No one melts this ice princess but me.

Friday nights have a routine.

Drinks with my brothers. Maybe a casual hookup later.

Then the ice princess walks into the bar. And it's game over for me.

I can't figure her out. She runs hot and cold. She turns me inside-out.

I like to keep my one-night stands cut and dried--my ambitions outweigh my emotions every time. Until she disappears without a trace. And I discover her little secret- she's an actual princess.

I need more than one night from her. Much more.

A woman like that deserves the whole fairy tale. She deserves a charming prince.

Too bad I'm the one that's going to earn all her happy endings…

Title: The Billionaire's Princess
Author: Ava Ryan
Series: Fairy Tale Billionaire Series (Book 1)
Pages: 209
Genre(s): Contemporary, US, Billionaire Romance, Fairy Tale Romance
Hot Buttons: n/a

Release Date: 27th August, 2020

A really great billionaire fairytale

4 stars

This is my first Ava Ryan and if this is any indication of her writing and stories, then it definitely won’t be my last. In fact, I already have my beady little eyes on the next two books in this series.

But onto this book first…

This story is the first in a new series of fairytale retellings (Fairytale Billionaires) - this one taking its cue from Cinderella. (At least, that's what I thought, anyway!)

Our hero and heroine - Damon and Carly - meet early on and don’t get off to the best start. Damon is instantly interested but Carly is having none of it and shuts him down. He’s not deterred and manages to turn things around culminating in a wild night. Before she disappears…

I immediately liked Damon. He was alpha, in-charge, bossy and knew exactly what he wanted. Carly gave him a run for his money, though, which definitely put him on the back foot. It’s always difficult to portray a strong man who has been laid low by a woman, without making him look weak. Damon never looked weak - just head-over-heels smitten. He was a delight.

Carly was just as good of a character. She was sassy, independent, strong…but… she’s supposed to be British. Well, just her speech, mannerisms - it was clear she wasn’t. Not overtly so, but probably quite obvious to those of us of the British persuasion.

And on that note - why do people find it so confusing that the royal family are of the United Kingdom (etc, etc) and not just England? Queen of England? So much nope!

That aside, the writing in this book was engaging and fast paced, probably helped by the fact it’s in first person, present tense and alternates between the viewpoints of both our main characters. You easily get sucked into the story and very quickly start rooting for our main characters. Even the secondary characters, namely Damon’s brothers, Ryker and Griffin, stood out for me. I’m hoping the next two books (The Billionaire’s Beauty and The Billionaire’s Cinderella) will be their stories as we do hear snippets about matches the pair made on the same night Damon met Carly.

This was a hugely enjoyable book with great characters, great banter and a satisfying love story - complete with happily ever after, obviously! I’m so pleased I’ve now been introduced to Ava Ryan and her stories - I can see her becoming a firm favourite of mine in the future. 4 stars from me for this one - and very much recommended.

 

 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR!

 

Ava Ryan is an author of sexy contemporary romance. Her favorite things, in no special order, are animals, her family, cookies, people with great senses of humor and love stories. Currently in her writer’s cave (ostensibly working hard on her next book while also checking Netflix every few hours to make sure she hasn’t missed a new true crime documentary show), she loves hearing from readers via her website or social media. If you love billionaire alpha males, the feisty women who snag their hearts and books that end with a happily ever after, you’ve come to the right place. Please make sure to subscribe to Ava’s newsletter to stay in the loop about her latest releases and upcoming books!

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His until midnight…

Bound by her nine-month surprise!

Izzy Campbell has no time for love – she’s too busy cleaning houses to support her family. Accidentally interrupting her most exclusive client, sheikh Rafiq, coming out of the shower is mortifying…yet their instantaneous attraction leads to the most amazing night of innocent Izzy’s life! But then she does a pregnancy test…

Crown Prince Rafiq’s world changes the instant Izzy arrives in his desert kingdom and reveals her royal secret. He always thought he could never have children, so he’s determined to make this pregnant Cinderella his queen!

Title: Cinderella's Royal Secret
Author: Lynne Graham
Series: Once Upon a Temptation (Book 1)
Pages: 192
Genre(s): Mills & Boon, Sheikh, Royalty
Hot Buttons: difficult first marriage <-- highlight to reveal (may contain spoilers)

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Likeable with a few issues

3 Stars

Sometimes I’m just in the mood for a Mills & Boon - and more specifically a Mills & Boon about a handsome sheikh (okay fine, so he’s a crown prince) and the virginal British girl that he steals away to live in his desert kingdom. Sigh. And for the most part, that’s what you get with this book.

Our couple have their “meet cute” in the form of our heroine, Izzy, coming into the bathroom to clean it just as our hero, Rafiq, steps out of the shower! In a bind, Rafiq asks if Izzy can cook, as well as clean for him - hence the Cinderella aspect of the story.

Rafiq is less sheikhy (totally a word) than I expected. Still with an air of authority and alpha entitlement, but not so dictatorial and old-fashioned as I would have assumed. And I loved the fact that he was a little bit emotionally damaged, the poor baby. I just wanted to give him a big hug - very little of which was because of the fact he’s ridiculously good looking! He was a bit of a sweetheart and I did like him.

My feelings for Izzy were a little bit more fuzzy. Not the character’s fault but when Rafiq sets eyes on her he notes she barely looks like a woman - more like a young girl. That’s just…icky! He changes his mind quite quickly but can we please stop using this to show our heroine is young, petite, small etc? It doesn’t sit well with me.

I can imagine it’s difficult to write a character with a bit of back bone, grit and determination without having her come across as, well, too much. Izzy wasn’t too much - but I did feel confused by her. Was she this shy, virginal girl - or the mouthy, irreverent seductress? Despite this confusion, I was starting to like Izzy more and more - and cheered her spirit in standing up to Rafiq - and going after him when she found herself pregnant. Then the issue of where their offspring would live came up and any liking I had for Izzy went right out the window. What an immature brat she was. It’s one thing to have a character say something, it’s another for their inner monologue to show that they believe it to be true. Really disappointing and from there I felt Rafiq could have/should have chosen someone closer to his age (28) than this immature 21 year old.

There was a nice lick of heat with the story - more than I’ve come to expect from this line. It wasn’t erotica by any stretch, but I was pleasantly surprised. It also helped that Izzy and Rafiq had good chemistry and you could feel their growing desire and love for each other in their actions.

The story was simple and focussed on the love story of Rafiq and Izzy - how they met, got pregnant and then fell in love - overcoming their issues on the way. There were a couple of flowery moments where it felt like words - or sometimes whole sentences - were fed into a thesaurus and changed to appear more fancy. It wasn’t necessary and at times it made sentence structure a bit clumsy and somewhat convoluted. As I said, a shame because the story was eminently readable and I rattled through it for the most part.

There was also some head hopping going on - sometimes changing after 2-3 paragraphs with no notice of a change of perspective. It was dizzying and again led to re-reading some passages once it became apparent we were in someone else’s head than I had initially realised.

I feel like I’ve been a bit moany with this review - but I did very much enjoy this book. It delivers what it sets out to deliver and you will speed through it in no time. There’s also a nice tease about Izzy’s twin sister, Maya, and her own story, which I’m assuming will be Book 2 in the Once Upon a Temptation series of which this is the first. If you enjoy Mills & Boon Modern stories, Lynne Graham’s writing or just want whisked away with a sheikh fantasy (yeah, yeah crown prince) then you will likely enjoy this story. 3 stars from me.

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Every prince has his secrets. And she’s determined to unravel his…

Every dashing young man in London’s ton is vying for Lady Caroline Hawke’s hand—except one. Handsome, delectable roué Prince Leopold of Alucia can’t quite remember who Caroline is, and the insult is not to be tolerated. So, Caroline does what any clever, resourceful lady of means would do to make sure a prince remembers her: sees that amusingly risqué morsels about Leo’s reputation are printed in a ladies’ gossip gazette…all the while secretly setting her cap for the rakish royal.

Someone has been painting Leo as a blackguard, but who? Socially, it could ruin him. More important, it jeopardizes his investigation into a contemptible scheme that reaches the highest levels of government in London. Now, Leo needs Lady Caroline’s help to regain access to society. But this charming prince is about to discover that enlisting the deceptively sweet and sexy Lady Caroline might just cost him his heart, his soul and both their reputations…

 

Title: A Royal Kiss and Tell
Author: Julia London
Series: Royal Wedding Series - Book 2 (Standalone)
Pages: 384
Genre(s): Historical, Victorian, England, Royalty
Hot Buttons: intrigue involving the sex trade/people smuggling  <-- highlight to reveal (may contain spoilers)


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Enchanting and engrossing regal romance

5 Stars

I was very much looking forward to this book having read and adored the first in the series, The Princess Plan. This book follows a separate couple than the first book, and while it does stand alone, I think you will enjoy this much better if you read the first book before reading this one.

You will also more likely have a better opinion of Caroline at the beginning of the story if you’ve “met” her before. She is definitely not the usual type of shy, retiring, modest heroine that we find in a historical novel - this one being set in Victorian times. I liked her, and enjoyed her spirit and fire - but I have to admit, from seeing her first through Leopold’s eyes, she could be seen as quite brash, vain and possibly unlikeable.

Equally so, however, Leo isn’t exactly a paragon of virtue at the beginning of our story. He’s not the heir but the spare, and has led a dissolute and drunkenly rakish lifestyle that only a royal prince could probably lead. But he’s tall, handsome, cocky and arrogant so I obviously fell in love with him. As you do. More so as the book progressed and his character grew.

At the beginning, he has no real interest in Caroline - a fact I admit to finding as vexing as Caroline herself did. Caroline noticed him from the first moment she saw him and was slightly infatuated - and expected him to be the same of her. It may sound vain and arrogant on the part of Caroline but, as the book progresses, we begin to understand that while she does enjoy the attention, it’s also a sort of defence mechanism - or a test - as she’s become aware people only ever like her for her looks rather than her personality. Likewise with Leo, there’s a bit of an epiphany with regards to himself and his life. So we have equal growth and depth in our main couple which makes it all the more satisfying as they fall in love - and know that the other is falling in love with their true self.

It definitely was a satisfying love story. I enjoyed watching Leo and Caroline as they moved through a whole gamut of emotions and it was very clever the way Ms London managed to slowly and subtly change all the things that each of them disliked about the other into the things that they loved. It made me sigh. There were a couple of delicious sex scenes - actually maybe just two if I remember correctly - but they weren’t missing from the book as there was a lot of kissing. And when the secret smiles between our pair are as emotive as a full-on sex scene - you know you’re doing something right.

For those that have read the first story, we also get to see Eliza and Sebastian’s wedding which gave me so many feels that I need to go back and read their story again. I might even have done some cheek dabbing with a silk ‘kerchief during those parts!

As with our first book, we get a bit of intrigue to go alongside our romance. This time, it’s not as pivotal to the plot - apart from how the consequences of Leo’s actions with regards to that intrigue affect his relationship with Caroline. The romance is very much central to the book and as such, we don’t really get to see the ending of the intrigue in real time - just a ‘and this is what happened’. I didn’t mind this approach at all but I did think it was worth a mention.

This story really absorbs you into the Victorian era and into the lives of our characters - both the royals and the commoners. I’m no fan, and have no time for, the actual royals - so I’m happy to report that this definitely isn’t a book that rides on the coattails of recent modern royal marriages. So if you’re not a royal fan - don’t let that put you off this book. But  equally, I’m sure if you like the royals, you’ll delight in this novel, too.

A few Americanisms are dotted throughout the text which always pull me out of the story (and annoy me greatly) Gotten, off of and sidewalk are those that stuck out in my mind although there were others more in the manner of speaking and sentence structure. I didn’t let them affect my rating, however, as overall the book was entertaining and I still loved getting lost in the story.

I’m hoping to hear that there will be stories for Beck and Hollis (and Donovan) - so we can catch up with these characters and those from The Princess Plan, and also so I can come back to this engaging and engrossing world that Ms London has created for us. A delightfully enchanting romance with a smidgen of intrigue - I highly recommend this story. 5 stars.

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* I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *


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The Royal Wedding Series:

               

   

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Passion. Intrigue. Love.

London’s high society loves nothing more than a scandal. And when the personal secretary of the visiting Prince Sebastian of Alucia is found murdered, it’s all anyone can talk about, including Eliza Tricklebank. Her unapologetic gossip gazette has benefited from an anonymous tip off about the crime, forcing Sebastian to ask for her help in his quest to find his friend’s killer.

With a trade deal on the line and mounting pressure to secure a noble bride, there’s nothing more dangerous than a prince socialising with a commoner. Sebastian finds Eliza’s contrary manner as frustrating as it is seductive, but they’ll have to work together if they’re going to catch the culprit. And soon, as temptation becomes harder to ignore, it’s the prince who’ll have to decide what comes first—his country or his heart.

Title: The Princess Plan
Author: Julia London
Series: Royal Wedding Series
Pages: 400
Genre(s): Historical, Victorian, England, Royalty
Hot Buttons: murder  <-- highlight to reveal (may contain spoilers)


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🍹 Scroll down for an exclusive recipe for Eliza's Royal Rum Punch! 🍹

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There are a couple of things that would normally make me pass on this book: I don’t normally do Victoran set novels (this takes places in 1845) and it’s inspired by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s romance - which is so embarrassingly cringeworthy I just can’t. And while I’ve read a couple of Julia London’s stories before, I honestly can’t remember them, which says it all, apparently.

Thank goodness I ignored my own misgivings as this book was just fantastic!

The first thing I became aware of is how much I loved Eliza. I can imagine it takes great skill to write a quirky, opinionated and singular character such as Eliza and still make her funny and relatable rather than just downright annoying. I adored her and her bluntness. She’s who I think I would be if I was placed in an environment that was shiny and new - overwhelmed and genuinely enthusiastic about every little thing.

Likewise, Crown Prince Sebastian tugged at my heartstrings something rotten. Strong, arrogant and entitled, we learn that he’s actually a lonely man who yearns for someone to see him. Even when he was being a royal douche, I loved him and wanted to give him a big ol’ cuddle.

And I loved Eliza and Sebastian together. They start off on the wrong foot. Well, they start off on the right foot but Sebastian manages to forget that encounter. I think I was annoyed as Eliza by that fact! But they slowly move to friends, and then something more. It was a delight to read, and quite emotional as the pair began to realise that circumstances meant they could never be together. I admit it, I shed a wee tear. (Okay so I was sobbing - sue me!)

We also have a little bit of a murder mystery going on in the background of the book and love story. There are a few red herrings thrown our way, but it’s not really that difficult to figure out the culprit - but that’s really not the point. The murder is obviously just the catalyst to bring Eliza and Sebastian together; and it’s definitely more about the small intrigues and amusing situations that our couple find themselves in while attempting to solve the mystery. I enjoyed that element of the book even if it petered out towards the end as the conclusion to our romance came to the fore.

I’m always nitpicky about Americanisms in stories set in Britain. While this one does so well with most things - we do not call them sidewalks. We call them pavements. Always pavements. Otherwise, I was impressed by the scene setting and language as a whole.

This book pulled me in from the start and I loved every last second of reading it. I see that this is the first in a new series and I’m hoping we’ll get stories for Hollis, Caro and even Beck and Prince Leopold. And of course, I would love to see how Eliza and Sebastian are getting on back in Alucia - hopefully with 12 little ones running around them!

If you’re looking for a fun and interesting romance about a girl who doesn’t believe she’ll ever get her happily ever after, and a prince who simply wants to be seen as a man, then you’ll fall in love with this story as much as I did. 5 massive stars from me.

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* I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *


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Eliza's Royal Rum Punch

Eliza sniffed at the punch. Then sipped it. Then imprudently downed it, draining the glass, because the punch was delicious. How tingly it made her feel!

Moments later, the footman suddenly appeared again and extended his nearly empty tray for her glass.

"Thank you," Eliza said sheepishly. "That was very good." She took one of the last glasses on his tray.

"Aye, madam. It's been amply mixed with rum."

Ingredients

One part light rum
One part dark rum
One part Triple Sec
Cointreau or apricot brandy
A dash of Grenadine
A teaspoon of lime juice
Three parts of freshly squeezed, chilled orange juice
Three parts of freshly squeezed, chilled pineapple juice
Crushed ice
Slice of pineapple and a cherry for garnish

Method:

Half-fill a cocktail shaker with ice.

Now add the white and dark rum, the Triple Sec, Cointreua and Grenadine - in that order.

Follow with the fruit juices.

Shake the mixture well, until the outside of the shaker starts to feel cold, then strain over the crushed ice into glasses.

Garnish and serve.

For that extra kick (and hey, it worked out for Eliza!) top with a dash of 151-proof rum!

Yum!


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The Royal Wedding Series:

               

   

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Click to see other books by Julia London