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Cordillera Royals #1
Pretend Princess
Plucky Patricia Parker, shocked to be mistaken for a princess, accepts a handsome, charismatic prince’s offer to stand in for his missing cousin.
Summoning all her poise, she manages to fool the public, but cannot fool her heart into ignoring Crown Prince Lawrence, who tempts her.
It takes all her wits and endurance to escape from a kidnapper to get help to rescue the princess, but then she faces opposition from the king, the queen, and the titled lady Lawrence is supposed to marry.
This is an expanded version with an extra chapter featuring her sister, Becky's, adventure.
Summoning all her poise, she manages to fool the public, but cannot fool her heart into ignoring Crown Prince Lawrence, who tempts her.
It takes all her wits and endurance to escape from a kidnapper to get help to rescue the princess, but then she faces opposition from the king, the queen, and the titled lady Lawrence is supposed to marry.
This is an expanded version with an extra chapter featuring her sister, Becky's, adventure.
299 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 27, 2017
9 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
About the author
Carolyn Rae
22 books9 followersCarolyn Rae follows her passion, writing romantic suspense where bullets are flying, people are dying, and lovers are resisting attraction until they can escape the danger following them.
As a teenager, Carolyn Rae told stories to kids she babysat. On a long road trip, she entertained her younger sister with stories she made up.
She is the author of Romancing the Gold, from MuseItUp Publishing and Searching for Love, from Wild Rose Press. She has a Witness Protection Series trilogy, Hiding from Love, Protected by Love, and Tempted by Love. Her e-book, Just the two of Us, is set in the fictitious world of the Roxanne St. Claire’s Barefoot Bay. Royal Wedding Cake and Holiday with a Prince are set in the Royals of Monterra Kindle World. Her latest e-book, Romancing the Doctor, from MuseItUp Publishing, is a romantic suspense.
She has given talks on ‘Finding Time for Your Dream,’ ‘How to Eat Healthy and Enjoy it,’ and ‘Luring Readers into Living Your Story Through Deep Viewpoint.’ Her profile and travel articles have appeared in The Dallas Morning News. The Fort Worth Star Telegram, Romance Writer’s Report, and other newspapers and magazines.
Carolyn Rae has a master’s degree in home economics and is an author of There IS Life After Lettuce, a cookbook for heart patients and diabetics. She enjoys tasty dishes in restaurants and then goes home to make lighter versions. She taught home economics, family living, and English in Michigan, Illinois, and Texas, Later she worked as a researcher for a mincemeat company and met her neighbors by bringing samples of mincemeat pies. In Texas she taught and supervised ironwork, painting, and carpentry inmates at a federal prison, where she wrote and directed videos on nutrition and fair fighting for couples. She also worked as a paralegal in Dallas and Fort Worth.
As a teenager, Carolyn Rae told stories to kids she babysat. On a long road trip, she entertained her younger sister with stories she made up.
She is the author of Romancing the Gold, from MuseItUp Publishing and Searching for Love, from Wild Rose Press. She has a Witness Protection Series trilogy, Hiding from Love, Protected by Love, and Tempted by Love. Her e-book, Just the two of Us, is set in the fictitious world of the Roxanne St. Claire’s Barefoot Bay. Royal Wedding Cake and Holiday with a Prince are set in the Royals of Monterra Kindle World. Her latest e-book, Romancing the Doctor, from MuseItUp Publishing, is a romantic suspense.
She has given talks on ‘Finding Time for Your Dream,’ ‘How to Eat Healthy and Enjoy it,’ and ‘Luring Readers into Living Your Story Through Deep Viewpoint.’ Her profile and travel articles have appeared in The Dallas Morning News. The Fort Worth Star Telegram, Romance Writer’s Report, and other newspapers and magazines.
Carolyn Rae has a master’s degree in home economics and is an author of There IS Life After Lettuce, a cookbook for heart patients and diabetics. She enjoys tasty dishes in restaurants and then goes home to make lighter versions. She taught home economics, family living, and English in Michigan, Illinois, and Texas, Later she worked as a researcher for a mincemeat company and met her neighbors by bringing samples of mincemeat pies. In Texas she taught and supervised ironwork, painting, and carpentry inmates at a federal prison, where she wrote and directed videos on nutrition and fair fighting for couples. She also worked as a paralegal in Dallas and Fort Worth.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 26, 2017
I’m still in a state of incredulous WTFery about this book. There are so many completely bonkers plot points in it that I spent most of my reading time shaking my head.
Let’s start off with the location. Cordillera is apparently a small country ‘sandwiched between France and Spain’. OK. Not the worst location for a fictional small country with a fictional monarchy. I can buy that.
I can’t buy that any country in modern-day Western Europe has a law 'forbidding women to wear trousers in public’ and another 'forbidding married women with able-bodied husbands to work outside the home’.
I’m thinking that the author hasn’t heard of the EU. For a bit I wondered if I’d misinterpreted something and whether the book was actually set in the 1950’s or something, but no. Cellphones are a thing. This is supposed to be contemporary. Despite someone apparently thinking that the only way to get from England to the South of France is a ferry or train via the Channel Tunnel. Apparently the author hasn’t heard of aeroplanes either.
Western Europe… ANYWHERE in Europe… is definitely not the right location if you want archaic, outdated, misogynistic laws to apply. The Middle East or North Africa, maybe. Maybe this is supposed to be a Sheikh romance and the author is just geographically confused.
The heroine’s parents are Christian missionaries, away in South Africa at the time of the story (where she worries about them getting caught up in a tribal uprising, which is yet another impossibly geographically ignorant plot point) and therefore her reaction to Prince Lawrence wanting to have an affair with her is quite understandable. I’d have slapped the offensive asshat’s face as well.
Look… there is a trope in romances that has been around since Jane Austen’s time at least. Pride and Prejudice is THE classic example. The hero of the novel acts like a misogynistic asshat and eventually, by the power of falling in love with an Opinionated Strong Female, finds redemption and does the biggest grovel ever. That’s the payoff for having to put up with the hero being an asshat for most of the book.
By the time I got halfway through this book, I was already thinking that the grovel had better be particularly epic.
But here’s the thing. THERE IS NO GROVEL. Lawrence never changes his opinions. The closest he ever gets is being willing to POSSIBLY give up his future crown for lurve - in order to marry Tricia, that is, since she’s a Commoner. Since there aren’t really any other actual candidates for the crown anyway, this is pretty much a win-win bet for him.
Some of the lines in this book are so awful that I can only reproduce them here and let you judge them for yourself.
“Princesses are supposed to be virgins and wear white for purity when they marry.”
Oh, you did not just say that after telling Tricia that you’d set her up in a nice apartment in the city, YOU MASSIVE HYPOCRITE.
Did she expect a marriage proposal before she’d go to bed with him? She was enchanting, but he needed a dutiful compliant queen like his aunt. And Tricia wouldn’t live compliantly under Cordillera’s laws. She’d agitate for more privileges for women.
WELL GOOD FOR HER, said I.
Lawrence believed men better fulfilled their traditional roles as bread winners and leaders. Women should be the nurturers and lovers they were meant to be, although he supposed they could handle motherhood and part time jobs.
HOW MIGHTY BIG OF HIM. Women can 'handle’ motherhood??? WHO ELSE DOES HE THINK IS GOING TO DO IT???
And then… and then, somehow, it got worse. Lawrence and Tricia are talking about the missing princess Tricia is substituting for, who may have run off with her college professor - they suspect she’s pregnant - and this GEM comes out.
“We can’t allow that. She’ll have to have an abortion under strict secrecy.”
Yes. You read that right. He said that 'we’ (as in the royal we) would FORCE a woman (a princess no less) to HAVE AN ABORTION because she is having a child OUT OF WEDLOCK.
This was the point at which I threw up a little bit in my mouth.
Honestly, from this point on I was skim-reading because I just wanted to read the epic grovel (which never happened). There was a sex scene at 95% of the way through the book at which Lawrence finally seduced Tricia and they had sex in a pool. After that they go back to his room and he produces a bunch of condoms, at which point Tricia realizes that they didn’t use protection before, and I swear to God I’m not making this up, thinks
Hopefully the flowing waters took care of that worry.
Well, it might be how the Force works, but it’s sure as shit not how birth control works, honey.
This book is an absolute hot mess. It’s poorly researched with an utterly nonsensical plot and the most dislikable hero I’ve read since Christian Grey. I absolutely hated it. One star.
Disclaimer: I received this book for review through NetGalley.
Let’s start off with the location. Cordillera is apparently a small country ‘sandwiched between France and Spain’. OK. Not the worst location for a fictional small country with a fictional monarchy. I can buy that.
I can’t buy that any country in modern-day Western Europe has a law 'forbidding women to wear trousers in public’ and another 'forbidding married women with able-bodied husbands to work outside the home’.
I’m thinking that the author hasn’t heard of the EU. For a bit I wondered if I’d misinterpreted something and whether the book was actually set in the 1950’s or something, but no. Cellphones are a thing. This is supposed to be contemporary. Despite someone apparently thinking that the only way to get from England to the South of France is a ferry or train via the Channel Tunnel. Apparently the author hasn’t heard of aeroplanes either.
Western Europe… ANYWHERE in Europe… is definitely not the right location if you want archaic, outdated, misogynistic laws to apply. The Middle East or North Africa, maybe. Maybe this is supposed to be a Sheikh romance and the author is just geographically confused.
The heroine’s parents are Christian missionaries, away in South Africa at the time of the story (where she worries about them getting caught up in a tribal uprising, which is yet another impossibly geographically ignorant plot point) and therefore her reaction to Prince Lawrence wanting to have an affair with her is quite understandable. I’d have slapped the offensive asshat’s face as well.
Look… there is a trope in romances that has been around since Jane Austen’s time at least. Pride and Prejudice is THE classic example. The hero of the novel acts like a misogynistic asshat and eventually, by the power of falling in love with an Opinionated Strong Female, finds redemption and does the biggest grovel ever. That’s the payoff for having to put up with the hero being an asshat for most of the book.
By the time I got halfway through this book, I was already thinking that the grovel had better be particularly epic.
But here’s the thing. THERE IS NO GROVEL. Lawrence never changes his opinions. The closest he ever gets is being willing to POSSIBLY give up his future crown for lurve - in order to marry Tricia, that is, since she’s a Commoner. Since there aren’t really any other actual candidates for the crown anyway, this is pretty much a win-win bet for him.
Some of the lines in this book are so awful that I can only reproduce them here and let you judge them for yourself.
“Princesses are supposed to be virgins and wear white for purity when they marry.”
Oh, you did not just say that after telling Tricia that you’d set her up in a nice apartment in the city, YOU MASSIVE HYPOCRITE.
Did she expect a marriage proposal before she’d go to bed with him? She was enchanting, but he needed a dutiful compliant queen like his aunt. And Tricia wouldn’t live compliantly under Cordillera’s laws. She’d agitate for more privileges for women.
WELL GOOD FOR HER, said I.
Lawrence believed men better fulfilled their traditional roles as bread winners and leaders. Women should be the nurturers and lovers they were meant to be, although he supposed they could handle motherhood and part time jobs.
HOW MIGHTY BIG OF HIM. Women can 'handle’ motherhood??? WHO ELSE DOES HE THINK IS GOING TO DO IT???
And then… and then, somehow, it got worse. Lawrence and Tricia are talking about the missing princess Tricia is substituting for, who may have run off with her college professor - they suspect she’s pregnant - and this GEM comes out.
“We can’t allow that. She’ll have to have an abortion under strict secrecy.”
Yes. You read that right. He said that 'we’ (as in the royal we) would FORCE a woman (a princess no less) to HAVE AN ABORTION because she is having a child OUT OF WEDLOCK.
This was the point at which I threw up a little bit in my mouth.
Honestly, from this point on I was skim-reading because I just wanted to read the epic grovel (which never happened). There was a sex scene at 95% of the way through the book at which Lawrence finally seduced Tricia and they had sex in a pool. After that they go back to his room and he produces a bunch of condoms, at which point Tricia realizes that they didn’t use protection before, and I swear to God I’m not making this up, thinks
Hopefully the flowing waters took care of that worry.
Well, it might be how the Force works, but it’s sure as shit not how birth control works, honey.
This book is an absolute hot mess. It’s poorly researched with an utterly nonsensical plot and the most dislikable hero I’ve read since Christian Grey. I absolutely hated it. One star.
Disclaimer: I received this book for review through NetGalley.
January 30, 2019
I would like to thank netgalley and Backlit PR for a free copy of the book in exchnage for an onest review.
The cover has an amateurish feeling to it and the writing matches, if this was fanfiction I would understand. The plot is fairly ridiculous and there are no European Kingdom's that are that backward. I know the author is probably trying to make the MC seem to be some big feminist, but the laws she's using are ridiculous.
The cover has an amateurish feeling to it and the writing matches, if this was fanfiction I would understand. The plot is fairly ridiculous and there are no European Kingdom's that are that backward. I know the author is probably trying to make the MC seem to be some big feminist, but the laws she's using are ridiculous.
February 3, 2020
This story seemed to flip flop. The H/h were both so unsure and sure at the same time. It just bugged me and there some inconsistencies that I had a hard time with. Danielle is on assignment at a royal wedding. The wedding of her friend. First there is a bomb, then her hotel room is burglarized and then her friend's sisters were kidnapped. Armando is in charge of security and is such a playboy. He is immediately attracted to Danielle, but he isn't a long-term kind of guy. Is he?
August 1, 2018
I always love a good royal read of any kind and this was no exception! First I’ve read by Carolyn Rae and I’d definitely pick up another!
November 2, 2021
When I had just read a few chapters of this, I thought that it seemed like "The Prisoner of Zenda" in a modern setting and with a female protagonist. So much for what I thought. The Prince is no stand in for the swashbuckling Rudolf Rassendyll and Roberto Alvarez is no Rupert of Hentzau. No problem, the author was in no way able to know what I was going to expect.
So that was a little disappointment. But the big disappointment was that this book really is quite poor on many levels. There are a multitude of faults in continuity (the Prince draws his sword on one page and then two pages later is armed only with a hunting knife, His eyes are variously brown, dark brown, caramel, etc), faults in fact (the kind of marriage that the Prince alludes to is morganitic, not morganic, and "Liebenstraum", by Liszt is certainly not a part of "Lucia di Lammermoor" by Donizetti, or wasn't last time I listened to Lucia), errors of word choice (for instance the woman the Prince's parents wish him to marry is several times called a "gentile" when I imagine gentle or genteel were intended) and faults in plotting logic (let us not go into that).
The book has all the hallmarks of something that has been hastily put together and put out for readers without any proofreading at all. Many of the problems simply call for the hand of an experienced editor to set them right.
I see that there is an updated version of this title. I can only hope that at least some of these matters have been attended to.
So that was a little disappointment. But the big disappointment was that this book really is quite poor on many levels. There are a multitude of faults in continuity (the Prince draws his sword on one page and then two pages later is armed only with a hunting knife, His eyes are variously brown, dark brown, caramel, etc), faults in fact (the kind of marriage that the Prince alludes to is morganitic, not morganic, and "Liebenstraum", by Liszt is certainly not a part of "Lucia di Lammermoor" by Donizetti, or wasn't last time I listened to Lucia), errors of word choice (for instance the woman the Prince's parents wish him to marry is several times called a "gentile" when I imagine gentle or genteel were intended) and faults in plotting logic (let us not go into that).
The book has all the hallmarks of something that has been hastily put together and put out for readers without any proofreading at all. Many of the problems simply call for the hand of an experienced editor to set them right.
I see that there is an updated version of this title. I can only hope that at least some of these matters have been attended to.
March 27, 2017
I received this book from Netgalley to review and sincerely expected more from history,
As it gives the impression that it is a book with suspense about the disappearance of the princess of the kingdom of Cordillera and a whole plot of betrayal and espionage behind the fight for love. But it was not what I found.
I have already found it strange that the protagonist Tricia wants to pass the image of an independent and emancipated woman, but always gives in to the will of the prince who is somewhat arrogant. Since the beginning of the book he has been a great supporter of the conventions and laws of his country, and even with the attraction he feels for the young Tricia, he makes it clear that he can not marry her. She spends all her time thinking about this detail but always shows herself vulnerable and confused about what think of the prince.
The book shows some prejudices .
Particularly I did not like the plot and even tried to interest myself in the love story but I arrived at the end disappointed
As it gives the impression that it is a book with suspense about the disappearance of the princess of the kingdom of Cordillera and a whole plot of betrayal and espionage behind the fight for love. But it was not what I found.
I have already found it strange that the protagonist Tricia wants to pass the image of an independent and emancipated woman, but always gives in to the will of the prince who is somewhat arrogant. Since the beginning of the book he has been a great supporter of the conventions and laws of his country, and even with the attraction he feels for the young Tricia, he makes it clear that he can not marry her. She spends all her time thinking about this detail but always shows herself vulnerable and confused about what think of the prince.
The book shows some prejudices .
Particularly I did not like the plot and even tried to interest myself in the love story but I arrived at the end disappointed
February 7, 2018
*ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
Uh...still puzzling over this one...and I DNF.
There were so many bizarre elements to this story that incredulity was my main feeling until about 40% in where I decided that my time was better spent on anything else besides reading this.
A fictional modern-day small Western Europe kingdom with very archaic views and laws on women. Prince Lawrence, the hero (???) was no prince, pardon the pun and was in need of a good slapping. Tricia, the heroine (???), was too NOT "I am woman, hear me roar". She fills in as a doppelganger for the missing Princess Alyssa, his cousin. You getting the yucks now?
At the junction that I decided to delete this from my Kindle, there was no growth to any possible saving grace to either of these characters character. Ugh. Sorry.
Uh...still puzzling over this one...and I DNF.
There were so many bizarre elements to this story that incredulity was my main feeling until about 40% in where I decided that my time was better spent on anything else besides reading this.
A fictional modern-day small Western Europe kingdom with very archaic views and laws on women. Prince Lawrence, the hero (???) was no prince, pardon the pun and was in need of a good slapping. Tricia, the heroine (???), was too NOT "I am woman, hear me roar". She fills in as a doppelganger for the missing Princess Alyssa, his cousin. You getting the yucks now?
At the junction that I decided to delete this from my Kindle, there was no growth to any possible saving grace to either of these characters character. Ugh. Sorry.
August 9, 2021
A story packed with many facets; danger, kidnapping, blackmail, missing person and confusion, love and loss are some of the issues faced by the Crown Prince and Tricia as they try to find the missing Princess and fall in love.
March 13, 2017
This was a hard book to review. It felt like the author was at times writing a sample outline but then it would turn into writing that was engrossing. It bounced back and forth in this vein until the end. I will go three stars for while not totally believable it was overall an interesting plot line and read. I was given this book in return for an honest review. Anna
October 23, 2019
A delightful read. The author skillfully built the suspense, while developing the characters and the world with interesting details. The hero is everything you expect, but with flaws that make him human. The heroine is strong and forthright, and her conflicting desires are credible. I think you'll enjoy this book.
March 31, 2017
Patricia/ Tricia was at the opera house in the small country of Cordillera. Someone touched her arm and called her Alyssa and she found out it was prince Lawrence thinking she was his cousin Alyssa. Then Tricia apologized and said she was not Alyssa. Tricia taught at the university . Lawrence’s father had die d when he was a child so Lawrence’s uncle was king but someday Lawrence would be. Tricia thought Prince Lawrence was too sexy for his own good. Tricia was in charge of her two younger sisters- Cindy- who was and Becky who was fourteen- while her parents were away. Then one of the Prince’s aides came and told Tricia the Prince has offered her and her sisters a ride to their home with him. Tricia was a graduate student at the University Of Texas and taught there while she worked on her on her doctorate . she had come to Cordelia to visit her family. Her parents were missionaries. The Prince told Tricia she fascinated him. The Prince came the next day to invite Tricia and her sisters to tea and the girls wanted to see the palace. Then the Prince asked Tricia would she pose as his cousin and help entertain a visiting ambassador the next night. Then it turned out as the Prince explained to Tricia that his cousin Alyssa had disappeared and they didn’t know why. She was asked by the King to keep this information to herself Then the prince also said he would have a trusted staff member teach her how to be around royalty as they wanted Tricia to pretend to be Alyssa. Prince Lawrence came to Tricia to tell her about the man who was stalking his cousin. Tricia was to claim to have laryngitis so she didn’t have to speak much so her accent wouldn’t be a problem. Tricia was attracted to the prince but knew to pull herself back as this would never be allowed as he was a royal and future king.
I really couldn’t get into this story.I understood why they wanted Tricia to act as Princess Alyssa but it just wouldn’t work as far as I am concerned. Also it was still lying and lies usually come back to bite you in the butt. But then again I don't know a whole lot about politics especially involving royals but this didn’t keep my attention and I didn’t enjoy it that much. I am sure there are a lot people who really will enjoy this story just wasn’t for me.
I really couldn’t get into this story.I understood why they wanted Tricia to act as Princess Alyssa but it just wouldn’t work as far as I am concerned. Also it was still lying and lies usually come back to bite you in the butt. But then again I don't know a whole lot about politics especially involving royals but this didn’t keep my attention and I didn’t enjoy it that much. I am sure there are a lot people who really will enjoy this story just wasn’t for me.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews