Ella あいみ M.'s Reviews > A Merry Royal Layover

Dog-lover Cindy is on her way to Caldavia for a 6-day volunteer job at an animal shelter, the perfect way to spend her holiday, in her opinion. But Christmas Eve seems to be ruined when her flight is canceled. Thankfully, her dad was able to snag a pass to the 1st class lounge, so her night won't be all discomfort. There she meets a guy with an uncanny resemblance to the crown prince of Caldavia, whom Cindy and her sister have crushed on, and they instantly connect over a movie that's played in the lounge: Love Actually, which Cindy thinks is too unrealistic and is sure that romance like that doesn't happen "in real life." Tristan, however, is determined to convince her otherwise.

This story was short, clean, and fluffy. Sometimes you just want a lighthearted read before bed, and this provided that. I'm not sure if the author is a Christian, but I appreciated the Christian aspects of the story. Cindy talks about the true meaning of Christmas and about love, joy, peace, and miracles, and she and Tristan watch a nativity. The writing had several errors (some spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors). The pacing was okay. I'm glad the author didn't take things too fast. Cindy was kind of funny, and Tristan was sweet and likable enough. I did find Tristan to be a little lacking in character, though, but I feel like that is excusable because it's such a short book and there definitely wasn't enough time for character development. Overall, this was a nice, sweet read.