the Christmas season with her best friend, but she is also excited about the fact that her long-time crush Lord George Worthington is going to be joining them as well. This Christmas is going to so much fun – until it all goes awry when she is ordered by Alice’s parents to choose one of the two royal princes to become engaged to over the holiday! While Drina would love to refuse this order, saying no to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert is hardly something that is possible, but just when Drina thought that she couldn’t take any more excitement George announces that one of the princes has gone missing! What will they do now?

Drina is determined to help George find the missing prince without arousing the Queen’s suspicions. With a dinner party which the prince must attend, time is not exactly on their side, but Drina and George will leave no stone unturned in their quest to locate the missing royal. As they scour Windsor, Drina and George are dismayed when the missing prince is nowhere to be found and with time running out, it looks like they are going to need a Christmas miracle to uncover just where Queen Victoria’s son is hiding! But it’s not all doom and gloom for Drina and George as thrust into close proximity together, they quickly find themselves realising that they are falling in love with one another.

Will Drina and George’s dreams come true this Christmas? Or will Drina be forced to choose duty and obligation over her heart’s desire?

A delightful royal romp, Samantha Hastings’ A Royal Christmas Quandary sparkles with charm, humor and intrigue. A fast-paced romantic adventure with a smart and resourceful heroine and an intrepid hero, this enchanting holiday read is a fabulous and feel-good tale that will captivate historical readers of all ages with its blend of delicious wit, nail-biting drama and high society mischief.

An enjoyable read holiday romances fans will love, Samantha Hastings’ A Royal Christmas Quandary is not to be missed.

Samantha did it again! I love her books so much and this one was no exception. I love the witty characters she creates in the world of Victorian England! I love how she incorporates a bit of mystery in her historical romance settings. There’s always a something to be solved and I enjoy her ability to bring her love interests together in order to solve them.

Lady Alexandrina’s parents are pushing her to marry in order to secure their family fortunes as they have no male heir. Drina is now on a mission to find a way to claim her status as heir to her family name without having to marry. She is determined to find her independence.

George’s father is pressuring him into becoming an Officer of Foreign Affairs when all he wants to do is become an engineer. When his father bestows that task of finding Prince Albert and bringing him to the royal dinner everything goes awry.

George recruits Drina to help him find the missing prince which foils both Drina’s plans at finding a way out of marriage and George’s need to confront his father about the career he truly wants to pursue. The two of them have great chemistry with one another throughout this adventure. I also really enjoyed the friendships Drina has with those around her in the palace. In the end these two make for a perfect pair.

This gave me the beginnings of all those Christmas feels. I am now bound to find myself searching for Hallmark Christmas movies to sit down to watch while sipping on some hot cocoa.

If you’ve loved Samantha’s previous books than I know you’ll enjoy this one. I will gladly recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a fun holiday read and any other time of the year as well! It’s just so fun!

I read this book as part of the blog tour hosted by Xpresso Tours. Special thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. 3.5 stars rounded up.

I think I built this up in my head to be a YA historical romance when it's definitely more YA historical fiction with a romance subplot. That said, I did enjoy it for the most part, although I thought the pacing could've been better. I also have to say that, although this was set in the 1860s, the language is quite modern. Perhaps the author did this for the YA audience to make it easier to read, but it did take me out of the story at times.

The story is told through two main perspectives and in a way it can be said there are two plots although they come together in the end. Drina is a smart and headstrong young woman who faces an uncertain future because she doesn't want to rely on marriage for security. Her main worry, aside from helping George find her missing cousin, is convincing Queen Victoria to allow her to inherit her family home. On the other hand, George has "lost" a German prince but we also learn more about his role in society and how his father's expectations have put him in an uncomfortable position, and about his true passion for engineering. Many shenanigans ensue throughout the story that often had me scratching my head at the improbability but also laughing out loud at the silliness of it all. It's a bit of a coming-of-age story, and about finding yourself and being yourself despite what people or society expect of you.

The friendship and chemistry between Drina and George is very sweet--there's genuine care and affection, and their banter is great. They are both so easy to root for! Hastings has suffused her writing with a humour that made this a pretty entertaining read. Aside from those two, we also get to know a few other young princes, princesses, lords and ladies, who are Drina's and Georges' family and friends. I loved all the moments when they came together as a group, even though I wish we got to know the side characters more. But this leads me to the historical figures that are part of the story which I pleasantly surprised by and really enjoyed!

I initially had no idea that some of the characters were based on real figures, but my curiosity did get the best of me towards the end, and I wound up going down several Wikipedia wormholes reading about Queen Victoria and Princess Alice, which eventually led to me reading about the last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia. But I digress. What I want to say is that I love a book that can spark my interest and curiosity like this and this historical aspect is what made the book most enjoyable for me! In the end the author includes more details about the historical figures but also about some of the older terms, as well as the games played in the story.

TL;DR: Overall, this was a very entertaining YA historical fiction that will appeal to all audiences, but especially to those who are interested in historical fiction. Although the pacing was a bit off at times, Hastings did a great job in bringing the historical atmosphere and holiday spirit to life in this story. I loved the inclusion of real historical figures, plus you can even learn how to play like the royals did thanks to the notes at the end of the book 😉

Drina is the only child to her parents, and that means that someday she and her mother could be left without a home and Drina without a title when her Father passes, so what’s the mission this Christmas? Drina wants to try and convince the Queen to let her inherit.

Too bad for Drina she’s got a long to do list and her mission isn’t even at the top of it! Her cousin is a visiting royal prince from a province from Germany, a possible suitor to her best friend, Princess Alice, but the problem is that he’s missing!

Her other best friend, and the young man who seems to hold her affections, even if he doesn’t know it, is George and he’s been tasked with taking care of the prince, and he would, if he knew where he was.

I loved how Hastings completely wraps you up in this setting, she does everything to perfection and I adored reading about the games they would have played! Not to mention she even gives us a handy little guide on how to play some of the games too! [I’ll definitely be playing some this Christmas with my family]

This is such a great read, a perfect holiday pick and it just brought me so much joy to read it. I can’t wait to see what’s next from Hastings, and you all can get this book now as today is its release day! Yay! Happy publication day!

4.5 HUGE cups of coffee from me!!

Thanks SO much to XpressoTours and Swoon Reads for an eARC in exchange for my honest review as part of the blog tour.

I liked the way this story mixed fact with fiction – faction in truth except that the people you would normally write faction abut, were bit part players here. Queen Victoria appeared here in all her majesty and dictates.
Unfortunately for our heroine the entailed Estate was still legal at this time. In fact: England only outlawed the entail in 1925 applying to real estate. But England still allows male-only primogeniture for aristocratic titles, but this was changed for Royalty in 2013 whereby an Act of Parliament replaced male-preference primogeniture with absolute primogeniture for those in the line of succession born after 28 October 2011, which means the eldest child, regardless of sex, precedes their siblings.
And as for the crinoline and corsets – well – the fact that women had difficulty going through doors was well known as it was considered fashionable to have the largest crinoline you could, with the most furbelows!
or!
I liked the adventures that our hero and heroine got up to, no matter how silly or unlikely, but still come back to the idea that 18 is much too young to decide on who to marry even though it was common then – and as for the Princess who was engaged at 14, well…
I also liked the parlor games and thought they could be great fun considering the lack of other entertainment – and as for the forfeits they were rather cheeky. Ice skating was a popular pastime too as it was rather colder during this period than it is now – partly because of the mini Ice Age being experienced, but also because of the Krakatoa explosion in 1883 which dropped average temperatures by at least 1 degree for over a year due to the dust cloud cover.
Over all a nice romp through a Victorian romance .

This is the story of Drina and George. Drina is spending her Christmas holidays at the Windsor Castle with her family, since Queen Victoria is her cousin. There she hangs out with her best friends, Princess Alice and George. George happens to be her crush for so long, but he doesn't seem to return her affection and sees her only as a friend. Things get complicated when there's a pressure from their parents, for different reasons each of them and there are some things going on that could lead to scandals,so they must unite their powers to avert crisis.

I haven't read many historical romances, but this was by far one of my favorites! I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It had everything. Royal families, old language, scenery, castles, beautiful gown descriptions and slow burn romance. And of course my favorite trope friends to lovers. This is YA however, so keep it mind, that this is just so pure and cute.

The only bummer for me was the fact that it wasn't focused much on the romance of the lead protagonists, but I was rather more invested in her cousin's Alice love story. Not that I mind watching secondary characters getting their romance too, sometimes I even prefer it and it seems that this was one of these times. I loved it more as a YA historical fiction, than the romance and that's probably because the hero was very oblivious and we spent a large amount of time on the affection being one sided.

Overall, it was a really lovely story and if you love some royal history like I do, then this is the perfect book to pick for Christmas - or sooner than the holidays like I did! Fun fact, there are some characters based on real royal members and I was so excited when I read that part!

<i>ARC was kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

This is a YA historical romance that while as cute as we need our YA's to be it's also very well researched and in a way that doesn't feel like info dump just to prove they researched it.

3.5 rounded up to 4.

Drina has had a crush on George forever, but he's just the second son while she's almost royalty. Because her family hasn't made any male heirs, they risk losing everything upon her father's death, so her mother has other plans to ensure her future. Drina however wants to make sure the estate is passed to her, even if she has to defend herself to the queen. Meanwhile, George's father threatens to send him to Austria if he doesn't follow his commands, and the German prince he was supposed to escort for a couple of days? Disappeared before they even met, and Drina is the only one among those who knew the prince who he can go for help.

I don't think I've read any YA historical romances before so I wasn't sure what to expect—the heroines in historical romances can act just like those in YA's already. And the result was very much my thing, it's almost the same as any historical romance minus all the sex scenes. I feel the writer did her best to give it a juvenile feel, including some games the young people used to play back in the time for example, but this pretty much stand in the two genres.

So this is your chance, YA fan, of learning the magic of historical romances without being traumatized by the scandalous sex usually included. It's a nice story, I liked Drina a lot and although George wasn't anything special for me he was a good boy too. I don't think I knew this writer before, but I'm looking forward to more of her works.

This book was the perfect Christmas romance I've been waiting on to kick-start my holiday reads. It had adventure, humor, and, of course, heart-pounding romance.

There was so much to love about this book, but perhaps one of my favorite parts was the adventures the two main characters, Drina and George, seem to go on. As they search for Drina's missing cousin, they get into all sorts of trouble. Plus, because of the time period of this book, things that would be normal and fine now, only add to the adventure here.

Along with this adventure, there is a lot of humor which was fun and entertaining. The book is written in third person POV, but the chapters alternate focus between Drina and George. Hearing their thoughts about each other and certain situations were also quite funny. Drina would think of things one way, while George would see things completely differently. I laughed out loud a few times at the different things they each thought while in certain sticky situations.

I also really liked the touch of feminism in the storyline. Since this is a historical romance, I wasn't expecting to get that aspect in the book, but I think Hastings did a good job of weaving it into the book while staying true to the time period.

My only complaint is that I feel like the subplots could have come together a little better. There were different things both Drina and George were working towards outside of the main goal of finding Drina's cousin, and I think those goals could have merged together a little better. I could just feel a little bit of choppiness as I read, but it wasn't bad enough to put me off.

Overall, I loved the fun and festiveness of this book. It's pretty hard for me to be won over by historical romances, but this one had no problem in doing so. I can't wait to read more by Hastings!