Such and amazing and romantic read. The thing I loved most was that they fell in love in a different country and got to experience things you wouldn’t normally experience on a vacation to London let alone a palace that was the greatest part to me. I’m so glad that both Vivian and Malcolm took a change to love again. You never really read about older couples finding and falling in love. This was done so incredibly well and I was just in awe from beginning to end.

A holiday romance set in a palace, London, and by correspondence across the miles sounded delightful. Vivian and Malcolm show that the fifties can be fabulous and sometimes a low simmer can produce the most savory results.
Review

Royal Holiday is the fourth book in The Wedding Date series. It is standalone about the mother of a previous heroine.

Royal Holiday begins with hardworking long divorced and single mom, Vivian, being dragged along with her daughter from her Oakland home to spend the holidays on an English royal estate. Maddie is there to help the duchess with choosing her wardrobe and ensemble and keeping the duchess looking good while her friend is on maternity leave. Maddie chose to bring her mom along to support from the sidelines, but also get a much needed vacation of her own. Vivian is the kind of person who does all the giving and Maddie just wants her to let responsibilities go for once and take time out for herself.

Vivian does exactly that the very first morning after she wakes up and handsome Malcolm is in the kitchen begging his favorite scones from the chef. It was instant attraction and friendly smiles and banter as Malcolm steps aside from this slow week of duties as the Queen’s Secretary to show a pretty American woman around the estate and spend time with someone who draws him in from the start.

The pair form a swift holiday friendship with many encounters in isolation, but know this is temporary and they must go back to their own worlds 5,000 miles apart A shared kiss under the mistletoe heats things up to more than friendship, but New Year’s Day is fast approaching when Vivian will go home. They’ve come to mean a lot to each other from Vivian sharing about her life and Malcolm, his. What can they do to keep what they have? Should they keep what they have or let it go?

The book had a lovely holiday vacation surreal feel, sweetness between the characters, and a romance that took its time and didn’t rush things even though the clock was ticking. This pair of happy lovers could smile, laugh at even simple things, and enjoy everything about each other. For the longest time, I wondered if there was even going to be a conflict other than the obvious approaching separation. It made for a slow-mover, but I didn’t mind that much. I could set it down easily, but just as easily pick it up again. They did finally get beneath the surface with each other and stirred things up a bit. I liked the way they took turns communicating frankly, being the one to reach out, and also acting their age though they both came with a bit of baggage from former failed relationships. The solution to their main conflict was believable though came in a rush at the very end.

In the end, it was a delightful read that felt warm and cozy with a little spice. Perfect for a holiday romance and I can heartily recommend it to other contemporary romance fans who don’t mind a gentle pace and plot.

My thanks to Berkley Romance for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I adored this story! The characters Vivian and Malcolm work very well together and their age being mature is a nice, yet different touch to the typical "holiday" read. They are both fun and funny much like they are in the previous stories. I would categorize this as a "slow-burn" romance that is full of passion and lacking the drama of typical relationships. The romance that ensues between Vivian and Malcolm is believable and sincere. The story takes place in England over the Christmas holidays and there is an element of a royal thread woven throughout so it becomes a delightfully entertaining plot that is enhanced by this fact.

I really enjoyed a great many things about this book. Characters were fleshed out and the plot was well spaced. Some of the secondary storylines could've used a bit more page space but all in all an enjoyable read!

A nice add-on to the series, but not my cup of tea. I liked keeping up with the other characters in the series, but while I devoured the first three books, I found it difficult to stick with this one. I’m still a huge fan of the author and look forward to what’s next from her.

This was a delightful, heartwarming romance—and I loved the addition of the royal family and trip to England! A perfect holiday read.

I have loved the past three novels in this series but this one was a dud for me. I really wasn’t a fan of the romance and the male character honestly had the personality of a wet sponge. I really wanted to like this one but it was a miss.

This was such a cute story. I've only read one other book by Jasmine Guillory ("The Wedding Party"), but I enjoyed that one and looked forward to this one. I enjoyed getting this story through Maddie's mom Vivian. Vivian is a confident, independent woman, and I really liked how Guillory wrote her character. Also, I agree 100% on everything she said about hating surprises. :) As a side note, I really want to know if the Duke and Duchess mentioned in the story are based on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, because that's who I pictured the entire time. It's a fun, lighthearted read that I quite enjoyed.

This was a very fun read! I haven't read the previous book in the series, but that really didn't matter for the purposes of this story. I loved the Christmas vacation theme (a holiday holiday) romance. I thought the characters were fun, and a little bit flawed, but not too much. It had a fun guest appearance by the Queen (for all fans of The Crown). The writing was so vivid that the book pretty much played out like a movie in my head (and when will this be appearing on Netflix?). While this is more of a light and fun read, I still have a book hangover from wanting to be back in England, eating scones, and flirting with a handsome man with a British accent. Sigh.

If you like scones, fantasy trips to England, British accents, and romance, this should be on the top of your list of holiday books to read this season.

I got a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Even though I really enjoyed this author’s first two books, her third and fourth fall flat for me. This was cute and filled with cheer but I never really connected with the characters. I also didn’t get a strong British vibe even though it is set in English countryside and London during Christmas. This was a miss for me but still good holiday fluff reading if that’s what you’re in the mood for.

This is a fun romance with a great premise - a mother tags along with her daughter on a business trip to style a member of the British royal family. I loved that the romance featured older protagonists having a relationship.

Good simple romance. i had not read the first book but plan to now. I felt at times the conversations between the two main characters went on too long, but other than that I enjoyed the book

What a fun addition to the Wedding Date series by Jasmine Guillory! It was especially lovely to have it be from an older woman's perspective

I loved the premise of an older couple (50+) falling in love in England. I didn’t realize the characters were in a series and now will have to read them all. This story is so enjoyable without knowing the other stories. I can’t wait to recommend this to my older readers.

This was the sweetest! I've loved all of the books in Guillory's series, and this seemed like a delightfully sweet mashup of her books with fellow romance writer Alyssa Cole's Reluctant Royals series. I loved the focus on the middle-aged protagonists (who aren't that old, but much older than the couples in typical romance novels). They've lived lives already, and I loved the verve with which they jumped into this new relationship. A lovely sweet addition to Guillory's work.

Royal Holiday is another great addition to The Wedding Date series This time we focus on Vivian, Maddie's Mom. We got to know Maddie from book three. This time she is flying to England to be a stylist for the Duchess of Sussex and has invited her Mom to spend the holidays with her. Vivian meets Malcolm, the personal secretary to the Queen and they hit it off smashingly. Nothing like a fling and flirtation while on vacation. They spend quality time together and feelings fly. This was a sweet story with some good old courtship when Malcolm and Vivian write notes back and forth between the two houses, which are hand delivered. There are some funny parts, serious parts and of course romantic parts. I found Royal Holiday a very enjoyable read.

A 55 year-old, black, divorced, single mother, social worker from Oakland falls for the Queen of England's age appropriate personal secretary during a Christmas vacation at Sandringham House? Yes, please. Finding out it was loosely based on Meghan Markle's regally gorgeous mother? YES, PLEASE.

I picked up Royal Holiday because I absolutely fell in love with the first book in this series, The Wedding Date (also the title of the series) and have been following along ever since, hoping that the subsequent books in the series would recapture the magic of that first book.

While I enjoyed both The Proposal and The Wedding Party, they didn’t quite recapture the magic of The Wedding Date. But Royal Holiday, the fourth book in the series, definitely did.

And it did it by being different from the others. The previous books in the series have all been wrapped around the wedding of Alexa and Drew, the couple of who meet, court and spark in that marvelous first book.

But now that they are married, and their best friends have found their own HEAs – sometimes with each other – the story has gone into a fascinating new direction.

Maddie has found her HEA with Theo (in The Wedding Party), but they haven’t tied the knot themselves yet. Meanwhile,Maddie, a freelance fashion consultant, has just received the contract of a lifetime. Her friend and mentor is the fashion consultant for one of the young British Royals.

While the princess in question is never named, it is fairly obvious who it is. In any case, that person’s identity isn’t really important. What is important is that her regular consultant is in the midst of a high-risk pregnancy and confined to bed rest over the holidays. And that Maddie is going to pinch-hit for her. In England. Over Christmas. Dressing the princess.

And she gets to bring someone with her for her working holiday, spending the days leading up to Xmas and Boxing Day at Sandringham House (the private residence of the Queen), and then having a few days of true vacation in London – all details arranged and all expenses paid by the House of Windsor.

Maddie convinces her mother to come with her to England. Vivian Forest is a respected social worker back home in California. She’s also been a working single-mother who scrimped and saved to help her daughter achieve her dreams. Vivian is about to take a promotion at work that will increase her pay, her hours and her responsibilities rather drastically, cutting her free time in equal if not greater amount. This is the last chance she’ll have for a while to take a really long, slightly indulgent vacation.

And probably the last opportunity she’ll have for some bonding time alone with her daughter, who will herself be married in a few short months. Life as they know it is about to change, mostly in a good way. But neither of their lives will be the same. So, in spite of some reservations about her family obligations back home, Viv gets on that plane for what she believes will be a wonderful but brief getaway with her daughter.

Only to embark on a surprising holiday fling that turns into much, much more.

Escape Rating A+: This is one of those books that gave me an earworm, as they sometimes do. In this case, the earworm goes like this, “Fairy tales can come true. It can happen to you, if you’re young at heart.” This classic from the “Great American Song Book” was recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1953. And it’s the perfect song to accompany Vivian Forest’s romance with Malcolm Hudson.

Both Viv and Malcolm are in their 50s, and it was incredibly refreshing to read a romance that featured two people who were not 20-somethings. Life doesn’t end at 50, and neither do love or romance. Watching them court and spark was every bit as marvelous as Drew and Alexa back in The Wedding Date. And just as lovely.

While on the one hand the banter between Viv and Malcolm makes this story in the same way as that first book, part of what makes it so special is the way that their romance was every bit as sexy and romantic as the earlier books in the series, while still dealing with the issues that are the result of them being at a much different place in their lives than the earlier couples.

Because they are older, they have more baggage trailing behind them – and they both understand that. They have careers that they are in the middle of – and starting to think about retiring from in a future that is not so distant. It is much easier to pick up stakes and move and change your whole life at the beginning than it is in the middle. There are more consequences – and more hesitations about those consequences.

At the same time, the questions of the heart are still the same. They have to balance what makes them each happy against how happy they can be together. That Viv is also wrestling with the question of what she wants the rest of her career to be vs. what everyone expects the rest of her career to be makes some of those decisions both more immediate and more poignant.

In the end, I loved Royal Holiday every bit as much as I did The Wedding Date not quite two years ago. It was so lovely that it even managed to reverse the romance reading slump I’ve been in for a while, because it felt incredible to read a romance that featured a woman closer to my own age that I could identify with so completely.

I’m completely hooked on this author and can’t wait to see where she takes me next!

Jasmine Guillory ALWAYS delivers a cute, POC romance. I was ecstatic that she wrote one for an older POC (who was the mom of one of the previous girls!) And I loved the setting. I'm a huge fan of holiday books and this one does not disappoint!

This is the fourth in a series of books I have not read otherwise, featuring the mother of one of the previous characters as she accompanies her daughter on a work trip to England. As a woman of color in her 50s, she's not expecting to find love but meets the Queen of England's personal secretary and sparks fly. How often do you see an over 50 romance?

The sense of humor is fun. At one point, Vivian decides "It was time to put her bra on and do this."

She's a social worker, so she has supreme people skills that smooth over a lot of precarious situations. She knows who she is and what she is willing to do, which I liked. And she appreciates a man who knows that the best position to sleep in is close enough to touch but never trying to hold her when she is trying to sleep! Real talk.

I found the author to sometimes be needlessly repetitive, for instance a scene would happen, then she writes Malcolm's thoughts about the scene, and then Vivian's... when often their thoughts would be obvious from their behavior. Not sure if that's filler or a style but I noticed it on multiple occasions.