"The Reluctant Heiress"

This is yet another romance novel by Eva Ibbotson. Personally, I thought that this plot was fairly predictable (I had already figured out more or less the ending about 3/4 of the way through the book). Nevertheless, overall the plot was excellent. The story starts out with a lonely orphan boy who has managed to drive the orphanage caretakers crazy, so he goes to live with an elderly widow, who becomes his foster mother. This boy grows up and falls in love with a young woman named Nerine, but this young man, named Guy, is unsuccessful in asking for her hand because her family doesn't approve of his lowly rank. So Guy slinks off and begins building a fortune. On the other hand, Princess Theresa-Maria of Pfaffenstein has lost her fortune following World War I and the death of her parents. She leaves the countryside in hopes of freedom and asks her aunts to sell the castle. She then moves to Vienna and becomes the under-wardrobe mistress for a struggling opera company, keeping her identity a secret from everyone. One day, a young man arrives hoping to buy Pfaffenstein, and he does; his name is Guy. He hires the opera company that the princess (aka Tessa) works for to preform the Magic Flute when he comes to Pfaffenstein to surprise the girl that he hopes to have a second chance of marrying, Nerine. Only, Guy doesn't know that Nerine has already learned of Guy's increase in wealth, much less does he know about her terrible snobbery either. He and Tessa meet at the Opera company and many times after that, but Tessa is already "supposed" to marry Prince Maximillion of Spittau (who has already proposed 3 times). Along the way there are many dynamic characters. Although some of the German is a bit difficult to understand in some places, and once you can get over the fact that just about everyone has at least 2 names, then it is truely an enjoyable romance novel.

That actually sounds like it could be pretty funny.

There were definitely chapters where I nearly burst out laughing, but there are also several grave chapters where one will not find much humor.

I LOVE Eva Ibbotson's Which Witch. I read it in elementary school.