A Royal Kiss & Tell

Full review appeared at Reader's Edyn on 05/24/20 Caroline is a member of the ton. Orphaned at a young age and left in the care of her brother, he has indulged her in very nearly every whim. His only irritation the ridiculous amount of funds she spends on modistes. However, the dress obsession has turned into talent and Caroline is now high in demand for her beautiful creations inspired by both English fashion and Alucian fashion. Her brother is appalled at the idea of her working and decides its high time she gets married. Nearly on the shelf herself, she determined long ago to marry only for love. Her best friend Eliza may have found the kind of love with her handsome Prince that makes Caroline green with envy, but Caroline is sure love will not be in the cards for her. If it were to happen, she’d want it to be with Leo, Eliza’s brother-in-law. But alas, Leo has no recollection of their meeting in England and seems to be annoyed whenever in her presence, so she is left with little but her own whimsical fantasies to indulge in. Until everything changes. Suddenly she has an opportunity to make the sexy prince hers, if only for a small amount of time. Resigned to her life as a spinster and finding joy in her exquisite gown creations, she isn’t beyond taking every bit of pleasure she can with Leo for as long as she can have him, counting on the memories to get her through her lonely future. She’s no fool. She fully understands that he can never be hers in the way she truly desires, but a brief amount of time is better than no time at all. And before too long she and the Prince of her dreams are passionately intertwined in romance and intrigue as they fumble their way through a heinous plot stretching across the seas and involving both of their homelands. But an ill-timed rescue puts Caroline’s reputation in shambles and separates her from everything she holds dear. Leo has only ever wanted to be embraced by his parents and thought of as useful. But he is merely the spare with all privilege going to his brother Sebastian; the heir. Once he realized he would never be anything more to them, he indulged in a life of excessive drink and debauchery, most often in England. He returns home for his brother’s wedding but is eager for the festivities to end so that he can return to his life of ease in England. To his horror, his parents have conspired an arranged marriage for him and expect him home permanently just as soon as he wraps up his affairs across the sea. How dare they now make use of him as it suits them. It doesn’t suit him at all. Still, he will concede to their wishes. It’s not as if he had anyone else he was planning to woo. But an odd encounter sets Leo on a mission he is initially loathed to accept. Even as the deeper he falls into the dastardly plot the worse his reputation suffers, still he continues on his quest. But with his lackluster status snatching away invitations, he finds himself in need of a confidante and who better than Caroline? She’s well connected and can get him into the homes he must search, so he confesses all, but just a bit at a time. And the more time he spends with her, the more he is drawn to her. It confounds him. He also isn’t willing to walk away from her until he is forced to by his ridiculous upcoming engagement. If he can only have her for a while, he will have to take what he can get and let the memories keep him going while suffering in a loveless marriage. His brother may have been able to marry the love of his life, but there is no way Leo will get that lucky. To begin, I can’t say that I would describe this blurb as precisely accurate. I wouldn’t say every young man was after her hand initially. Perhaps some, but that changed once her brother let slip a bit of information that then had every young buck running after her. And I do not believe that she went after Leo in the gossip sheets maliciously for revenge..

Caroline and Leopold’s love/hate story is a tale that follows the trope of enemies/friends to lovers in A Royal Kiss and Tell by Julia London, book two in A Royal Wedding series. It is a tale that also reminds us of that fine line between love and hate. I will be honest; I struggled with liking this heroine. Caroline was annoying, a nuisance, egotistical, self-centered, very tenacious, and clueless of how her actions affected other people. Yet, I learned much about why she is the way she is as we continue reading the story; orphan, raised by older brother along with Eliza and Hollis, her best friends. Leopold has always known he’s the spare and had no idea of what he wanted to do with life; so he drank his way through the parties and introductions. He is surprised when his father, the king, informs him that a marriage has been arranged for him and which will benefit their country. Leo was quite good at ignoring women who thought they could demand an introduction to him and have him offer for her as well as men who wanted to know him with a hope to gain; especially politicians who wanted his ear. When an exiled, wanted protestor informs Leo of human trafficking occurring between their country and England, Leo is quick to find a solution to uncover the men behind it, find the girls and return them to Alucia, and figure out how to do all this and stop it without being discovered. In the meantime, Caroline has set her heart on Leo, at the same time her brother is trying to marry her off. Thanks to the gossip rag, Leo’s reputation is in shreds and he has socially been black-listed. Needing Caroline’s help to regain access into society, he beings to see her differently than before. Spending all this time together has them feeling the sparks and off the charts chemistry between them. They both just might lose their hearts when Leo is required to return home, if not their reputations. Ms. London wrote an emotional story that is not to be missed. She provided a tale rich with sizzling chemistry, unusual banter, and characters who love to hate, giving Caroline and Leopold a chance at love, happiness, and a future together. I highly recommend A Royal Kiss and Tell to other readers and look forward to reading the next book in this series. I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

A Royal Kiss & Tell took some time to grow on me. Part of that is due to a lack of connection with Caroline, who is probably one of the vainest characters that I've read in some time. Nevertheless, there's something to be said for a strong heroine, one who knows her own mind. Where Leo is concerned, I'm not so sure she knew her own mind so much as she was determined to be noticed. I waffled a bit about this couple, but as the story progressed, I did warm up to them little by little, mostly as Caroline grew on me. Leo was a little easier to like from the start, plus he has some intrigue to keep him busy. The story is well written, and while it's not exactly historically accurate, it is entertaining, and it serves as a good bit of escapism which is something we can all use.