Rating: 4.5 Stars

When the media declared that Pet was having an affair with her boss, the palace cooked up a diversion - CodenameCharming. The goal was to call attention to a fauxmance between Pet and Matthias in order to distract the media, but it seemed it was more fact than fiction with this couple.

You cannot see my face, but if you could, you would note how wide I am grinning. Why? Because Lucy Parker books always have that effect on me. Once again, Parker has written a sweet romance packed with humor and plenty of emotion.

The key players were all featured in Battle Royal, and it was a pleasure catching up with them while getting to know Pet and Matthias on a deeper level. I knew a bit about Pet's past, but learning the magnitude of the damage done by her stepfather, as well as the deep disappointment her romantic life has been broke my heart.

Even more heartbreaking was Matthias' story. Losing his parents so young, bouncing from foster home to foster home, dealing with a tragic loss, and then the way he was treated by women! The pain I felt for him, and the ire I felt for those who hurt him was immense.

But! Fate brought these two together, and for that, I was grateful. They seemed like such an unlikely match, but there was something, some sort of synergy and a deep understanding of each other that made this coupling so great for me.

Yes, my heart ached, and I felt so much for these two, but it was also terribly amusing. Johnny's mishaps were slap-sticky and hilarious. These situations usually welcomed more fun, as did many of the characters. I love me some quirky characters, and there were plenty of them to be found here. I delighted in them all! There were also many parties and outings to attend as well, and they did not disappoint.

Overall: Another utterly delightful story from Parker. I cannot seem to resist a great grumpy-sunshine pairing, and the reveal near the end was so, so, sweet. I had a fantastic trip visit to the palace, and I am eager to return again.

I absolutely adored this book. It was tender and sweet and also adorably funny. It had so many of my favorite tropes. And generally, reading it just felt like a lovely warm hug.

Pet De Vere is the totally competent and relentlessly cheerful personal assistant to England's newest (and most accident-prone) royal by marriage, Johnny. Matthias Vaughn is his equally competent and constantly grumpy bodyguard. And when the tabloids begin to spread stories of Pet and Johnny having an affair, the palace team comes up with a plan: Pet and Matthias will pretend to date. And what could possibly go wrong?

To channel my inner Stefon for a moment, this book has everything. Grumpy x sunshine. Fake dating. Forced proximity. Bonding over trauma, both childhood and recent. A teddy bear named Hercule Poirot. And a genuinely adorable romance between two people who both feel a little broken inside and can help each other heal. I absolutely loved Pet and Matthias, as well as the cast of secondary characters made up of family and friends. My only, very minor, complaint, was that there was A Lot happening, particularly towards the end, and that some elements felt a little too precious. But all in all, a delight of a book that I'll be thinking about with a smile for quite some time.

4.5/5

This was one of my most anticipated reads for 2023. I LOVED the first book in the Palace Insiders series and was all in for this beauty and the beast-inspired, fake dating, workplace romance.

Codename Charming is Pet and Matthias’s story, you’ll remember them from Battle Royal as Dominic’s sister, and the royal bodyguard who held her hand after the assassination attempt. Now they are working together as part of Johnny and Rosie’s team. Unfortunately, Johnny is still the klutzy, accident-prone prince from the first book and it takes everything Pet has to keep him in line. Turns out that keeping him in line has also piqued the gossip magazine’s interest and there is a rumor going around of an affair between them. This leads to implementing Codename Charming… the PR team’s idea to focus the media’s attention on another couple. That couple is Matthias and Pet.

This was such a lovely romance- big, scarred, protective Matthias and short, quirky, sunshiney Pet. I guess you could say this also features the opposites attract trope. Since the events in the first book Matthias has been trying to keep his emotional distance, but Pet is determined to be his friend. The sexual tension is real y’all, but they are trying desperately to ignore it. Then comes the fake dating scheme and all that sexual tension comes roaring to the surface. They are forced to spend alone time together and it quickly becomes something that doesn’t really seem so forced.

There is a lot of backstory with both of these characters. Pet’s family history and Matthias’s time spent in the foster care system, as well as the loss of his best friend during an assignment, play a big part in their hesitancy to believe that a committed romantic relationship between them would even work. Their journey from co-workers to friends to lovers was charming. This is definitely a slow-burn romance, with a lot of heavy petting leading up to the open-door love scene toward the end. There is a really sweet declaration of love that gave me happy goosebumps and left me with a big smile on my face.

The secondary characters bring a bit of levity and brightness to the story, especially when Pet and Matthias are engaging in castle shenanigans to protect their employers. There is just so much to love about this series, and now I’m wondering who the third book will feature. Maybe a certain friend and co-bodyguard who I think needs some love in his life?

This is a case of “it’s not you, it’s me” and just having a hard time getting into the story. Not enough dialogue and way too much explaining for my liking.

Thank you @avonbooks @netgalley for a copy of this book. I loved Battle Royale and was excited to see more form this series. This one centers on Pet, a PA in the royal family and Matthias, a bodyguard for the royal family. They are forced to fake date.

This one was a major slow burn and the story had some subplots that got me a bit disinterested and started skimming parts of the book. The story is cute and I enjoyed seeing how they turned their friendship into something more.

<i>Battle Royale</i> was so much fun, despite the enemies to lovers trope. This one has less fun, sadly, possibly because palace intrigue/avoiding the paparazzi is less fun than baking (and what baking!). There was also a little too much coincidence (particularly one memory leading to the realization of "fate" - but no spoilers!).

I did like the side characters, Johnny Marchmount and his propensity towards faux pas (verbal and literal), and Benji's humorous asides regarding the Big Plot regarding Pet and Matthais's "romance". More of that light humor, less of the heavy backstory/moodiness would have gone a long way.

4.5 I absolutely adored this book, just like I knew I would! Lucy Parker has a way of writing that just constantly keeps me engaged. I couldn't put this book down! I loved the romance in this! The way the main characters relationship developed gave me all the butterflies! Such a cute and fun read! thanks to netgally!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC of this novel!

It has been some time since I had book that was just so pleasant and easy to read! The characters were so enjoyable, well introduced, and just fun to hear their stories. The set up for this novel could be broken down into the fake-dating troupe but does not seem to fall into the problems most do. Not putting in a secondary love interest (which I typically hope for) actually was quite unneeded and a nice change of pace.

As stated previously, the ease in which the author is able to write sentence to sentence is very refreshing. I tend to be more of skim reader especially when it comes to the more expository parts, but I found myself reading every sentence thoroughly. I will be looking out for more of her books in the future!

Absolutely charming book!!!!

Thank you soooooo much netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced review copy if this book💗
"I voluntarily read and reviewed the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Codename Charming is a super fun and unique take on a fake dating trope! Going into this, I expected the usual fake dating song and dance BUT that is not what I got here! Readers get a fun spin on fake dating where it's almost instantly obvious that this can not and never will be just fake.

I also did not know that this was a sequel/was part of an interconnected series! I know that I would've loved this a lot more if I had read Battle Royal, the first book! I def wanna read it now so that I can see Rosie and Johnny's relationship and hopefully some Pet X Matthias cameos! I really loved all of the characters because they were all so cute and had some quirky characteristics BUT most impressively, I feel like they were all quite 3D characters with strengths and flaws.

One thing that I LOVED was that alongside the "will they or won't they" question that usually comes with reading a romance book, there were also questions about Matthias' and Pet's past that you are speed reading through the book to solve!

It was a super fun read that was jam-packed with a lot of fun tropes like grumpyXsunshine, fake dating, AND workplace romance! I mean those are all in my top 5 fav tropes! 👀💖

This book is sweet and fun. I was cracking up during the bird scene. I loved Pet. I loved Matthias. I liked the setting and their jobs. All the mishaps with Johnny were hilarious.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC.

🌟🌟🌟🌟 4/5 stars

Codename Charming is the adorable follow-up to Battle Royal and follows Pet and Matthias. Pet is the assistant to lovable royal, Johnny Marchmont, and Matthias is his bodyguard. Due to many hijinks, Pet and Matthias must fake date for the press. So we have a fake dating, bodyguard romance. Swoon.

This was a super fun sequel. While it doesn’t quite reach Battle Royal levels, I really enjoyed this romcom. It is hilarious, cute, swoony, and entertaining. I need another book in this series.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Codename Charming by Lucy Parker

Setting:
Modern, UK

Characters:
Pet
Matthias

Tropes:
Bodyguard
Workplace romance
Grumpy Sunshine
Fake Dating
Slow Burn

Goodreads:
🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

Spice:
🌶 🌶

Review:
This was a very cute story. I do love a gruff hero and semi silly/ happy go lucky heroine. It was a tad slow for me, I am not a big fan or slow burns. Even though this is a romance it to me tethered closer to women's fiction than a typical romance. Overall a good story with fun and loveable characters.

I did not want this book to end! It was adorably sweet, funny, and heart warming. I could not stop laughing at all the antics that took place around Pet's job and the fact that she is always diving headlong into the chaos. Then you had the sweet fake dating storyline with Matthias, royal bodyguard. Pet and Matthias were so different but balanced each other SO well. A perfect rom-com to curl up in bed with.

This was a cute grumpy/sunshine fake dating romance, but I didn’t love it as much as I wanted to. After reading Battle Royal I was looking forward Pet and Matthias’ story - the set up and the tropes sounded right up my alley. Codename Charming is certainly full of charm and fun workplace/royal hijinks, but I think it suffers from a little too much going on. Overall it read a bit slow and I had a hard time connecting to the romance. I think this series just might not be for me.

Ebook received for free through NetGalley

I absolutely adore this book and had trouble putting it down. I loved the characters so much. Additionally it seemed like this wasn’t the first book in the series but I was given enough information that it worked well standalone.

DNF at 40%

I struggled to get into this story or find a reason to keep going. The writing felt overly wordy, and the chapters were so long. I haven’t read the first in the series so it’s possible that I would have felt more invested had I read that and had some context for the characters.

I was gifted an early copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

3.5 STARS

Petunia “Pet” De Vere is the personal assistant to royal Johnny Marchmont. Everything is going great, until the tabloids post a photo and suggests that Pet and Johnny are having an affair. In order to combat this, the royal PR team suggests Pet fake-date Matthias Vaughn, one of Johnny’s guards. There are already people who “ship” Pet and Matthias, what’s the harm in playing into it?

I was so excited when I heard there was going to be a spin-off featuring Pet after reading <I>Battle Royal.</I> Unfortunately this book was very slow and I had to force myself to get into this book. Pet and Matthias are absolutely adorable together though, so I’m glad I pushed through. The way they love each other and protect each other was absolutely adorable.

If you enjoy the pretend romance trope and also like any romance that is royal-adjacent, you’ll have fun with this story. Pet is the super competent personal assistant to the new husband of a royal princess. The new guy is so clumsy that he somehow keeps shoving Pet into what would be potentially dangerous accidents except that his personal protection agent, the giant, silent Matthias keeps rescuing Pet. In order to throw the ever intrusive press off a fake story, the royals ask Pet to pretend to be dating Matthias because social media has started shipping their romance.

And wouldn’t you know it but Matthias and Pet, despite their physical contrasts, actually are a perfect match. Add in a little mystery about Pet’s unknown father and you have a sweet romance.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

This was such an enjoyable read and I kind of did not want it to end. It was great to catch up on all the characters from Battle Royal and dive deeper into Palace shannaigans. There is even a bit of mystery with Pet which has a satisfying resolution. Lots of good supporting characters in this as well adding to colour and life of the story with the royals making an appearance (lovely Johnny and Rosie), Dominic and Sylvie and Benjii.

I adored both Pet and Matthias in this book and just wanted to smoosh them and protect them and give them all the love. Pet was lovely, smart, fierce and loyal (the way she always went full on protective mode whenever anyone was remotely mean.rude about Matthias’ looks was everything. Matthias was just a giant, loyal, soft, protective, ever watchful teddy bear masked underneath a tough, stoic, rule following exterior. On the outside (physically and personality wise) they seemed like opposites but as the story unfolds you see how alike they actually are. They both had pretty sad/difficult childhoods and pasts that they overcame and were both unconsciously looking for a connection they never thought they would find. I loved all their interactions during the fake dating and the growing realisation of their friendship and attraction. A really enjoyable, satisfying read (4.75⭐️ rounded up)