Tag: Royals in Exile

Royal Affair (Royals in Exile: Book 2) by Marquita Valentine

Royal Affair (Royals in Exile, #2)

Title: Royal Affair

Author: Marquita Valentine

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Loveswept

Date of publication: April 18th, 2017

Genre: Romance

Number of pages: 230

POV: Alternating 1st person

Series: Royals in Exile

Royal Scandal – Book 1 (review here)

Royal Affair – Book 2

Royal Chase – Book 3

Royal Duty – Book 4 (expected publication date: September 26th, 2017)

Where you can find Royal Affair: Amazon

Book synopsis (from Goodreads):

A sheltered princess goes wild—and makes the best mistake of her life—when she falls for a roguish reporter in this fun, sexy romance from the bestselling author of Royal Scandal.

Online muckraker Brooks Walker has a reputation for exposing the political élite. Now he’s set his sights on the Sinclair siblings, who’ve been embroiled in their fair share of drama ever since their exile to North Carolina. But Brooks has never been afraid to get his hands dirty—until he meets a royal wallflower at a charity ball who makes him reconsider everything. Is Brooks feeling guilty because he knows all the sordid details of her family’s history? Or because he’s putting their relationship first, before his journalistic integrity?

As the “spare” twin, Princess Charlotte has always been the responsible one. So when her sister finally agrees to fulfill her duty as queen, Charlotte gives herself permission to break a few rules by flirting with the very off-limits CEO of Walker Media. Brooks is the worst sort of man to start an affair with, but Charlotte just can’t help it. The trouble is since she’s no good at playing games, soon she’s tiara over heels in love. And when Brooks comes clean, Charlotte must decide whether his confession is worth a royal pardon.

My review:

Have you ever wanted to read a book where the villain got his happily ever after and he got it with one of the fairytale characters? Well, read Royal Affair because that is exactly what happens here. Starting off hot and steamy and ending with a very surprising happily ever after, Royal Affair made me run the gauntlet of emotions while reading it. I went from being insanely happy to almost depressed within the same chapter. Now, normally that would throw me off a book, but in this case, it made me like it more.

Royal Affair is also one of those books that eclipse the first book in the series. Now, don’t get me wrong, I loved it when I read Della and Colin’s romance. It was just that it was missing something and I couldn’t put my finger on it. Then I read Royal Affair and went, “Ahhhh, that’s what’s missing.” What was missing was genuine feelings that developed between Brooks and Charlotte. Della and Colin didn’t have that (read my review on Royal Scandal….it is linked above).

I really liked Charlotte. She was so sweet and had an innocence that just made you want to shelter her even more than she had been. She has been through a lot. From the deaths of her parents to finding out who her biological father was (read the book if you want to find out) to being outed by Brooks. she has been through the wringer. It left her with anxiety issues and honestly, as a person who suffers from anxiety, I really liked that the author chose not to make her issues go away. Instead, they were right out in the open and she was dealing with them as a regular, real-life person would do.  There are a couple of huge secrets that aren’t revealed until halfway through the book. Both I didn’t see coming….at all and both made me go “No way” when they were revealed. So, slow clap to the author for doing that!!

Brooks, who was made out to be a jerk in the first place, really wasn’t that bad of a guy once you got to know him. He had a razor-sharp wit and he knew how to negotiate a bargin….which is what he did when he first made that deal with Charlotte. He was a business person up until David contacted him with an envelope and some damning information about Charlotte and Imogen. He just couldn’t open that envelope. It was then that I knew he had serious feelings for her.

Besides that two plot twists that I named above, there is one that I saw coming from a mile away. It is my only complaint about the book is that. I really wish that it didn’t go there.

The sex between Charlotte and Brooks were very, very hot and they did the nasty in some pretty interesting areas. Just read the book to find out where 🙂

The end of the book was pretty bittersweet. It was sweet because Charlotte did get her heart’s desire but bitter because Brooks had to take such a personal hit. I loved the epilogue and can’t wait to read Theo’s story!!

I did have a couple of questions:

Was Briggs accident truly an accident? Because with everything that was going on I wouldn’t have been surprised if it wasn’t.

Who sent that text to Brooks? If it wasn’t Charlotte and if it wasn’t Imogene….then who was it?

Why is Davis so darn slippery? He is seriously starting to annoy me

How many stars will I give Royal Affair: 4

Why: Great characters, an engaging plot and hot sex equal a fantastic read

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: Sex, violence, and language

I received a free copy of this book and volunteered to review it

Royal Scandal (Royals in Exile: Book 1) by Marquita Valentine

Royal Scandal (Royals in Exile, #1)

Title: Royal Scandal

Author: Marquita Valentine

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Loveswept

Date of publication: January 24th, 2017

Genre: Romance

Number of pages: 176

POV: Alternating 1st person

Series: Royals in Exile

Royal Scandal – Book 1

Where you can find this book: Amazon

Goodreads synopsis:

Forced to flee to the United States with his siblings after their parents’ assassination, Crown Prince Colin Sinclair takes it upon himself to become the caretaker of his family while hiding out near Charlotte, North Carolina. But after a decade in hiding, the secret’s out and Parliament demands that Colin wed a princess of their choosing. Unwilling to play their game, Colin decides to marry an American instead, and he has the perfect candidate in mind.

As a home-service professional, Della Hughes doesn’t believe in storybook endings. But when her best friend and secret crush reveals that he’s a flesh-and-blood prince, she doesn’t know what to think. Still, she’ll do anything for Colin, including becoming his wife—in name only, of course. But when their plans to stay purely platonic go by the wayside, their fake honeymoon turns all too real. After a week of white-hot nights, Della can no longer deny her feelings—not with a happily ever after so tantalizingly close.

My review:

Colin Sinclair’s parents, they were assassinated by a rebel faction in their home country, the Isle of Man. Almost immediately after they were killed, Colin and his siblings were exiled from their kingdom by that country’s Parliament. Where were they exiled too? America, more exactly a suburb one hour outside of Charlotte. Which is a pretty crappy thing to do to two teenagers, two tweens, a toddler and an infant.

Colin meets Della during an angry confrontation over him evicting her family from their cottage on the grounds where Colin’s house is. After realizing that he might have signed the papers without looking at them (and possibly being sleep deprived), he apologizes to Della and tells her that her family can stay indefinitely. During this time, Della meets Pierce and Aiden and falls in love with them.

Fast forward 10 years,

Della and Colin have become best friends (and each is harboring a secret crush on one another) and are co-raising Colin’s brothers, Pierce and Aiden. Della doesn’t know that Pierce and Aiden are Colin’s brothers. Even more, Colin hasn’t come clean that he is royalty. Actually, any of his family, to be honest. Imogene, his sister, is the Queen with Charlotte, Theo, Pierce, and Aiden as Princes. Della just thinks that Colin is a suave businessman who goes to London, a lot.

Colin is summoned to London by Prime Minister Davies, a nasty old man who is the head of the Parliament of Colin’s kingdom. He has news regarding their exile (which Colin has been tirelessly petitioning to lift it) and needs Colin to fly into London ASAP. When he goes to the meeting, he gave a proposal. Their exile will be lifted if he A) marries a woman of their choosing and B) Parliament crowns him as King. Bit of a side note, this is a matriarchal rulership. There has always been a Queen… never a King.

Colin decides to take matters into his own hands regarding who he is going to marry. He refuses to be pushed into a marriage like his grandmother and mother and he refuses to let the Parliament push him around anymore. He decides that he is going to tell Della who he is and then ask her to marry him.

The sex between Colin and Della seemed forced and I saw no connection between them, sexually. Not that it wasn’t hot, because they were flaming hot. Maybe it was because I thought that there was really no attraction. We had no build up. No flirting. Just, getting married and hopping into bed.

I did like Colin a lot. From the minute his parents died, he assumed responsibility for his brothers and sisters and he started working on getting their exile repealed. At only 19. Of course, he had Beaumont, Tressie, and Della helping him. But still.

I liked Della too. She was sweet, sassy and loved Colin for who he was, not who he is (if that makes sense).

There were a couple of plot twists that took me by surprise and I thought I had figured out one but there was more to it and I was genuinely surprised. The other plot twist, which was revealed around the same time as the other one, kinda blew my mind. Not what I expected.

The ending was what I expected, with everything wrapped up neatly with a bow. And I loved the epilogue, that was 5 years later. Made me all teary eyed. I honestly can’t wait to read the rest of the books.

How many stars will I give Royal Scandal: 3

Why: I loved the book but I felt that the dialogue was stilted and the romance between Colin/Della seemed very forced. The book did lag in the middle but the author did recover nicely. Overall, a nice book that would be perfect for the beach/pool.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: Sex and language

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**