e-Audio, 11:57:52
Narrated by: Karen ChiltonRelease Date: April 30, 2019Published by: HarperAudio
Read from: May 25-June 2, 2019Reluctant Royals, #3Source: Library (Overdrive/ Libby)TW: Abusive parentFor fans of: Romance, Contemporary, Adult, POC MC, Companion, Own Voices, Realistic Fiction
The Reluctant Royals series returns with a good girl searching for the life that’s not too big, and not too small, and the bad boy prince who might be just right for her…
Nya Jerami fled Thesolo for the glitz and glamour of NYC but discovered that her Prince Charming only exists in her virtual dating games. When Nya returns home for a royal wedding, she accidentally finds herself up close and personal—in bed—with the real-life celebrity prince who she loves to hate.
For Johan von Braustein, the red-headed step-prince of Liechtienbourg, acting as paparazzi bait is a ruse that protects his brother—the heir to the throne—and his own heart. When a royal referendum threatens his brother’s future, a fake engagement is the perfect way to keep the cameras on him.
Nya and Johan both have good reasons to avoid love, but as desires are laid bare behind palace doors, they must decide if their fake romance will lead to a happily-ever-after.
BETWEEN THE COVERS!
*This book is part of the new adult contemporary romance genre! It is more mature than YA. I have featured it in Between the Covers as a way to feature the few Adult and New Adult titles I am beginning to read!"
*MY THOUGHTS*
In some ways this was one of my favorites in the series. In other ways I thought differently. But overall, this series is still one of my favorites and I LOVE that there is an own voices, Black Romance series that is SO AMAZING and so successful as this one!
Nya left Thesolo to escape the limelight as fast as she could once her father did what he did. She wasn't sure there would ever be anyone for her, only the ones in her app. But then she has to return to Thesolo for a royal wedding and she finds that things aren't going in the way she thought it would. Johan is on the other end, where all eyes were always on him and his family. And with the referendum threatening their family, he needs something to make them see more of him and less of his family.
Nya left Thesolo to escape the limelight as fast as she could once her father did what he did. She wasn't sure there would ever be anyone for her, only the ones in her app. But then she has to return to Thesolo for a royal wedding and she finds that things aren't going in the way she thought it would. Johan is on the other end, where all eyes were always on him and his family. And with the referendum threatening their family, he needs something to make them see more of him and less of his family.
The number one thing I loved about this was the characters and the romance they developed. It was adorable and I was ready for them to love each other from the first page they were together. I loved their chemistry and the problems they had to overcome to get together. I'm a sucker for Royal Romances lol And the fact that they didn't have anything really just "handed to them" since they were royals, it made it all the more better. I also loved them by themselves. Nya was hilarious with her "emoji" talk and Johan did everything he could to try and keep up his "bad boy" persona around her. It was really funny because the more they tried to stay away from each other, the more they fell for each other.
I also really loved the rep in this one. Johan's sibling comes out as non-binary and I loved how supportive they were of them. It's shows a large part of how Nya is and how she showed Johan to be as accepting. (Not that he wasn't to before, for clarification.) It really made my love for the book more prominent. And of course we can't forget the interracial romance between the two. The rep throughout this entire book was so amazing.
The only reason I couldn't give this 5 stars was the fact I listened to this via audio. Maybe I'm being nitpicky, but the production of this one wasn't great. It didn't seem like the others from this series. It seemed like I could hear everything from in the studio while they were recording. It wasn't like this with all the others, so maybe it was just the way I was listening to it? I tried it on different platforms and it was still there, so maybe it wasn't me? Idk. Whatever it was, it bothered me.This is definitely one where I should have read it and not listened.
This is the last one in the series and I hate that I have to say good-bye to them. The epilogue had so many surprises that I want to explore more! I can only hope that Alyssa Cole has more with these characters in mind too. I love this series and I can't wait to see what else she has with her royals coming up next.
Overall, I give this
