Romance Review: Royal Holiday

Summary: Awesome protagonist in a fairy tale setting, with a few great sex scenes, perfect relationship building – I loved everything about this one!

In The Wedding Party, protagonist Maddie’s mom Vivian was by far my favorite secondary character, so I was thrilled to see her get her own chance at romance in this book. I’m also not surprised to report that this was by far my favorite book in this series. Vivian is delightful. She’s extremely sensible, but she also really wants to help people, she’s kind, and she takes the time to get to know everyone she encounters. She also has a delightful relationship with Maddie, where they both support each other and can joke around together.

The setting of this book was also a lot of fun. Beginning with a first-class flight and continuing on to a stay at a British cottage (read “mansion”), made this book feel the most like a wish-fulfillment fantasy of any of the novels. As Vivian falls in love with the Queen’s first secretary, Malcolm Hudson, they’re able to go horseback riding together and send each other notes via footmen. The communication via note was truly adorable. I loved that our protagonists could build a relationship this way. I related to and enjoyed the fact that they both like that they can be silly around each other.

After my complaint in the previous book about protagonists not just talking to each other, one of the moments in this book that I found sexiest and most exciting was when Vivian found herself not saying something she wanted to say and then decided to be direct. Thank goodness for a sensible protagonist! Speaking of sexiness, this book didn’t have a ton of detailed sex scenes, but it made up for quantity with quality. Our protagonists have a lot of fun together and every part of the book helped us see what they love about each other. The relationship building was spot on. I also appreciate that the author brought in just enough realism in terms of the challenges the protagonists face in their own lives to make it feel like this fairy tale could really happen. Truly, my favorite romance in this great series.

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