This book needs a new title--It was extremely disappointing to realize that she would not be romantically entangled with a royal but a member of the staff.

The actual royals aren't even one dimensional. They barely exist in the novel. Be real, the reason we read books about royalty is because we want a peek into the life of the royals.

The secondary characters are one dimensional. There were opportunities to flesh them out and give them backstories, but that was eschewed in favor of...I'll be generous and say streamlining the plot.

The main characters have virtually no interactions with anyone other than each other.

This is not a well developed story. However, it is a pleasant read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for providing this free eARC.

If you hadn't heard, this book was inspired by <a href="https://twitter.com/MrsFridayNext/status/1059147917980827650"> this tweet </a>. And honestly, this is a very good set up for a romance. Jasmine did change the particulars - instead of the Duchess's mom, we get Maddie's mom, joining a Christmas trip to style the duchess. She meets the queen's private secretary, and proceeds to have a very happy holiday indeed. This book shares characters with the Wedding Party (We see Maddie and hear about Theo) and Jasmine's previous books, but can easily be a standalone. It isn't my favorite of Jasmine's books, but Jasmine is ALWAYS excellent and this is no exception.

I want a Netflix Christmas movie of this book so badly. It would be SO, SO perfect and timely. DO IT YOU COWARDS!

As always, if you like a fun romance with good characters, pick up one of Jasmine's books. If you like bonus royal content or older hero/heroine, this one is for you!

Guillory excels at giving readers the warm and fuzzies! I love this shared world she's built with her characters.

Jasmine Guillory’s books are like an old friend-familiar and comforting. This is remarkable since she’s relatively new on the romance scene, but has already developed such a distinctive voice. I loved that this novel focused on characters in their 50s. Such an underrepresented age group in the genre!

I didn't find the writing style compelling. It felt flat. The dialogue wasn't all that interesting, which made the characters flat. There wasn't any real conflict in the character's lives or in their relationship.

This was so sweet. I loved that this focused on an older couple. So swoony. Jasmine Guillory continues to be one of my favorite authors!

I so desperately wanted to love this book! I have absolutely adored everything else that Jasmine Guillory has done, but this one fell flat for me for some reason. I found myself skimming through it and was startled to find I wasn't even halfway through! I'll read to the end, but I'm not dying to get back to it like I was with Jasmine Guillory's other titles.

I'm a huge fan of Jasmine Guillory and was so stoked to see that another one of her books is coming out! I loved the characters, and the setting in England. It's not often that a behind-the-scenes story is written for the royal family, so I really enjoyed that perspective.

An unexpected trip to England with her daughter leads to an unexpected meeting of a man that is handsome, smart, and interested in her. But how can a connection on vacation in a distant country ever be more than a fling? A story that will leave your heart full.

I absolutely adored this. Vivian is such an incredible heroine and Malcolm is lovely. Just the right amount of royalty and England sightseeing.

I liked, but didn't love this. I think Jasmine Guillory creates really interesting, relatable characters. This time, the protagonist is the mother of Maddie, who was the lead in the last book. It was really refreshing to read a romance about characters in their mid-50s for a change! However, it was much less steamy and drama-free than the previous books, which was a little disappointing.

Not having really read anything about this one before I requested it (um, have you seen that cover? if so, can you really blame me?), I was pleasantly surprised to realize that <i>Royal Holiday</i> centered on the mother of the heroine from book three. There aren't that many romance novels about people over thirty, and it's nice to know this one's going to be very mainstream.

Since I read this one immediately after daughter Maddie's book (<i>The Wedding Party</i>), I can state with assurance that Guillory's writing style has improved from that book to this one. The prose flows better and feels less forced. Writing-wise, this is definitely my favorite of them.

The romance is deeply sweet, but I'll admit that I wanted more chemistry for these two. There's very little banter, something made more obvious by the constant references to how much Malcolm and Vivian make each other laugh when nothing funny had actually happened. I like them (and enjoyed picturing him as Idris Elba because why would you not), but I wanted to ship them fiercely and only got to mildly.

However, I did really like the way that Vivian handled conflict, with a rational head and convincing logical arguments. Malcolm, for all his correctness, is the less rational of the two, which I like. Vivian's got a great quiet strength that shows in her behavior throughout. I also liked how her emotional arc was all about taking care of herself and doing what makes her happy, even if it isn't the most practical choice on paper.

A pleasant, swift read. Guillory's definitely improving with each book.

Such a wonderful story. A rare romance between two mature people who meet on a holiday and fall for each other but
live thousands of miles apart.
I loved all of the back and forth between them. Entertaining.

I adore this book! I think the only "mature" romances I've read previously were historical, and a contemporary was a welcome addition to my shelf! Combining the characters we already know from The Wedding Date and The Wedding Party with the royal family (sort of) was a brilliant way to give us a modern day fairytale with a couple in their 50s.

This book was wonderful! I loved the story of Maddie's mom and I especially appreciated her career journey as well as her relationship with Malcolm. Highly recommended!

This was a fun and sweet story. It was VERY different from The Wedding Date and The Proposal. Please don't go into this book expecting a carbon copy of those two! I enjoyed the middle aged romance take! I honestly didn't read the premise going into it, so I automatically assumed the story was going to be about the middle-aged heroine's daughter. How delightfully tickled I was to find out it would be about the mother herself! :)

I enjoyed this fun read. It was cute and interesting, a little low on steam but that's okay! It definitely kept me wanting more! :)

Hardworking hospital social worker Vivian Forest takes a long-overdue vacation to the English countryside, accompanying her daughter, Maddie, who's been hired to fill in as stylist to the Duchess during the Christmas holidays. The first morning they are at Sandringham, Vivian visits the kitchen to get some breakfast and discovers not only the cook's scrumptious scones, but also the equally scrumptious private secretary to the Queen, whom Vivian mentally nicknames "Hot Chocolate." The usually reserved Malcolm is astonished to find himself offering to give Vivian a tour, and even more startled when their flirtation grows to include horseback riding lessons, an exchange of humorous handwritten notes, kissing under mistletoe, and a full-blown fling. Sadly, all vacation flings must end, however. ...Musn't they?

I absolutely love that both Vivian and Malcolm are in their fifties. It's so nice to read about characters with established careers and lives, who know who they are and what they like and aren't straining to prove themselves. I so enjoyed Vivian's problem-solving skills and quiet, confident manner in rescuing Malcolm's relationship with his nephew. It did take Vivian a ridiculously long time to decide what to do about her promotion opportunity and Malcolm to sort through his feelings for Vivian, though. But it was probably pretty realistic.

For readers' advisors: character doorway is primary. There is some swearing and sex, although not especially explicit. No violence. The story takes place mostly in England, but also partly in the San Francisco Bay area. It's book #4 in a contemporary romance novel series featuring African-American protagonists, which I didn't realize until after I started reading, but it didn't seem to matter much that I read out of order.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read an eGalley copy!

Holiday romances are generally shallow, feel good fluff. In that sense, this doesn’t disappoint. Guillory gets credit for trying to inject several variations to add interest: older black woman and daughter spend a fantasy-like Christmas with British nobility and Mom finds love. That had good story potential. Unfortunately, it felt like someone young was writing about what she thought a romance between 50-somethings would be like. The story fell into the all-too-common trap of telling us about the characters rather than letting them develop and reveal themselves through plot and dialogue, In spite of my hopes, this novel failed to rise up and stand out above all the other formulaic novels that get cranked out on demand for Christmas.

My favorite Guillory title yet. I love the royal setting and the holiday romance. I love the more "mature characters and how they solve the problems that go with being already established in your own life. The ending was a pleasant surprise -- tip over that cliche!

The premise of this latest Jasmine Guillory is good - the mother of the Duchess of England’s stylist flies across the pond for a Christmas visit and falls for the Queen’s private secretary - but the execution is meh. There’s no difference between what should be the very different narrative voices of Vivian and Malcolm (a flaw in her other books too tbh) and the ending was too rushed. Props for having an older couple in contemporary romance though!