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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
:( the audiobook for the first book was amazing - this one was a disaster. Mattias doesn't work in the voice of a woman trying to sound like a surly man, Pat was boring and the narrative spends way too much time with the royal couple when the interesting part should be the main couple instead. I had to drop it three or four chapters in, which hurts cause I wasted my precious audible credit for the month. Perhaps I will give it a chance on print form once I can read again because I suspect the voice acting was a big part of this failing for me.
Really slow by page 163 we were just getting into the actual plot a bit.
Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy! This is a super sweet, soft, sequel to Lucy Parker’s Battle Royale, but can totally be read as a stand alone, and I loved it! Petunia (Pet) and Matthias both work for a royal couple, Pet as their assistant and Matthias as a bodyguard. They are forced or coaxed into fake dating to help the couple’s public image, and romance ensues. I did read Parker’s first book in this series, Battle Royale and loved it, and though this is different, it still showcases Parker’s great writing style. Parker is subtle and very charming, giving readers a slow build romance that is masterful. This is a beauty and the beast retelling as well, and I thought that element of this story was well done. The plot is not quite as fast moving as Battle Royale, but it still moves at an ok pace and ends up being very thoughtful and sweet, really charming me into loving both characters by the end. I recommend this book for fans of Lucy Parker, fake dating trope, beauty and the beast retellings, and sweet contemporary romance.
This was a joy to read and now I have to go get the other book because I read them out of order.
This was amazing. I’m still grinning. Page 360, was such a winner (all of them are great… there’s just something particularly excellent there with the ladies.)
This was amazing. I’m still grinning. Page 360, was such a winner (all of them are great… there’s just something particularly excellent there with the ladies.)
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Not Lucy Parker's best work. I was looking forward to this book and am disappointed. The characters felt very two dimensional to me. Their motivations were thin, and just felt slotted into the plot. I also really liked Rosie and Johnny in Battle Royal and they were flattened down to caricatures, with Johnny's accidents being so ridiculous as to make him clownish.
emotional
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Tropes: fake dating, slow burn
Steam level: 🌶
Honestly, this was too long and too slow for me. I didn't immediately connect with the characters, either, which didn't help. There's nothing wrong with them, but where Battle Royal started with a sense of humor that immediately hit for me, that was missing here.
Pet and Matthias are both very likeable, and the romance is cute and follows the expected route. It's just longer than it needs to be which, combined with a slow burn, made it drag for me. There is a secondary plot thread related to Pet's family, but that doesn't start until about 40-50% in. The fake dating and characters alone just didn't carry the plot enough.
Spoiler for something that happens at the end:I'm also just not a huge fan of that trope where they ran into each other once as kids, never forgot, and now they're in love.
Steam level: 🌶
Honestly, this was too long and too slow for me. I didn't immediately connect with the characters, either, which didn't help. There's nothing wrong with them, but where Battle Royal started with a sense of humor that immediately hit for me, that was missing here.
Pet and Matthias are both very likeable, and the romance is cute and follows the expected route. It's just longer than it needs to be which, combined with a slow burn, made it drag for me. There is a secondary plot thread related to Pet's family, but that doesn't start until about 40-50% in. The fake dating and characters alone just didn't carry the plot enough.
Spoiler for something that happens at the end:
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was a decent romance! Probably didn't need all the side plots, made it a little bit long, but it was overall very sweet.