Book Review: Princess in the Iron Mask by Victoria Parker

Author: Victoria Parker

Published May 21st 2013 by Harlequin

Age: Adult

A princess in hiding...

Dispatched by the king to retrieve his headstrong, errant daughter, Lucas Garcia thought this was just another day at the office. That's before he meets Princess Claudine Verbault, who's adamant that returning to the kingdom that banished her as a child is never going to happen.

A barely concealed attraction!

Hidden from the spotlight, the now-independent Claudia has learned the art of being the anti-perfect princess. But Lucas does not look like the kind of man to accept insubordination! If only she could bargain with this frustratingly immovable man…and give him something to distract him from his duty!

Claudia's life is not exactly a princess life, even when she's one. But she's happy that way, she doesn't want anything to do with the kingdom and the parents that abandoned her when she was a child. So that's why, when alpha male Lucas Garcia appeared to take her back and forget all her life, she refuses at first. But he might give her the money to continue her investigations...

Lucas is an alpha male-hero, very protective and with a rough past. He's very loyal to his kingdom so he can't understand why Claudia doesn't want to take her role as the princess she is. Claudia is very intelligent but too shy, she was sick as a child and abandoned by her parents, and she isn't going to forgive them soon.

Even with their differences, their attraction starts the moment they met and followed all the way to the kingdom. At first, Lucas didn't understand her aversion to her parents, specially since he has such a good relationship with her father, but in the end it worked out for both of them. I liked their romance, difficult because they were both afraid of their past, and I liked both of the protagonists had flaws.

I would have enjoyed it a little bit more if Claudia's drama with her parents would have been fixed. I feel it was left the same way, she just had to accept they didn't took care of her as a child because they were busy. It wasn't fair to her, specially since she suffered so much.

Overall, Princess in the Iron Mask was a enjoyable romance story, filled with an alpha male, shy protagonist and lots of drama!