The Creole Princess by Beth White

Torn between loyalties to family and flag, one young woman is about to discover that her most important allegiance is to her heart.

        It is 1776, and all along the eastern seaboard the American struggle for independence rages. But in the British-held southern port of Mobile, Alabama, the conflict brewing is much quieter—though no less deadly.

        Lyse Lanier may be largely French in heritage, but she spends most of her time in the company of the ebullient daughter of the British commander of Mobile. When a charming young Spanish merchant docks in town, Lyse is immediately struck by his easy wit and flair for the dramatic. But is he truly who he makes himself out to be? Spies abound, and Spain has yet to choose a side in the American conflict. Is Lyse simply an easy mark for Rafael Gonzalez to exploit? Or are his overtures of love as genuine as Spanish gold?

 

        The Creole Princess is the second book in Beth White’s Gulf Coast Chronicles series, coming after The Pelican Bride. I really, really enjoyed the first novel in the series, so I was super excited to be able to read this one. Fortunately, I was not disappointed, as I’m pretty sure I loved this book even more than the previous one. There were so many wonderful elements to this story—it caught my attention from page one and it was practically physically painful for me to put the book down—and Lyse and Rafael’s love story was one of the greatest I have ever read.

        On top of that though, there were other stories, other elements, that made this book all that much more intriguing. There was the British commander and his daughter Daisy, who was also Lyse’s best friend, and Simon, Lyse’s brother, Scarlet—Lyse’s cousin—and then of course Rafael and Lyse herself. The spies, the approaching war, the act of choosing sides between the Americans and the British, all of it combined to make this a story that was both captivating and unpredictable, and that I still cannot stop thinking about.

        One of my favorite aspects of this novel, however, was the way it really made me think. Lyse’s stance on slavery and freedom mirror my own extremely closely, but I can’t help but wish things could have been that simple at the beginning of the Revolution. In any case, I couldn’t help but wishing that others had seen things the way she and Daisy had way back when our country was beginning, as that could have made so many issues so much easier. Reading about their opinions on such big subjects definitely helped to reinforce my stance, and I just really enjoyed that for once the heroines were true heroines and weren’t just full of fluff and “unable to grasp” such serious matters.

        All in all, I found this book to be another reason why I am a very big fan of Beth and her talent for writing, and I absolutely cannot wait to finally get to finish out the series! This book well deserves all five bookshelves, as well as a place on my all-time favorites list. I highly recommend it for the wonderful gem that it is, and hope to read even more of Beth’s novels in the future.

        Happy reading!

To see where I’m linking up, check out my Where I Party page.

All credit for the italicized synopsis goes to Beth White and Revell Publishing.