Tag Archives: fake relationship

Nat reviews Her Royal Happiness by Lola Keeley

Posted on by
the cover of ​​Her Royal Happiness by Lola Keeley

Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link

If there’s a perfect time to read about the English monarchy and all its drama, well, it’s probably right now. Her Royal Happiness is low on the angst without glossing over the big ticket issues. Classism, racism, colonialism—Keeley touches on them all, without ever delving too far into serious topics, because let’s be honest, we know how to turn on the news. Bringing up serious themes in this work feels more like a placeholder or an acknowledgement—let’s put a pin in this for another time, but right now, let’s read a kissing book. 

Not that I’m a big follower of the royal family’s comings and goings, but if you’ve seen any news at all in the last several years, you probably know a thing or two about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Let’s be real, Her Royal Happiness is pretty much the queer version of them, but with a squishy royal happy ending. Princess Alice is an Olympic medalist and two tour combat pilot with medals to show for it. Her father was killed in an accident when she was young, while he was running from paparazzi. Sound familiar? Sara is Persian, a single mother raising a child on a modest income in South London. She might not be an American actress, but the tension is mirrored in the form of class differences and her family background.

Sara’s mother fled from Iran to France, but ironically, her mother is not the one who has issues with the royal family and their colonizing ways. Our main character is not a fan of royalty, and not quiet in her criticism. Keeley does a good job at showing Princess Alice being aware of some issues around racism and classism, while pointing out that she’s still been living in a bubble and has some growth ahead of her. Sara notes things along the way that our posh Princess may not have considered, including her views on war, especially from the POV of a soldier of an invading country. Again, we don’t get too deep or dark, but the author keeps us aware that it’s not all corgis and sunshine at the palace. 

Autism and the need for education tailored to different children’s strengths is another key topic of this work. But for those of you who don’t particularly like reading romances featuring children, I’ll note that one thing I really appreciated is that although some of the conflict (not to mention the meet cute and much of the motivation) is centered around the kids, the kids’ points of view don’t feature heavily and there isn’t a lot of kid-centric description. 

Overall, Keeley masters the balance between real world issues and a modern fiction fairy tale. If you need a bit of a warm blanket in the next few months, or just want a bit of a do over of current events in the multi universe, here’s a good place to find it. 

Mary Springer reviews The Wolf Diaries by Bridget Essex

Posted on by

The Wolf Diaries by Bridget Essex cover

I love this book. Preferably, I would have a better way to segue into this review, but there’s no way to better introduce it than to say, I love this book.

Jadin is a werewolf with a big heart, and when the lonely and lovely Tess (also a werewolf) asks her to be her pretend girlfriend, she can’t help by say yes. Jadin immediately falls for Tess, but Tess is unfortunately still hung up on her ex-fiance Laurie. Laurie, who doesn’t deserve such devotion from Tess, and whose wedding is the exact reason Jadin has a reason to spend time with Tess while pretending to be her girlfriend.

The first thing that really hooked me into this book was Jadin’s wonderful voice that jumped off the page and along with that her sense of humor. There were many parts where I laughed out loud at Jadin’s jokes, sometimes at her own expense and sometimes at the situations she finds herself in.

Jadin’s character really came through vividly and the same can be said for the rest of the characters. It was easy to stay engaged when I felt like I knew these people and easily care about what happened to them. Jadin clearly genuinely cared about Tess from beginning. I was surprised to find myself falling for Tess as Jadin did. This isn’t told from both their POVs, just Jadin’s. Usually I don’t like this in romance because then it’s harder to relate and engage with whomever doesn’t have a viewpoint portion in the book. However, Jadin’s narration made me feel like I knew Tess the way she did.

There were also several side characters that were just as easy to engage with. Laurie was a fantastic, believable antagonist and I had fun hating her. Mona was Tess’s best friend and had a great sense of humor as well as was a wonderful friend that helped move the plot along while also being a great addition to the cast. Finally, there’s Jadin’s mom, who was a fun and interesting hippy kind of character, as well as believable and engaging.

The romance was believable, and I found myself cheering Jadin and Tess on through the whole story. There was a good balance of physical attraction as well as genuine emotional connection.

My only complaint, and it is a small, nitpicky one, is that the werewolf element felt a bit too low key. There were parts where elements of being a werewolf were incorporated to the story. For example, smell was something Jadin picked up on and often described, which added to the character and world building. There was also a few other world building elements that were fun. However, it felt very little to what I expect when I find a book with werewolves. Again, though, it is a small complaint.

Overall, this was a great book that I highly recommend for anyone looking for a fun romance with the elements of the fake relationship and werewolves.

Mary Springer reviews In Development by Rachel Spangler

Posted on by

In Development by Rachel Spangler cover

Cobie has been in nice, safe romance films for too long. She wants to challenge herself with by acting in the lead role of Vale, but studios won’t take her because she lacks an edgy public persona that will sell the character to audiences. Lila is a pop star who is taking the world by storm and building an empire, but she has run out of new things to excite and shock the public. They join together in a fauxmance to help both their careers. However, things get complicated when they grow close and old demons of the past rise up.

This was a fantastic read! It has two of my favorite tropes in romance, which is the fake relationship and the Hollywood setting. Both are done well and the author clearly had fun using them to their full extent.

The story is told from both Cobie’s and Lila’s point of views, which really helped add to the romance and also helped me understand where both of them were coming from in disagreements. One of my pet peeves in romance is when there’s a big misunderstanding that seems to come out of nowhere with no established character flaw to motivate it. Both Cobie and Lila are flawed and have wounds from the past that are established early on and contribute to problems in their relationship. Every time they had a fight, I felt I understood where each of them was coming from, which helped keep me engaged.

The other characters were just as fun and interesting. Lila has two close friends that also work for her, Felipe and Malik, who are in a relationship. Cobie has her sister Emma and best friend Talia. There are also Lila’s and Cobie’s managers, Mimi and Stan, who get them together for the fauxmance in the first place. All of them really helped flesh out the book beyond Cobie and Lila, but didn’t distract from the romance.

Speaking of which, the romance was done really well. Cobie and Lila feel the heat between them but deny it because they need this fauxmance to work for their careers, and also because of past experiences that they haven’t dealt with yet. I could fully believe these two were attracted to each other and falling for one another. The sex scenes were also pretty great. Throughout the whole story, I was always engaged and excited to see what was coming next.

Another aspect I enjoyed was the believability of their careers and how those careers were interwoven with the plot. The story really shows you how important acting and singing are to Cobie and Lila respectively and how those parts of their lives affect them and this romance.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I recommend it to anyone who wants to read a great romance between two women.