Jeannie Moon: Being a Princess

Crown Princess Sofia, the heroine in my upcoming release His Forbidden Princess, isn’t so sure she wants the job of princess.  In fact, she says quite plainly that she wants to be “normal.” When writing this story, I knew immediately our Sofie was a reluctant princess.  She didn’t follow rules and she didn’t think of herself as royal. More than once, Sofia’s birthright got in the way of the life she wanted, including the love of our charming hero, Ian.

That led me to think about one of my other favorite reluctant princess stories, Meg Cabot’s The Princess Diaries, (TPD) and more specifically, the movie that was made from the book.  Mia didn’t know who she was, and once she found out she was a royalty, being a princess caused Mia a lot of trouble. Sofia tried to hide her lineage; Mia stumbled upon hers. Either way, the young women were forced to face their destiny.

Over the course of their respective stories, Mia and Sofie face challenges about who they are and who they want to be.  There’s some growing up to do. There’s danger, confusion and risk, but ultimately, our princesses take on the job not because of some arbitrary DNA in their blood, but because of what was held in their hearts.

As was stated in TPD, being a princess is, “A real job.”  Initially, Sofie doesn’t see it that way, but she comes to understand the responsibility attached to her title, and it’s when she’s honest with herself, that she can be honest with our hero and her feelings.

I don’t know that this is unique to princesses. I think all women are reluctant at times, feeling torn about the roles and responsibilities we are asked to assume. In the ned we must all follow out hearts.  Sometimes it means doing what’s responsible. Other times it means we have to take a risk to be happy. Usually, it’s not easy.

Finding the sweet spot between responsibility to ourselves and responsibility to others is something everyone deals with. Being a princess may throw in a few more complications, but as with all fairy tales, once the path is chosen, and the challenge is met, a happily ever after is not only earned, but deserved.

His Forbidden Princess is being released by Tule Publishing on April 30^, 2015.

ABOUT THE BOOK~

Eight years ago, university student Ian Stuart fell in love with his sweet, beautiful classmate and he’s never forgotten her. Sofie loved Ian with all her heart in return, but she didn’t trust him with one little detail about her life she’d neglected to share.

She was a princess, and they could never be together in the outside world.

Now Crown Princess Sofia is in danger. An insurgent faction in her country has targeted the royal family, and while Sofia is visiting the United States, she is forced to go into hiding. Assigned to protect her is none other than FBI Special Agent Ian Stuart.

Once again Ian and Sofie are in an impossible situation, fighting their feelings for one another, while trying to stay safe. Will their love for each other prove to be the most dangerous game of all?

Jean­nie Moon has always been a roman­tic. When she’s not spin­ning tales of her own, Jean­nie works as a school librar­ian, thank­ful she has a job that allows her to immerse her­self in books and call it work. Mar­ried to her high school sweet­heart, Jean­nie has three kids, three lov­able dogs and lives in her hometown on Long Island, NY. If she’s more than ten miles away from salt water for any longer than a week, she gets twitchy.  Visit Jeannie’s web­site at www.jeanniemoon.com