Enjoy!
Daring to Fall for the Prince by Heba Helmy
#1 Princes of Egypt
Historical Romance
Publisher: Harlequin Historical
Published: 5.22.25
Pages: 268
Rating: 4
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Sellers: Amazon
ADD TO: GoodReads
GoodReads Synopsis:
Enter a world of Egyptian royalty and forbidden attraction in this high-stakes romance.
To Prince Saleem,
With Love
When Elise agrees to pose as her friend Lady Olive in a few letters with a faraway prince, she never dreams she’ll actually meet the man. Yet when they travel from England to Egypt, and Olive runs away, Elise finds herself alone with Prince Saleem and fighting a forbidden attraction!
It might be a tactical match, but Saleem’s all but betrothed to her best friend, and fiercely independent Elise is wary of his royal world. As they team up to solve a dangerous mystery, dare Elise reveal she’s the one who wrote the letters and surrender to this impossible desire?
From Harlequin Your romantic escape to the past.
Sophia Rose's Review:
“Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive” Sir Walter Scott said so well in his Marmion poem. Daring to Fall for the Prince is stuffed with so much of what I love- a romance based on a correspondence, a secret treasure, a mystery, exotic locale and diversity of characters. I was glad to pick up this first in series from new to me author, Heba Helmy.
Dare to Fall for the Prince is set in Victorian era Egypt when the heir, Prince Saleem waits for his intended on the dock in Alexandria and, instead, her best friend, Elise arrives in her stead. Elise is holding secrets- she wrote the letters to Saleem that were purportedly from Olive and she is not just in Alexandria to support her friend and try not to fall in love with Saleem. She might not get much Arabic yet, but she caught clearly that the affable Saleem only has one hard line- he hates lies. Uh oh….
Saleem is an open, generous young man who feels less adequate to be his father’s heir than his able, serious brother, Adnan, but he is willing for the arranged marriage his father set up with his British ally, Lord Whitmore’s daughter, Olive. He’s intrigued by Elise and confused that the author of the letters is more like Elise than Olive. He’s also caught between love and duty to family and country when all’s said and done.
Dare to Fall for the Prince was a great blend of light historical romance and light suspense. I loved that the setting is Egypt and the main characters are an Egyptian hero and half-British half-Greek heroine. This qualifies as a royal romance, but because of the exchange of letters and the mystery feels like so much more. I enjoyed the author’s writing style and her description of setting and culture - which occasionally had modern tones, but I went with it -while developing her characters and romance.
Saleem is rather uncomplicated and this is good because Elise is very complicated because of her situation. She’s been burned by a past love and feels hunted by her uncle’s greed so she gets prickly and tries to deny her feelings. I liked seeming them when they are working together though I was worried how Elise’s lie and how their situation of Saleem being promised to the absent Olive would all turn out.
All in all, this was a quick, engaging read and I will happily read more light Egyptian historical romances from Heba Helma. Recommended for when a light romantic distraction set in the past with cultural tones is wanted.
About the Author:
Sophia’s Bio:
Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, piano-playing, and gardening. Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments, restaurants and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.
As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance. Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophia.rose.7587
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophiarose1816
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13418187.Sophia_Rose
I haven't read an Egyptian romance but this one sounds good.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this was a first for me. I enjoyed the Egyptian rep.
DeleteI like the blend of romance and suspense. Great review Sophia.
ReplyDeleteYes, that was definitely a perk of this one. Thanks, Kimberly! :)
DeleteOh this sounds good :D
ReplyDeleteYeah, a little something different in a historical romance.
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