Tag Archives: Royalty Romance

Duke, Actually — Jenny Holiday — Christmas in Eldovia #2

Author: Jenny Holiday
Narrator: Stacy Gonzalez

Genre: Royalty Romance
Actual Rating: 5 stars
Narration: 5 mikes
Spicy Meter: 4 fire emojis (because it made me wait too long)
Content Warnings: Discusses homophobia, physical and emotional abuse, and parental death. Mentions cheating. Contains explicit sexual content.

“Duke, Actually” follows Max von Hansburg, Baron of Laudon and future Duke of Aquilla, as he acquaintances himself with Dani Martinez, a professor and recent divorcée who’s best friends with the soon-to-be husband of the Princess of Eldovia. As they strike up an unlikely friendship, you get to see them both grow into the individuals they’re meant to be—only to be brought back together.

I, once again, have absolutely no complaints about the audiobook recording. As compared to Charlotte North, who narrated the first book and who I’ve listened to various times before, Stacy Gonzalez is a new audiobook actor for me. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for that name in future audiobooks, as I found her voice versatile and entertaining.

In this royalty romance you’ll get to fall in love with a player (or rake, if you will) that’s only so because he fears his position and future dukedom, and you’ll get to feel for the recent divorcée who, honestly, just wants it to be over with. I absolutely loved them both. Perhaps even more than I loved Leo and Princess Marie.

I feel like this was a tad bit less Christmas-centric as compared to the first book in this series, but perhaps its due to the fact that a whole year passed throughout the course of this book—so, even if we get glimpses at the holidays, it isn’t the only thing we see.

I think if I would recommend starting somewhere in this series, it would be “Duke, Actually”. It’ll definitely get you in a mood for other royalty romances, which is just what Jenny Holiday has to offer with her Christmas in Eldovia series.

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A Princess for Christmas — Jenny Holiday — Christmas in Eldovia #1

“He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it.
Because why not? A cabdriver from the Bronx didn’t have that many opportunities to spend the evening with a princess, and when he did—especially if she was a sad princess—he should probably seize the chance to kiss her hand.”

Author: Jenny Holiday
Narrator: Charlotte North

Genre: Royalty Romance
Actual Rating: 5 stars
Narration: 5 mikes
Spicy Meter: 4 fire emojis
Content Warnings: Discusses parental death, grieving, and economic hardships. Mentions the refugee crisis. Has explicit sexual content.

“A Princess for Christmas” is the first book in the Christmas in Eldovia series, and it follows Princess Marie of Eldovia and Leo Ricci of…the Bronx? Leo is a cab driver that’s just doing his best. After his parents die, he is forced to drop out of college, become a taxi driver, and raise his little sister—while barely making ends meet. Then one day his sister spots a “princess” in distress outside of the UN building and they decide to help, even though he’s technically off duty. That’s when these two unlikely lovers meet, but that’s not how their story ends. “A Princess for Christmas” will take you on a Hallmark movie adventure to the European nation of Eldovia, where everyone can fall in love…with the beauty of nature, amongst other things.

This book was literally the definition of “don’t judge a book by its cover”, because, oh, did I hate this cover (but loved this book). I, honest-to-God, have the biggest crush on Leo. He was the perfect man. Someone who sees their own imperfections and seeks to be better, do better. Marie was also so relatable although she was a literal princess? Its kind of hard to explain.

I adored this audiobook. I will literally listen to anything Charlotte North narrates. I have listened to a few of her recording before. This time around, her voice was soothing but captivating. I legit wouldn’t change a thing, hence the 5 mike review.

So, by the time I’m writing this review, I have already read the others in the series, and I can’t really tell which one I liked best. But to hell with it, it’s the holidays season, grab all the books and enjoy these wintery love stories. You won’t regret it.

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To Marry and to Meddle — Martha Waters — The Regency Vows #3

Genre: Romance, Royalty
Actual Rating: 3 stars
Content Warning: Sexual content, as per usual in this series.

“To Marry and to Meddle”, the last book in The Regency Vows series, follows the sweet Lady Emily Turner and the scandalous Lord Julian Belfry. Emily has found no acceptable suiters in the six seasons she’s been part of due to her family’s troubles, while Lord Julian is still cast off from society as he owns a theater with a dubitable reputation. Emily wants to be married off to someone half decent-not her father’s creditor-while Lord Julian wants his theater to become a respectable one-one where men take their wives, not their mistresses. Settling down for a marriage of convenience, Lord Julian hopes Emily will help bring higher society into his theater while Emily will finally be free of her family’s shame, but they weren’t counting on any feelings that may arise.

As soon as I read that this book would be about Lord Julian, I knew it would be the funniest of the lot, and I wasn’t wrong. I think Lord Julian has been my favorite character and ever since we met him in the first book, “To Have and to Hoax”, I have absolutely loved his quirkiness and his bravery, as I don’t think I would’ve been able to do what he did, leaving his family to own a theater and be an actor, in the period of time that he lived.

I feel like this last book in The Regency Vows series was relatively slower-paced than the books that preceded it… Or perhaps it was just that I had grown tired of the dynamics of these books, as I felt like they all told the same stories to some extent. I would concede that this was the sweetest of them all, but oh well. I’m not sure if I would recommend reading these books back to back. The series was lovely, but I guess somewhat repetitive.

I would recommend this book to fans of the first season of Bridgerton and this series to any lovers of period dramas. It has been a truly entertaining ride, and I am so glad I found this series when I did: a few weeks before the second season of Bridgerton dropped, and just as its third and last book was released.

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To Love and to Loathe — Martha Waters — The Regency Vows #2

Genre: Romance, Royalty
Actual Rating: 3 stars
Content Warning: Sexual content, death of a family member, and grief.

“To Love and to Loathe” follows Jeremy, the Marquess of Willingham, and Diana, Lady Templeton, as they become lovers of sorts. The Marquess and Lady Templeton have known each other forever and their sexual tension has been evident for just as long—but they’d never be the perfect match for the other, the Marquess is a player and Diana’s brother’s best mate. That’s why, when they’re younger, Diana marries someone else, someone much older, becoming Lady Templeton and then just as quickly becoming a widow. Now, years after becoming a widower, Lady Templeton is approached by the Marquess of Willingham because his pride has been wounded. Having a previous lover critique his sexual skills and branding them as mediocre, the Marquess asks Lady Templeton to take him as a lover, as to be reassured that his skills are indeed acceptable and so other men are aware that she’d be interested in taking in a lover. Through a regal friends-with-benefits situation, this book will transport you to the 1800s and make you fall in love (again).

This was a very lighthearted book with the same storytelling, dynamics, and tropes as the first book in this series. Following two characters we met in “To Have and to Hoax”, this second installment was told through different points of view and had some enemies-to-lovers action going on—just like the first installment did. The only reason this book had a lower rating than the first book in the series did is that I got bored at times. Objectively, this book wasn’t extremely slow-paced, but I just lost interest and had to stop reading it. This book did not hook me as intensively as “To Have and to Hoax” did.

In essence, you’ll love this book if you loved the first book in the “The Regency Vows” series, but at the same time, I feel like this book would work well as a standalone. Yes, you’ll understand some backstory better if you’ve read “To Have and to Hoax”, but if you get your hands on “To Love and to Loathe” first, don’t hesitate to read it.

I would recommend this book to readers who like the friends-with-benefits and enemies-to-lovers dynamics.

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To Have and to Hoax — Martha Waters — The Regency Vows #1

“(…) If you are going to insist on losing faith in someone the moment you see the slightest possibility that they have wronged you, you are going to have a very frustrating life.”

Genre: Romance, Royalty
Actual Rating: 4 stars
Content Warnings: Toxic relationships and friendships, sexual content and sexism.

Set in what seems to be the 1800s, “To Have and to Hoax” follows Lady Violet Grey and Lord James Audley, a couple who got married out of love, which was extremely back in the day. After one year of blissful marriage, they get in a fight so great that they barely speak for the following 4 years. Then, Lady Violet gets a letter, telling her her husband has been in a grave accident. As she rushes to where he is only to find he is actually fine and well, she sets to get her revenge, because it isn’t fair that they barely talk and she still cares for him. In a comedic telling, this romance book will transport you to times similar to books like “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility”.

I pretty much grabbed this book because I was reminiscing how much I enjoy the “Pride and Prejudice” 2005 movie and to start setting the mood for season 2 of Bridgerton. And I must say, “To Have and to Hoax” did a perfect job at that. I loved the tension and scheming and the period language. The first installment in The Regency Vows series is lighthearted, funny, and very heavily focused on character development. For its length, it was a very fast read, even if it wasn’t that fastly paced.

I would recommend this book to lovers of period dramas and to readers who enjoy the enemies-to-lovers trope.

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