The Girl Who Didn’t Want to Be a Princess by Marcela Citterio

 
She doesn’t dream of falling in love. And most importantly: she doesn’t want to be a princess. 
 
Aurora lives an intense life, one she pours entirely into Madonna, her bullet journal. Madonna is her planner, diary, to-do list, and confidant. Its pages are filled with clippings from feminist debates and marches, activities at the animal shelter where she volunteers, and photos of motorcycles and her five dogs. Clearly, she has no time for love. And even if she did, her four brothers—who have protected her from everything and everyone since their parents’ death—would never allow it. 
But then life puts Tiziano in her path: an Italian heir to the throne who, fed up with a life ruled by duty, makes a bet with his father. If he manages to live in Buenos Aires for seven days as an ordinary citizen, he will avoid marriage and be allowed to continue racing in Formula 1. If he is discovered, he must accept an arranged marriage and all the responsibilities that come with the Crown. 
Their lives intertwine when he discovers her journal. Amid an attempted assassination, a romance emerges—one that transforms them and leads them into adventures such as clandestine poker games and romantic trips. 
A love story that could be beautiful and perfect… like a fairy tale. But no. 
Tragedy threatens their happiness, reminding them that fairy tales do not exist for a girl who doesn’t want to be a princess. 
 
 
 
AURORA  
 
Despite having the name of a princess, Aurora couldn’t be further from resembling one. Tall, albino, voluptuous, and clumsy in a way few people are, she draws attention wherever she goes. She lives an intense life that she pours entirely into Madonna, her bullet journal. Madonna is her planner, diary, to-do list, and confidant. Its pages are filled with clippings from feminist debates and marches, activities at the animal shelter where she volunteers, and photos of motorcycles, Formula 1 races, and her five dogs. Clearly, she has no time for love. And even if she did, her four brothers—who have protected her from everything since their parents’ death—would never allow it. She has always loved racing. She even owns a motorcycle with which she competes in motocross events. Perhaps that’s why, when the opportunity arises to work as a waitress at the Formula 1 tribute to Fangio, she doesn’t hesitate. She prepares for that day by organizing every minute so that nothing goes wrong. 
But everything—absolutely everything—goes wrong. 
 
Aurora accidentally breaks Shawn Mendes’ phone, misses the train, arrives late to work, is knocked over by a group of journalists, and ends up sprawled at the feet of the sexiest Italian she has ever seen. And although she would have loved to know more about that square-jawed boy with ocean-blue eyes, she runs off to start her workday. It only takes a few minutes serving customers for her to ruin everything by making statements against Tiziano, Prince of Gelsomini, one of the drivers being honored. Seconds later, hearing herself blurt out through countless phones, “Royalty is overrated. Princes are boring, useless, puppets, weak, bland… did I already say boring?”, she knows she’s been recorded—and that the video has gone viral. It’s unlikely she’ll ever work at the racetrack again. And when she also realizes that, at some point during her chaotic day, she has lost her journal, she thinks there’s no way things could get worse. She’s wrong. 
 
While Aurora deals with her bad luck, Tiziano argues with his father, the king of the Principality of Gelsomini. After finishing seventh in his first Formula 1 race, the king accuses him of making a fool of himself. The video of the albino girl ranting about royalty at the racetrack only makes things worse—it feels like a complete humiliation. He demands that his son stop racing, get married, and behave like the prince he is instead of becoming a public spectacle. After all, without the crown, he is nothing. But Tiziano is fed up with a life of duty and formality he never chose. The argument leads to an unexpected bet: Tiziano must live incognito in Buenos Aires for one week, with only one hundred euros in his pocket. If he succeeds, he can continue racing in Formula 1 and avoid marrying Alessia, the fiancée chosen for him. 
 
Tiziano might be worried about the days ahead, but something else occupies his thoughts. Earlier that same day, he ran into the albino girl from the video at the hotel while he was escaping the press. Her unmatched beauty left him spellbound. And when, hours later, he finds a lost journal and realizes its owner is the same young woman he saw in the hotel lobby and in the video, he comes up with an idea: to get closer to her. Through Madonna, Tiziano gains access to all of Aurora’s secrets and becomes “The Thief of Madonna,” the mysterious Italian who first enters her life as a sort of secret assistant, calling her to remind her of every pending task—and later, in person. Tiziano will pretend to be Adriano, the double of the prince who has just renounced his position, exhausted by having no life of his own. The only person who knows his true identity is Pietro, his closest friend. When the countdown on the bet finally begins, he is ready to live freely—and to seduce the beautiful albino girl who took his breath away. How hard could it be, right? 
 
 
 
 
But Tiziano (or Nano, as he will now call himself) has no idea what that week has in store for him. 
The moment Tiziano arrives at the home of Madonna’s owner to return the journal and have dinner with her, he discovers she is fighting barehanded against two burly men—hired criminals trying to collect a debt from Aurora’s brother by attacking her. 
Of course, he doesn’t hesitate to step in, and together they manage to defeat them. What they cannot avoid is becoming hopelessly entangled in a love story that will change them completely—one that includes clandestine poker games, a graduation dance, a whirlwind trip to the sea, and the best sex of their lives, of course. 
When the future seemed to unfold like a promise, and Tiziano was about to win his bet and finally be free, an attempted assassination puts everyone in danger and abruptly ends the charade—and not in the best way. When Aurora learns that Nano is in fact the prince and not his double, her world falls apart. And to make matters worse, she is accused of having kidnapped him! 
It will take Nano a great deal to earn her forgiveness: standing up to the king, ending things with Alessia, and spending a week in Paris proving to the commoner of his dreams that he—Tiziano Bembo dei Gelsomini—is worth it. Because he has no doubts: he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. 
A love story that could be beautiful and perfect… like a fairy tale. But no. Because fairies do not exist, because tragedy can arrive disguised as an accident, because a bride can be abandoned moments before reaching the altar, because a getaway can end in death—because it is impossible for the story of a girl who didn’t want to be a princess to have a happy ending.