Tabs’ Duckies Do Series review of Royals In Exile (Books 1 & 2) by Marquita Valentine
Contemporary Romance published by Loveswept
It seems like royal romances are all the rage right now. The royals in Marquita Valentine’s new series are exiled siblings from a small European country who were given the boot when their parents were killed. The first two books in this four-book series are out now. Oldest brother and head of the family Colin takes the lead in the first book, spare heir Charlotte takes the second, mischievous second-born Theo will be up in book three, and soon-to-be-queen Imogen is on bat for the finale. This series is fun and sexy and full of royal intrigue and hijinks.
Royal Scandal, Book 1
24 Jan 17
When Della Hughes and Colin Sinclair first meet, she’s trying to yell at him for evicting her family from the property they’ve managed for generations and he’s trying to calm an agitated baby. With five siblings suddenly under his wing and a metric ton of secrets in tow, Colin’s quite in over his head. Luckily, the pair quickly reconcile their differences and warm up to each other.
Fast forward ten years later and they’re now best friends with a boatload of unrequited love between the two of them. This is complicated by the fact that Della is still in the dark on two major Sinclair secrets. When a shady government official starts making crazy demands and an unscrupulous reporter outs the family, the two enter into a kinda convoluted marriage of convenience with a silly “in name only” stipulation. Obviously, that stipulation gets thrown by the wayside almost immediately.
This is a good begining to the series, but the romance takes a bit of a backseat to the secrets and crazy political hijinks. Della and Colin making good on their unrequited feelings is satisfying. Della and Colin staying just friends for no good reason and pushing each other away when things get rocky is less satisfying.
Grade: B-
Summary:
Fairy tales do come true–and so do tabloid scandals! New York Times Bestselling author Marquita Valentine kicks off a juicy contemporary romance series with a novel about a prince whose best-laid plans go deliciously awry when he marries the maid next door.
Forced to flee to the United States with his siblings after their parents’ assassination, Crown Prince Colin Sinclair takes it upon himself to become the caretaker of his family while hiding out near Charlotte, North Carolina. But after a decade in hiding, the secret’s out and Parliament demands that Colin wed a princess of their choosing. Unwilling to play their game, Colin decides to marry an American instead, and he has the perfect candidate in mind.
As a home-service professional, Della Hughes doesn’t believe in storybook endings. But when her best friend and secret crush reveals that he’s a flesh-and-blood prince, she doesn’t know what to think. Still, she’ll do anything for Colin, including becoming his wife–in name only, of course. But when their plans to stay purely platonic go by the wayside, their fake honeymoon turns all too real. After a week of white-hot nights, Della can no longer deny her feelings–not with a happily ever after so tantalizingly close.
No excerpt available.
Royal Affair, Book 2
18 Apr 17
Princess Charlotte is the spare heir to the throne and she’s very glad to not be the primary heir because she has major problems with anxiety. She’s the quiet twin, but one should never underestimate the quiet ones. She’s been lightly internet-stalking media mogul Brooks Walter’s social media accounts ever since he outed her family as royalty-in-hiding to the world at large. When she runs into him at a charity function and he’s as sexy and flirtatious as ever, she decides to throw propriety out the window and proposition the sexy, sexy man. She knows he’ll dig for secrets, but she doesn’t intend to tell hers and doesn’t believe he’ll use anything trivial he may find. And so things begin.
Brooks likes to wear the mantle of an asshole but he really isn’t much of one. His professional life is built around exposing the rich and powerful’s secrets and displaying them for all the world to see. It’s definitely not a noble profession, but he’s not particularly malicious about it. Even the expose on the Sinclairs wasn’t malicious – he was, in a misguided way, trying to set Charlotte free from living in hiding.
Brooks and Charlotte are cute together. Their affair includes hot lovin’, fun dates, and even a lovely “meet the family” long weekend on the Carolina Coast. When things inevitably blow up, Brooks needs to get his affairs in order and his priorities straight if he wants to win back the woman he’s thoroughly fallen in love with. Luckily for everyone involved, he’s more than up to the task.
Grade: B+
Summary:
A sheltered princess goes wild—and makes the best mistake of her life—when she falls for a roguish reporter in this fun, sexy romance from the bestselling author of Royal Scandal.
Online muckraker Brooks Walker has a reputation for exposing the political elite. Now he’s set his sights on the Sinclair siblings, who’ve been embroiled in their fair share of drama ever since their exile to North Carolina. But Brooks has never been afraid to get his hands dirty—until he meets a royal wallflower at a charity ball who makes him reconsider everything. Is Brooks feeling guilty because he knows all the sordid details of her family’s history? Or because he’s putting their relationship first, before his journalistic integrity?
As the “spare” twin, Princess Charlotte has always been the responsible one. So when her sister finally agrees to fulfill her duty as queen, Charlotte gives herself permission to break a few rules by flirting with the very off-limits CEO of Walker Media. Brooks is the worst sort of man to start an affair with, but Charlotte just can’t help it. The trouble is, since she’s no good at playing games, soon she’s tiara over heels in love. And when Brooks comes clean, Charlotte must decide whether his confession is worth a royal pardon.
No excerpt available.
Other books in this series:
