This is everything I’ve come to expect from Lucy Parker, meaning it’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a romance. The pining! Mutual pining! Angst, grief, found family, and a truly foul mouthed murder parrot - Codename Charming has it all! Some truly funny moments, some spice, and the romance was so smooth and easy.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

Everything Lucy Parker writes has this kind of effervescence that just pulls me into the story immediately. She’s deeply skilled at giving the characters rich inner lives that makes it all the more enriching and fulfilling to root for their HEA. I absolutely loved this, from beginning to end.

As a personal assistant to Johnny Marchmont, husband of a British Royal princess, Petunia De Vere has a very challenging job since her boss is quite a colorful fellow who puts her in many an awkward situation. The fishbowl life of living and working in the palace has thrown Pet in the spotlight after the tabloid press, one nasty character in particular, accuses Pet of being Johnny’s secret lover. Johnny’s head of security, Matthias Vaughan spends his days and nights protecting his boss who seems to take slapstick to a whole new level. While Pet and Matthias are at times at odds on what is appropriate downtime behavior for their mutual boss, they both want the best for him and his wife, Princess Rosie.

Pet brings joy and fun to her life and those around her. If Matthias, a mountain of man and a very highly trained palace guard, was anymore stoic, he could be a marble statue. Life in the palace and on protection detail is a constantly moving and challenging circus. Pet believes Matthias takes a dim view of her and her management style. When the paparazzi’s’ frenzy of her supposed affair with Johnny hits red alert levels, Pet and Matthias are asked put on a fake relationship show to throw the tabloid press of the focus on Johnny.

Matthias is all about responsibility while Pet cares deeply about her job so they make the best of the situation until fiction becomes fact; their relationship grows into more than duty to King (Princess) and country. They find out how invasive it is when anyone can film them no matter how private their moments should be. It is not all fun and games as Pet and Matthias both have some emotional baggage to deal with regarding family issues and for Matthias, a work-related tragedy that haunts him still. Pet has a mystery to solve concerning her background that may be connected to the palace.

I very much enjoy Ms. Parker’s writing style including her comedic timing, witty banter, and heartfelt romances. With all the interest in the inner lives of the current players in the royal family show, it is thought-provoking to imagine what things look like from inside of the zoo with a royal couple who is genuinely in love, dotty relatives, hovering staff, and a very demanding schedule for all involved. This book is the second in the Palace Insiders series and can be read as a standalone; however, Pet and her family are introduced in the first book, BATTLE ROYAL which adds quite a bit to the story.

Having fallen in love with the world-building and lyrical style of Battle Royale, I was eager to read the second installment in Parker's latest series. Pet and Matthias deliver a delightful opposites-attract, fake-dating romance in which adults act like adults, past traumas are excised, and plenty of height-differential sexual positions are dutifully explored.

If you've read Parker's London Celebrities series, you'll notice a shift toward more nuanced, dynamic interiority in Codename Charming (as we saw in Battle Royale, too); Parker's writing is more Mhairi Macfarlane/Minnie Darke than, say, Christina Lauren -- but her characters are better for it. If there's a hyperfocus on microexpressions or granular detail at times, it's balanced well enough by compelling character growth and heart-squeezing sweetness.

This is another knockout from a bright star of contemporary romance!

I’ve been so excited for Pet and Matthias’ story since reading the last few chapters of Battle Royal (book one in this series), and their journey together didn’t disappoint. I liked that their backgrounds were similar yet distinctly unique—it made for a lot of sweet connections and moments of understanding. I always enjoy feline secondary characters, and it was lovely to see Lucy Parker continue that little tradition in Codename Charming. There are a few lingering characters whose stories I would definitely be interested in reading, so I hope Parker continues with this royal-adjacent series! 4.5/5 stars

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I absolutely LOVED Battle Royale, and was so excited to get my hands on Codename Charming. While this was super cute and a fun read, I didn't love it like the first one! Still really adorable though!

Oh man I really enjoyed this book although it did take me a minute to get into it since I didn’t remember these characters from the previous book and it had been about a year since I have read it. Battle Royal the first book which featured chocolatier/baker Dominic De Vere and Sylvia Fairchild with the same royals in both books and staff. Petunia de Vere who is Dominic’s baby sister is the main character in this novel with her fake dating royal bodyguard Matthias. Pet is the pa of the Johnny the husband of Princess Rose who is a nervous mess that gets her in to sticky situations and the press is speculating that they are having an affair so the solution to that is for Pet to start fake dating Matthias who she has always been attracted to but who thinks doesn’t like her. But oh man does he like her so much but doesn’t think he is worthy of her. So cute story and there was some mystery with Pet trying to figure out who her bio dad is but It was mostly fake dating to stop the press speculation as well as some royal matchmaking.

Thanks to Avon/Harper Voyager and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

Matthias. Sigh. Give me a moment while I add him to the top of all of lists of favorite heroes. He is just perfection so anything else that is a positive about this book is just icing on the cake. And there is lots of icing.

I love Lucy Parker and have really been looking forward to this book. Matthias and Pet are both lovely characters with such a forceful connection. Loved watching their fake dating open them up to each other and that alone would have made for a strong book. There was a little too much else going on around them which I often wanted to tune out of like distracting background noise. That said the scene with the parrot had me snickering out loud in a public place.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I adored this book! I hadn't read the first book in the series so I put this on pause until I finished that one. So glad I did! Her characters are lovely --human, emotional, complicated, funny. This one nails the tropes in the best way possible!

This book is aptly titled because it is so charming. This book has characters that we met in the last book Battle Royal. Pet is a PA for the lovable yet always getting into odd situations Johnny. We first met Johnny and Rosie when they got married in the last book. They are very lovely Royals, but sometimes calamities do occur. Matthias is the loyal yet grumpy bodyguard for Johnny.

When another misadventure occurs and thr Poparazzi decide that Pet must be having an affair with Johnny everyone gets together and decides that Pet and Matthias should pretend to have a relationship. You can see from the start that there are things that they both have in common, such as their childhood’s or not the best. it’s really fun to see how Matheus and Pet start start out with a friendship that slowly turns to feelings. As always, the banter is amazing and there are shenanigans that always occur. There is even a parrot, who somehow becomes involved in the storyline.

This is definitely a romcom with likable characters and wonderful side characters who just lend to the entertainment of the book. It’s a book that once you start who will ignore everything until the end.

Bit of a mixed bag, this one. I'm very fond of Lucy Parker's writing and generally think she's a cut above many of the rest of her genre, but this series just isn't really working for me. The chemistry between her characters is palpable and the plot is reasonably fun, but there is just so much going on at all times, and the tension can be very uneven. It also features two of my least favorite things in a romance: dual pov and side characters who are all inexplicably extremely invested in the love lives of the two leads. These are just my personal bugbears; I know that this book will hit the spot for many other readers.

Oh my good golly, Lucy Parker has provided: fake dating, pining, grumpy bodyguard x sunshine assistant, and so much more! Everyone say: thank you, Lucy.

This is a much-anticipated sequel and it is finally here! Pet and Matthias had a bit of a 'will they, won't they' going on in the first book, and I, for one, am thrilled that they did.

Lucy Parker has the incredible ability to marry the real and the romcom in a way that makes her books feel tangible and grounded: this book deals with trauma in a grounded and realistic way, and these two learn to love their flaws as they fall in love with each other. But, there is also a heist involving some parrots. It's all about balance.
This book is hilarious, heartfelt, and so so Lucy.

I love Lucy Parker and will read everything she writes. I loved reading this next book in the Palace Insider series and it was fun to see what our familiar characters are up to.

Pet is a PA to the newest royal Johnny, married to the princess. She's good at her job and knows when her charges need to let loose. Matthias is the head of security and stops her change in plans at every turn. Pet wants to be friends with everyone but Matthias is impenetrable.

The media is focused on Pet and her employer's relationship so the PR team proposes a fake relationship between Pet and Matthias. The fake relationship turns into more and we learn why Matthias is reserved and stuck up about the rules.

This was a super cute book and I absolutely adored the witch-fest scenes. The two were adorable together. Grumpy/sunshine with a bit of "I've always been fond of you but kept myself away" just tugs at your heart. This can be read as a standalone but is so much better after getting to know all the characters from the first book.

Gotta love a bodyguard and assistant romance!! This story was so freaking great!! I have never read a romance like this before, Lucy Parker really did her thing with this book. So romantic and fun!

I won a giveaway copy of Battle Royal in 2021, and I loved it. Loved it! Couldn't wait for the sequel. And it was just as good as I was hoping. It had several of my favorite tropes - fake dating/real feels and grumpy vs sunshine - and it worked them to perfection.

Like Battle Royal and a lot of other romance novels, there is a lot of serious backstory - what happened to Padraig and who Pet's father is - within the story to round out the sweetness.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the eARC.

I wanted to enjoy this, but at 7% in, I realized the only thing that had happened was Johnny (the boss) bumbled his speech. Again. Like he always does. I don’t particularly feel connected to any of the characters, and I’m not finding myself particularly hooked by the story. The writing is witty and easy to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for an eARC copy to review.

I enjoy a good bodyguard romance. Matthias is a large and scared hero who is trying to overcome the grief of losing someone on the job. Pet is a sunshiny assistant to the husband of a royal family member and she has some wounds in her past with family and not being cared for like she should have been.

They end up having to fake date to save the husband's reputation when the tabloids start to accuse him of having an affair with Pet.

I really enjoyed the story and build to them as a couple. This is a slow burn. I do feel like the pacing of the story is a bit off and it was slower in the middle and I had to push myself to finish the book.

Codename Charming is the second book in the Palace Insiders Series. I am a big fan of the author and was happy to receive this advanced copy of the book. Petunia (Pet) De Vere and Matthias Vaughn were both in the first book, Battle Royal, and I ended up going back and rereading before Codename Charming and it reminded me about some of the backstory of the characters.

Pet is Dominic’s little sister from Battle Royal and she works as a personal assistant for loveable, bumbling Johnny, who is Princess Rose’s husband. Matthias is head of Johnny’s security. Johnny is clumsy and after he stumbles and falls against Pet a tabloid photo of them starts false rumors that they are having an affair. The royal team decides Pet and Matthias should fake date to stop the rumors. They make a cute couple, with tiny, outgoing Pet and large, stoic Matthias, who is trying to keep everyone safe.

Pet and Matthias were so sweet. Pet liked to cut silhouette portraits out of paper and Matthias whittled wood and gave Pet a little wooden mouse he carved. He also had a cat named Miriam. There was a funny parrot, Ailsa, that was involved in a side story and it made me laugh. It was also nice to see Dominic and Sylvie, bakers from Battle Royal back in this story.

This was a slow burn romance and there were a lot of characters to keep track of. There were subplots related to the royals and family secrets and I wasn’t as interested in those story lines as I was in Pet and Matthias romance. I felt a little lost in the beginning but after I went back and reread Battle Royal it was more fun and I was hooked into the story. The excitement really picked up in the last 20% of the book.

I hope we get to see Allegra and Charlie Ford-Griffin’s book from the London Celebrities series some day. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC of this book.

The ARC gods have really been shining BRIGHT on me lately. While I really enjoyed Battle Royals, the moment we were introduced to Pet and Matthias, I knew I’d LOVE their story.

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺
Blurb: Petunia De Vere enjoys being the personal assistant to lovable, bumbling Johnny Marchmont. But the job has its share of challenges, including the royal’s giant, intimidating bodyguard, Matthias. Pet and Matthias are polar opposites—she’s spontaneous and enthusiastic, he’s rigid and stoic—but she can sense there’s something softer underneath that tough exterior…

For Matthias Vaughn, protecting others is the name of the game. But keeping his royal charge out of trouble is more difficult than he imagined because everywhere Johnny goes, calamity ensues, and his petite, bubbly assistant is often caught in the fray. Matthias hates the idea of Pet getting hurt and he’s determined to keep everyone safe, even if it means clashing with his adorable new coworker.

When a clumsy moment leads to a questionable tabloid photo, the press begins to speculate that Pet is romantically involved with Johnny. To put an end to the rumors, the royal PR team asks Pet and Matthias to stage a fake relationship and the two reluctantly agree. But as they spend more time together outside of work, they begin to wonder what real emotions this pretend connection might uncover.

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺

One of the things that really get to me in romance, is the traditionally “handsome” hero. I feel like we’ve made leaps and bounds when it comes to inclusion in heroines and I want that same grace extended to hero’s.

That being said, this book did NOT disappoint, as we met Matthias in all his scarred, dad bod glory. Besides that, this felt like two adults who knew how to communicate, and build a last, long relationship based on something they both wanted. A few personal favorite moments for me (don’t worry I won’t give anything away)

🌺 A man bear hero, who’s only soft for our heroine
🌺Fake relationship
🌺Hero who’s love language is thoughtful gift giving

PS: Hoping we get a back story for the princess.

Heat Level: 🔥🔥🔥

Could there be anything cuter than seeing fictional characters being protective about their friends/love interests? So, this came to my mind because I just finished reading an ARC of Codename Charming by Lucy Parker and I just can't get over how cute both Pet and Matthias were in this one 😍🥺 - stinkin' cute and equally protective about each other. Battle Royal was one of my 2021 faves so it'd be an understatement to say that I was very excited about this one too! And the character dynamics reminded me of the ones from Artistic License(my first and favorite LP book) - talk about expectations! Anyway, I'm happy to report that it had all the delightfully cute things a Lucy Parker book has, along with unique characters that I loved!🥰

Petunia De Vere is the personal assistant of Johnny - the husband of Princess Rose and the newest addition to the royal family, and her taciturn co-worker Matthias is Johnny's bodyguard who takes his job very seriously. This means that he's not a fan of ideas(especially ones from Pet) that go against protocol 🤣 But he's the one that keeps coming to her aid when Johnny accidentally does something. So, when a tabloid photo blows things out of proportion by linking Pet with her boss, the royal PR team proposes to counter it by showing that Pet is already in a relationship. And Matthias seems like the perfect candidate for this fake relationship as many others on social media seem to ship him and Pet together. Both of them reluctantly agree to this at first and as they spend more time together the boundaries between acting and reality start blurring quickly.

Both Pet and Matthias have a lot more to their characters than just their outward personas.(I feel like sometimes while marketing romance books it's easy to focus on the tropes and call it a grumpy sunshine pairing, etc but that doesn't exactly describe everything that they have to offer you know?). They might look like they're opposites but they have a lot in common - especially the way they're protective of those they love and how they blame themselves for some things that are out of their control. They're both confident and mature when it comes to many things but also hesitant at times about opening up. But as they spend more time with each other those walls come down quickly.

While there are some instances where other characters respond to Matthias' looks, it's not a focal point here like in Artistic License and Matthias doesn't have any self esteem issues either. But there are some delightful moments where Pet defends him and I loved it so much!😍 Pet is lively and hardworking but that doesn't mean she's had an easy time growing up. Similarly Matthias is still grieving the loss of his best friend. And when they start fake-dating it quickly turns into something real, when they find themselves not only enjoying each other's company but also genuinely wanting the other person to be happier and safer. I loved how they comforted and protected each other!🥺

In addition to the romance and humor, we also have many subplots featuring the royal family and Pet's quest to find a woman who might be a paternal relative of hers. All of this along with the characters made it a very enjoyable read! I also loved seeing Sylvie and Dom here again! Anyway, I don't think I have a single thing to criticize about this one and I really want more people to read Lucy Parker's books(I honestly wish I could read them for the first time again) so I might keep talking about this one for the next few months till it releases!😆