Review: Royally Matched by Emma Chase

Royally Matched (Royally #2)
by Emma Chase

Some men are born responsible, some men have responsibility thrust upon them. Henry John Edgar Thomas Pembrook, Prince of Wessco, just got the motherlode of all responsibility dumped in his regal lap.

He’s not handling it well.

Hoping to help her grandson to rise to the occasion, Queen Lenora agrees to give him “space”—but while the Queen’s away, the Prince will play. After a chance meeting with an American television producer, Henry finally makes a decision all on his own:

Welcome to Matched: Royal Edition.

 

A reality TV dating game show featuring twenty of the world’s most beautiful blue bloods gathered in the same castle. Only one will win the diamond tiara, only one will capture the handsome prince’s heart.

While Henry revels in the sexy, raunchy antics of the contestants as they fight, literally, for his affection, it’s the quiet, bespectacled girl in the corner—with the voice of an angel and a body that would tempt a saint—who catches his eye.

The more Henry gets to know Sarah Mirabelle Zinnia Von Titebottum, the more enamored he becomes of her simple beauty, her strength, her kind spirit… and her naughty sense of humor.

But Rome wasn’t built in a day—and irresponsible royals aren’t reformed overnight.

As he endeavors to right his wrongs, old words take on whole new meanings for the dashing Prince. Words like, Duty, Honor and most of all—Love.

Omg, my heart..i never cried for a royal before. Ever. Until I met Prince Henry..

Two weeks ago, I read Royally Screwed by Emma Chase and found Prince Nicholas quite the man. I thought he was the best thing that’s happened to a royal.. Honest, funny, charming, crazy in love. But when dashing prince Henry came to the rescue, life became even more exciting and fun!

In Royally Screwed, Prince Nicholas relinquished his title to Prince Henry and deep inside, I thought that was a big move, a big leap of faith. The mighty prince brought to his knees by a commoner. I thought that was so sweet.

 

In Royally Matched, Henry John Edgar Thomas Pembrook took his responsibilities in stride, not really serious in politicking and matters of the crown. Until a reality TV show got him chasing skirts of royal blood. A non-disclosure agreement was all he needed to sign and all the pretty girls would be frolicking his bedroom at night.

If only everything about reality TV were true.

Lady Sarah Mirabelle Zinnia Titebottum had this fear of public speaking. She would never dream of facing a hundred people and talking to them in public. No, she would rather hide in her nook and read Jane Austen novels than do the project that was assigned to her by her boss. But when a TV producer came knocking at their door and convinced her sister Penelope to join Matched: The Royal Edition, Sarah Titebottum agreed to chaperone her sister and fulfill her Act of Royalty instead of getting back to work.

If only she could get around the Royal Prince and dodge his every move. But when Henry met Sarah, he was intrigued by her. He wanted to discover everything about her, what made her tick, what books she read, what she wore underneath her black gothic dress. What he didn’t anticipate was him slowly falling for this timid, mysterious royal and willing to forget everything just to hold her tight and protect her from the villains of the world.

In the grand scheme of things, this reality TV show should solve all Prince Henry’s quest for a future Queen. But in the end, getting royally matched was the last thing he could ever hope for.

I love, love, love Prince Henry, and I would do everything for him. ‘Cause all of me loves all of him, all his curves and all his edges, all his perfect imperfections…. (I made you sing, didn’t I?)

“No, you don’t understand—”
“I understand perfectly. What you don’t seem to comprehend is that Sarah is my best friend. The only one I’ve got. I’m not fucking helping you. Piss off, Princess.”
He turns to walk away.
And I shout, “She’s hurt!”
That makes him pause mid-step, his back stiffening.
“I haven’t just made her angry, I’ve hurt her terribly. She’s still hurting . . . and I can’t stand it, Willard.” My hands find their way into my hair.
I move in front of him, bending my knees to catch his eyes, which seems quite apropos.
“Help me make it better. Not for me, but for her. Please.”

Sarah’s love for books gently rubbed on Henry and I thought that was so sweet. I am all for a guy who knows how to appreciate the written words, the texture of books, the smell of pages. Ahhh, it’s divine.

“The only thing that smells better than a new book is an old one.”
I put the book down.
“This isn’t it. She’d want a book that’s been read—dog-eared and held and sighed over—not one that’s been caged in glass its whole life. She’ll want one that’s been loved.”
Ever so slowly, Willard smiles. “There’s hope for you yet.”

Their slow burn romance got me really giddy and hopeful. I was dreamy eyed every time Henry comforted Sarah. I was in a roller-coaster of emotions whenever Sarah went catatonic. I was tickled to the bones when Henry spurt words I could only her from Casanova’s mouth.

I would give up a crown for her. I would give up my name, my title—I would trade my country, forfeit my birthright, lie, kill, cheat, and steal, for this. For her.

“If anything happens to you, I’ll die. I’m not exaggerating.” My voice is strangled and wetness trickles from my eyes and I don’t give a damn. “You are woven into my soul and you are wrapped around my heart. And if anything happens to you, both will wither and die and I won’t even care.”

The ending…

It may be quite expected, but it was definitely off-the-charts romantic. Absolutely up on my alley. I swoon and sighed and smiled and swoon again. Could this be love?

Emma Chase, I love you too… Please don’t stop writing royal stories and romances, okay?

 

P. S.

 

 

I  buddy read  this  awesome book  with  my  book  club gal, Blessie aka iBlessth13th, of  Mischievous Reads...

 

 

Review: A Thorne in Time by Lorel Clayton

A Thorne in Time: An Eva Thorne prequel novella
by Lorel Clayton

Before Eva Thorne can accept her destiny, she must learn to accept herself. Eva leaves her family behind for boarding school (that’s a good thing when your family includes necromancers and crime lords), but the foreign city of Gernwold has its own dangers. An intruder, a teacher injured, a stolen necklace left in her room… Either someone is trying to frame her, or they know what Eva really is.

In this prequel novella to the Eva Thorne series, enjoy mystery and magic melded with technology, as you explore the Three Kingdoms and meet all the friends who will one day help Eva become the famous (or notorious) detective we know and love her to be.

Just when I thought I’d seen the best of Eva Thorne, the duo of Lorel Clayton continued to impress me with this explosive intro to The Thorne series. Eva the dyed hair Solhan heroine is enigmatic, her and her friend Karoline is formidable and Hazel the ghost simply astounded me.

I love how Eva got her first taste of action in this prequel. I thought nothing else would surprise me when it came to Eva, but with A Thorne in Time, I was in for a big surprise. This was short and fast paced and action filled, just the way I liked it. Lorel Clayton is great!

This is the prequel to the Eva Thorne series. I’ve read the first three books and really really love the series.

Tangle of Thornes (Book 1) – Review

A Thorne for a Crown (Book 2) – Review

Blood and Thorne (Book 3) – Review

 

 

ARC Review: Riser’s Resolve by Lindsay Cross

Riser’s Resolve (Men of Mercy #12)
by Lindsay Cross

Laney was a woman on the run. Her ex-husband, who just happened to be a cop, had a penchant for violence. After Laney took their daughter and ran, he had a promise for revenge. She’d made a new life with a new name and had planned to stay hidden forever, but even the best laid plans go wrong. Forced to rush her daughter to the hospital, Laney’s location is revealed.

Laney had vowed to never seek help from a man again, until Riser’s 200 pounds of packed muscle made her his own personal mission. He vowed to protect her and her daughter from her ex, but could she trust him with their lives when she’d been burned so badly in the past?

Riser Malone was an admitted adrenaline junkie whose distraction on a crucial mission last year had resulted in complete failure of his objective: protect the girl. Unable to face his failure, Riser accepted every mission put before him, but a lull in the terrorist tempo left him with too much time on his hands back home. He needed a distraction, and he needed it badly.

And that distraction showed up in the form of Laney and her daughter.

With an abusive ex bearing down on her, Riser saw his second chance at redemption. And after one night with her, Riser knew his bachelorhood was over. But if he ever had any hope for a relationship with Laney in the future, he’d have to make sure her abusive ex-husband would never harm her again.

Lindsay Cross does it again as she continues to surprise me with amazing stories. Riser Malone may be a mountain of a man, but he sure had the softest heart among the men of Mercy. I’d love a piece of Malone, please.

Riser helped out a lady in need after he saw a doctor callously ignored Laney’s pleas to check on her very ill daughter. Little did he know that Laney was actually on the run, hiding from her brutal cop-husband. Laney’s identity was compromised when Riser took it upon himself to help her out with the medical forms. and no sooner than later did they find themselves on a hot pursuit, with threats and bullets following their every move.

I’ve read most of Men of Mercy series and I must say, each story just kept getting better and better. This last one, Riser’s Resolve, is currently my favorite, next to Mack Grey and Marley Mitchell’s story. I loved how Riser rose to the occasion, how he risked his life for that woman he’d been admiring from afar. My heart cried for Laney and her daughter, I really hate men who abuse and batter their wives just so they could feel manly about themselves. Ugh.

So far, everything Lindsay Cross writes makes me more excited to read the next book. I wonder how she does it, how the ideas easily come to her and weave themselves into stories. Love love love!

Review: Blood and Thorne by Lorel Clayton

Blood and Thorne (Eva Thorne #3)
by Lorel Clayton

Eva Thorne thought facing a werewolf, betrayal, and the army of Death was bad. She learns there are all new kinds of evil—and more enemies, as well as allies, than she ever imagined. All of them have an agenda, and all of them want the one thing she needs to defeat the Dead God and save her world from annihilation. Can she claim the First Soul before they do?

The bad guys all want her dead. Fortunately, some want the First Soul more, and they need her to get it. They hope it will make them a god. She wants it for her own reasons. It summoned the God of Death, and it can send Him back to the Void before His armies ‘cleanse’ everything she’s ever known from existence. The last strongholds of humanity have fallen. Only the Three Kingdoms of Avian, Dwarf and Elf still stand. Eva is running out of time, because even that alliance is crumbling, and the Elf King, Fharen, is hatching a desperate plan of his own to win the war, one that sacrifices everyone Eva cares about.

Eva doesn’t want to be the femme fatale or Death’s bride, and she may be the worst pet detective ever, but surely, she can find a missing relic? The First Soul is evil, and like attracts like. Gods and monsters have sought it for centuries. She has one advantage – no one does evil quite like a Thorne.

Oh yes, no one really does evil as fierce as Eva Thorne.

Her soul was almost taken by the God of Death after being betrayed by her werewolf best friend. Eva Thorne and her evil twin sister was trapped in a prison with no-handle door and only one window facing the infinite sea. There were two ways to get out of it – climb up the tower castle and swim the treacherous rocky sea, or face the invisible – the Unmentionables.

Who were the Unmentionables? Well, there’s the ghostly woman with three heads, a large white bloody rabbit, with steel claws and ivory fangs. A mummified creature, a giant spider, a fairy, an elf sized dragon shifter, a vampire, an Avian and a demonic woman with blue skin, bony bat wings. And lastly, a normal looking man, , with hollow features and hollow eyes. Ugh, just describing them already gives me creeps!

Now Eva was tasked to find the relic that contained the First Soul, everyone wanted it, but only the blood relations of Eva Thorne would be able to get it. But this didn’t guarantee her freedom nor escape from death. Far from it. Because one way or another, she would end up dead, whether she heeded to the Unmentionable’s rules; worked together with her evil twin, or succumbed to her undead mother’s diabolic plans.

This had been an extremely engaging, high-octane, action-filled high fantasy masterpiece that the tandem of Lorel Clayton had created. The third book in the Eva Thorne series and it was definitely awesome. Loved that it wasn’t some kind of retelling. It was unique and exciting, fresh and really captivating, just like the first two books (Tangle of Thornes and A Thorne For a Crown). I’ve loved the first two stories and it’s not a surprise that I also love this latest adventure by Eva Thorne. A truly satisfying read!

 

Review: Here and Gone by Haylen Beck

Here and Gone
by Haylen Beck

Here and Gone is a gripping, wonderfully tense suspense thriller about a mother’s desperate fight to recover her stolen children from corrupt authorities.. It begins with a woman fleeing through Arizona with her kids in tow, trying to escape an abusive marriage. When she’s pulled over by an unsettling local sheriff, things soon go awry and she is taken into custody. Only when she gets to the station, her kids are gone. And then the cops start saying they never saw any kids with her, that if they’re gone than she must have done something with them… Meanwhile, halfway across the country a man hears the frenzied news reports about the missing kids, which are eerily similar to events in his own past. As the clock ticks down on the search for the lost children, he too is drawn into the desperate fight for their return.

This was devastatingly heart breaking and heart pounding. The kind of thriller and mystery and suspense that would grip your heart, make you sweat out of fear and tremble during sleepless nights, be shocked how something as trivial as missing kids could wreak havoc to your way of thinking. That was everything I felt while reading Here and Gone. I thought I wouldn’t wake up from a nightmare.

One moment I was here with my Kindle, sipping coffee and tipping my eyeglasses up on my nose and before I knew it, my mind had gone astray and my heart stopped for this woman who only wanted nothing more than finding her kids who were stolen from her after a car arrest.

The characters, distraught mother Audra Kinney who escaped New York with her children, Sean and Louise, had captivated my heart. They’d been tangled up in a web of conspiracy and sick people who would do unimaginable evil. When she was arrested for possible drug possession, her kids were taken away from her and were deemed missing the moment she was “jailed” by Officer Whiteside. And so began her long insufferable journey to finding Sean and Louise and proving to everybody that she was perfectly sane and harmless. Something that only Danny the Knife Boy believed.

The story had been a roller-coaster one, gripping, terrifying, eye-popping. I couldn’t stop until it was finished. And when I got hold of my sane self, I almost choked out of breath and never wished to experience those moments again. My eyes cried out for Audra and my heart bled for her kids. That’s how emotional and intense this story had been.

All hail Haylen Beck for a remarkable first novel! A definite heart-stopping one from beginning to end!

NOTE: I received this ARC courtesy of Crown Publishing through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.