Books for Christian Girls: "A Noble Princess" by Saraine Whitney

About this book:

  “What happens when duty and love tear you in opposite directions?
   Wilder “Becks” Beckington knows his duty as a royal bodyguard. Protect, no matter the cost. But when the elderly queen summons him while on her sickbed, she gives him an impossible command he somehow must fulfill. Escort the princess to marry her betrothed, all the while keeping a life-changing secret from her, one that could prove deadly in the wrong hands. He would rather die than lie to the woman who’s become his unlikely friend, but with her entire future at stake, he swears to secrecy.
    Princess Aurelia of Galandra knows her duty as the daughter of the queen. Obey, no matter the cost. But with her mother’s health on the brink, she’s also reeling from the discovery of a terrible secret, one that shakes the very foundations of her reality. While anxieties about her future marriage plague her and nightmares about her past leave her sleepless, she undertakes the journey to the Kingdom of Nordenberg, as her friendship with her bodyguard, Becks, becomes more tentative and fragile by the day.
     While Aurelia struggles to make sense of who she is and Becks battles to push down the rogue feelings he has for her, danger and unforeseen obstacles haunt their every step. The truth must stay safely hidden, or disaster will strike. Can Wilder Becks fulfill his mission, or will his heart and dark past overcome him, to the detriment of the princess?”

Series: Book #5 in the multi-author series, “Cornerstone”. It does not seem to be connected to any other books, however. A stand-alone novel. Click on the books to be taken to that review: Book #1, Book #2, and Book #3, and Book #4!

Spiritual Content- Psalm 46:1-3 at the beginning; Scriptures are mentioned, remembered, thought over, & come to mind; Prayers & Thanking Dieu; God in this book is called ‘Dieu’; Talks about Dieu, His will, running away from Him, & forgiveness; 'H's are capital when referring to Dieu; Aurelia struggles with the idea of trusting God for a miracle after He didn’t grant her father one and feels jaded about it, but continues to pray (*Spoiler* At the end, she asks Dieu to forgive her hatred and bitterness *End of Spoiler*); While Wilder believes in Dieu, he doesn’t feel like Dieu will listen to his prayers, he still prays for Aurelia (noting that Wilder was shocked and confused when Dieu did listen to his petitions); Wilder prayers for Dieu to take his feelings for Aurelia; Wilder comments to a friend that he isn’t a “complete heathen”; Wilder doesn’t receive a booming answer from heaven about his question/prayer, but didn’t “really expect one or deserve one”, adding that if there was an answer “the roaring of the demons” in his head drowned it out; Aurelia talks to Wilder about Dieu not being like his earthly father (*Spoiler* Wilder feels a tug of war on his soul and wants Dieu, but thinks he is unworthy of Him; In the epilogue, Wilder shares with Aurelia that Dieu has redeemed his name *End of Spoiler*); Many mentions of Dieu, trusting Him and His plans, prayers, & praying; A few mentions of churches/chapels, church going, a priest, & a sermon; A couple mentions of miracles; A mention of reading a book of Scriptures; A mention of a man wanting to be a military chaplain;
             *Note: “Saints preserve us”, “for heaven’s sake”, “what/who in heaven’s name”, and “Heaven knows” are said once, once, twice, and four times respectively; When a storm happens, Wilder wryly thinks that the heavens are against them; Two different men are called a “devil”; A mention of fairies, dryads, sprites, pixies, and goblins (some children are told a story about them).

Negative Content- Minor cussing and fictional world phrases including: two ‘thunderation’s, three ‘dragonflies’ (exclamation), three ‘shut up’s, three ‘what in Galandra’s, five forms of ‘blast’, six ‘stupid’s, and eight ‘idiot’s; A few mentions of curses (said, not written); Some eye rolling & sarcasm; Beating someone up (threatening), Being threatened, Being beaten, Being held at knife-point, Injures, Pain, & Blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Nightmares (including of thinking she’s going to be trapped in the dark and die & also being abandoned by a birth mother and adoptive mother); Attacking and Killing a bear (up to semi-detailed); Wilder beats a man to a pulp who meant to harm Aurelia (he is horrified to realize that he hits the man in the same places where his father would injure him, up to semi-detailed); Wilder breaks a man’s nose & is put into a jail for it (also being beaten by guards himself, border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Wilder is willing to hit/punch anyone who thinks badly of Aurelia; Wilder’s father was physically and verbally abusive to him when drunk (this is recalled many times and Wilder has many scars from his father using him as a punching bag) and his mother would turn her back to Wilder being beaten (she later would swallow a potion that would keep her “from ever waking up” again); Wilder recalls being locked in the attic for a week after hiding his father’s alcohol; Wilder recalls his father telling him that he will amount to nothing and that he’s good for nothing; Wilder feels major defeat and guilt when he is unable to protect Aurelia and feels like a failure (this weighs heavily on him); Wilder feels guilt at lying to Aurelia about the secret & thinks that she will hate him (and the queen) for not telling her; Wilder thinks that he is a liar, a coward, and a man who can’t control his temper; Aurelia drinks wine at dinner (once); Wilder contemplates about throwing away his morals and having a glass of hard liquor after distressing news, but does not; Many mentions of fights/fighting, abuse (both physical and verbal including from a parent), beatings, injuries, & scars; Many mentions of lies, lying, liars, deception, & the guilt of it all (regarding the spoiler listed below); Mentions of assassins, assassination attempts, & possible murderers; Mentions of Aurelia’s mother being sick and possibly dying soon; Mentions of raids, thieves, & stealing; Mentions of alcohol (including wine at dinner), drinking, drunkards, & a tavern; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of hatred & prejudice; A few mentions of raids & invasions; A couple mentions of executions; A mention of the death of a younger brother & his mother’s health being poor since; A mention of some men who treat their families as disposable;
             *Note: *Spoilers but important note for Adoptees* Shortly into the book, Aurelia overhears her mother tell Wilder about her and the king finding Aurelia in a trash heap as an infant, adopting her after their own stillbirth, and how she doesn’t know Aurelia to know; This shakes Aurelia and she believes her whole life is a lie, hurt by her mother not telling her, and thinks of herself as a guttersnipe that doesn’t deserve her princess lifestyle; Wilder doesn’t want to lie to Aurelia, but keeps the order from his queen about the secret; Aurelia has nightmares of her “real maman” abandoning her and her adoptive mother also leaving her (including Aurelia waking up and realizing that her birth mother didn’t want her, threw her away and rejected her of her time, attention, and love; Later thinking that her birth mother found her worthless); Aurelia recalls having similar nightmares as a child and clinging to her parents afterwards and being a good girl so her family won’t forget her; Aurelia feels bitterness about her mother keeping this from her and tries to let go of it; The king of another country calls Aurelia garage and “descended from filth and found in filth”; Towards the end, Aurelia thinks that she has a heavenly Father who knew her before she was born, at least, that’s what the priest at her family’s chapel would tell her; After certain events, Aurelia thinks that she’s nothing; At the end, Aurelia thinks that God granted her a gift in her adoptive parents and despite the years she had been lied to, she had been loved; She asks her adoptive mother if she was ashamed of her and the older woman replies “never!” *End of Spoilers*; Aurelia has a couple moments of panic and at one point, pulls a couple strands of her hair out; Aurelia thinks that a certain country likes their women being “made of porcelain” (regarding their appearances); A man makes a comment about men not waiting a lazy wife that sits around all day and does a pointed glance at his wife who is in wheelchair due to her health; A few mentions of a stillbirth (barely-above-not-detailed).

Sexual Content- A hand kiss, a hair kiss, a forehead kiss, a cheek kiss, an almost (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed) kiss, a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, and an (unwanted) border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kiss; Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Warmth, Flutters, & Nearness (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; When Wilder holds Aurelia to comfort her after a trying event, he kisses her hair and then feels guilt as she is betrothed; During the traveling, Wilder and Aurelia pose as a married couple and another man asks if Wilder slept with her in the same room; A man tries to leer at Aurelia & another man looks her over; A man is cut-off from saying something insulting about Aurelia (that “all she’s good for is—“); A couple mentions of flirting; A mention of a married couple sharing a kiss; A mention of a hand kiss; A mention of mooning; Light love, falling/being in love, & the emotions.

-Aurelia Beauregard, age 19
-Wilder “Becks” Beckington
                               1^st person P.O.V. switches between them
                                                        209 pages
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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{ Trigger warnings for adoptees & physical and verbal abuse from a parent }

I did really like both Wilder and Aurelia, but I do wish we could have seen more of their friendship prior to the journey. I felt a little like I was jumping into the middle of a book or missing pages and would have really liked to have seen their friendship more rather than just be told about it.

I think some of this book could be triggering for adoptees and/or who went through physical and verbal abuse from a parent, just as a heads up for those sensitive to those topics.

This was overall a sweet story that had some hard lessons for our main characters to learn. I always like seeing the bodyguard trope for the love interest and while Wilder went a bit overboard at times protecting her, they were cute together—once they talked through some things and removed the weight of guilt and secrets from their shoulders.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!