When I heard Jasmine Guillory was writing a book that focused on the mom of Maddie from The Wedding Party and the private secretary of the Queen of England, I knew I was going to love it....and I did! Vivian is a middle-aged social worker from California, who embarks on a Christmas adventure with her daughter, who has been invited to dress The Duchess, at Sandringham. She meets Malcolm, the Queen's private secretary and they are smitten. This story is fluffy and fun and I enjoyed all of it. I'm a sucker for anything related to the royals and this novel did not disappoint.

I love all the books that this author writes. Such a feel good book. Love the characters and the story line
Hoping the author goes back and visits some characters, but she is a go to writer for me!

Vivian Forest is coerced into going to England with her daughter, Maddie, for the holidays. Maddie will be working but this will be a time for Vivian to relax. She just got wind that she will be taking a new Director’s position when she returns.

As soon as they arrive, Vivian meets Malcolm, the personal secretary to the Queen. They unexpectedly hit it off and a romance starts to blossom. Vivian knows the time is limited but when sparks fly, you can’t ignore it.

What really did work for me is that the main characters are older in age. Sometimes, I do get tired of reading about characters in their 20s and 30s. It is nice to believe that older people fall in love too.

What I didn’t really like was some of the awkwardness of the writing. Vivian and Malcolm are constantly laughing when there is no joke. I think the author was trying to use that as a way to help with the dialogue. Instead making the conversation flow realistically, it made it weird.

Of course, when Vivian returns home, she and Malcolm maintains some sort of relationship via email. They both miss each other but their lives are heading in different directions. I did enjoy Vivian’s relationship with her daughter. Maddie gave her mother support and encouragement as Vivian tried to figure out what she wanted next in life.

The story in itself is sort of forgettable. I read this a few weeks back and I had a hard time really remembering what happened. This is not the best in the series and I think the holiday magic fell slightly short for this.

~ Samantha

A fun follow-up to The Wedding Party takes Maddie and her mother, Vivian, to England for the holidays as Maddie is filling in as a stylist for a member of the royal family. While enjoying the sights, Vivian meets the charming and handsome Malcolm, the Queen's personal secretary. Will their attraction grow into something more than a holiday romance? Really, the bigger question is how soon can we get this to a screen? There are not enough holiday romances featuring racially diverse characters and also characters that are over 50. Come on, Hallmark, let's do this! (Advanced copy read courtesy of #NetGalley. Opinions are my own.)

The book started out great, but ultimately I struggled to finish it. I’ve heard awesome things about the author, but wished I had known this was the 4th book in a series. This had a lot of potential, and I would have enjoyed it much more if I had read the other books leading up to it. Some of the characters seemed under developed and I suspect their backstories were explained in earlier books. I did like reading a romance featuring older characters and I loved the London setting!!

It was a sweet book about two middle aged people falling in love. I went into this book expecting a steamy romance probably because I never read the synopsis and that's where the book fell short for me. I picked up this book only because it was written by Jasmine!

The secondary characters weren't meaty enough, it was like a Christmas movie where other than the protagonists, everywhere else was there to just fill up the background. Hence I am slightly disappointed with this one. I am hoping Jasmine's next book isn't like this.

The book did have its cute moments and I loved the notes and the love story. Overall it was just 2.5 stars for me.

This book was cute. I enjoyed that it was a romance for two people in their fifties. As I get older I appreciate romances involving older people. I have not read the other books in the series but that did not seem to matter. Vivian goes with her daughter to England and while her daughter is there to work, Vivian gets to just hang out. She then meets Malcolm and sparks fly. I assumed it would just be a fling, but they both start wanting more and how will that work?

3.5 stars

Jasmine Guillory is back with Royal Holiday to spoil readers with a fun Christmassy read. This is the fourth book in her The Wedding Date series, and while this does include a main character from a past book, you could read this one on its own. I’ll be honest; after The Wedding Date, which was a lukewarm read for me, I wasn’t sure I’d pick up another Jasmine Guillory book. But then The Proposal came out, and I couldn’t resist a copy. Same with The Wedding Party. Neither of which I’ve read yet. But at the end of the day, I found The Wedding Date so compulsively readable that I felt like I’d be missing out if I wrote this author off. And I am so glad I didn’t. I enjoyed Royal Holiday so much! This book was fairly slow pacing-wise, but I thought it served the plot well. Some might call it slow burn, but I found there wasn’t really a burn at all, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. This book was more sweet than anything. And I’ll attribute the fact that the slow pace makes sense to Vivian and Malcolm being older than your typical romance pair. They spend a lot of time reflecting – on the situations they’re in as well as themselves, and that’s something I would expect with the amount of life experience they each have.

When Vivian accompanies her daughter, Maddie, to England for the holidays, she finds herself with a bit of time on her hands while Maddie is hard at work styling a duchess. She quickly charms the entire staff at the ‘cottage’ they’re staying in, and it’s not long before Malcolm, the queen’s personal assistant makes an appearance and charms her. Vivian and Malcolm had chemistry from the get-go; they genuinely enjoyed being with each other, and they were on the same wavelength when it came to almost everything. Malcolm loved showing Vivian his favorite parts of England, and she loved the new experiences. I really enjoyed the progression of their relationship, and even though the time frame was short, it felt like they really took their time to get to know each other. I loved the Christmas setting and the events surrounding it, and I loved their banter about the differences in what words meant in their respective countries. All in all, I thought everything about them was enjoyable. My one gripe about this book, ironically, is my favorite thing about this book. Their story was simple – that I loved. Their wasn’t a lot of drama, and I really didn’t feel like there needed to be. They were a mature couple who had learned from their mistakes. But, unfortunately they were simple as well. At least, they felt like it. They were constantly laughing at things most people wouldn’t laugh at, and I couldn’t figure out why. It almost felt like the author didn’t know how to write older people’s personalities. (I use the term ‘older’ loosely, as they were in their 50’s, if I recall correctly.) The laughter felt incredibly forced and out of place, and it often left me confused. But having said that, I still enjoyed this story, and loved seeing an older couple getting their happily ever afters. Also, like I mentioned before, Maddie makes an appearance here, and there are mentions of Theo. Maddie is the heroine from a previous novel in the series, and her character here felt like the catalyst in getting her mother to England. She didn’t feel gratuitous or like she didn’t belong here; her part in this book was perfect, and I think fans will be happy to see her.

If you’re looking for a sweet holiday read that, like the first book in this series, is compulsively readable, you can’t go wrong with Royal Holiday.

I remember seeing this pop up on Goodreads and was shocked like wth, how did I not know this? Jasmine Guillory is one of my favorites and I just thought I was up to date on all the things she was doing. And then she surprised me. Always with the surprises.

Maddie has to get to London for a last minute job, and she asks her mother Vivian to come with her. Vivian hasn't been on a vacation or taken time off for herself in quite a while, so she decides to go with her. When they get there, it's all they thought it would be. And when she meets Malcolm, it's even more than that. But the trip isn't anywhere as long as it should be, so when offered the chance to stay in London for a little while longer, Vivian doesn't know what to say. Does she stay with someone she barely knows or head back to what she knows as home.

Even though I loved all three of the others, I didn't feel like this one was as good as those. Idk, it seemed rush in a way I guess. The plot was the main thing I didn't care for. It just seemed really repetitive. Like most of it was happening again and again. Don't get me wrong, it had romance and some troupes, but for the most part, there wasn't anything that stuck out and made it memorable.

As for the characters, I liked them for the most part. But they weren't really memorable either. The first three books were MADE by the characters, and in this one, it was made by the setting. I don't know how to explain it. But when I think of the other books, I remember things characters have done. But with this one, I remember the places they went, and it just seemed different from the others. As a character driven person, this one is just different.

Although it wasn't my favorite, I still liked it. It still has the same read-ability of the other Guillory books, but even still, it didn't feel like her other books. I felt like it was still missing something. The romance and the easy read is there, but I have to be honest and say I was looking for a bit more.

Mid life romance.

A mature romance set against the background of England the Royals. Vivian Forest finds herself in Sandringham when her daughter Maddie is sent to England as a stylist to help the Duchess for the Xmas festivities. (The premise is a bit strained as far as I'm concerned. I am sure that a zillion security checks would happen well before time!)
Vivian ends up being shown around London by the rather gorgeous Malcolm Hudson, Her Majesty's private secretary. (and that starts to wander off into Never never land for me.) Still it does add to the fairytale quality.
I really wanted to enjoy this later years romance but ultimately I found the story somewhat pedestrian. I had trouble identifying with the main characters.
What I did enjoy though was an older couple being front and center of a romantic escapade. So for those who want a romantic HEA read this is it.

A Berkley Group ARC via NetGalley
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

I couldn’t stop smiling while I was reading this book. It’s a sweet story about a woman of a certain age who meets a member of the royal household while on a working vacation with her daughter. Over horseback riding, scones, and meeting the queen, Vivian and Malcolm fall in love and have to decide if they can make a long-distance relationship work. I appreciated the frank discussion of safe sex. I will recommend this book to people who have enjoyed Guillory’s other books, and those who enjoy contemporary romance.

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

“Don’t get ridiculous, V. This is just a little Christmas fling.”

I don’t know about you guys, but one of my favorite characters from The Wedding Date series was Maddie. And it just so happens that in Guillory’s latest installment, we get to follow her equally fabulous mother’s storyline. When Maddie’s work takes her to England over the holidays, she asks her mother Vivian to come with her – and won’t take no for an answer. While spontaneity isn’t one of Vivian’s more dominant qualities, she finds the thought of a vacation overseas hard to resist.

Enter Malcolm Hudson. He’s worked for the Queen (yes, the QUEEN OF ENGLAND) for years. Imagine his surprise when one of the Royal family’s private guests manages to snare his attention after all this time. While he should be focused on his royal duties, he finds himself coming up with more and more reasons to spend time with Vivian instead.

Despite both of them thinking they’re a little beyond the point in their lives where flings have happy endings, they decide to take the leap. Their innocent flirtation turns into something much more, and both find themselves having more fun than they’ve had in years. But their happiness has an expiration date – New Year’s Eve. Vivian still lives in the US, and Malcolm has no plans on leaving England anytime soon. While their feelings grow stronger and their conversations become deeper, it becomes clear that saying goodbye is going to be much harder than they both anticipated.

“Life is short. I need to stop waiting for special occasions in order to treat myself.”

You guys, Jasmine Guillory has done it again. I didn’t think it was possible for her to get MORE cute, and then she did. A holiday romance set in England amidst royalty? It felt like this one was made just for me. It honestly even had a Hallmark feel BUT BETTER because um hello there were actual POC in it, real conversations, and it didn’t shy away from sex like it was the plague. In fact, I’d like to take this opportunity to applaud Ms Guillory – her sex scenes have improved immensely since The Wedding Date! I love reading an author’s work from their earliest to their newest pieces and being able to see them evolve and grow through their writing, and you certainly get that here (and not just with the sex scenes!).

If you love a whirlwind holiday romance, swoon-worthy moments, or vacation flings, this book is the one for you. The only reason I downgraded the rating was more of a ‘me’ problem than a ‘book’ problem – I just didn’t connect with Vivian as much as I did Alexa, Nik, or Maddie. This was probably more like a 4 star read if I take my personal feelings out of it. I promise that if you’ve enjoyed Jasmine’s work before, you’ll love this one too. It is the perfect holiday read, and I can’t wait to revisit it once there’s snow on the ground and Christmas decorations up!

Royal Holiday released on Oct 1, 2019.

*All quotations taken from an ARC and are subject to change prior to publication.

Such a lovely story,I enjoyed it a lot,and this series has become one of my favorites!It was a cute,sweet,fast paced and fun story!I loved mostly the plot and also the characters were great!The story takes place in England over the Christmas holidays.Vivian and Malcolm were wonderful characters, I loved knowing about them!It was romantic and sweet romance!

The Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory had me smiling from page one and kept me delighted all the way through. My joy was so palpable that I had coworkers asking me during my lunch break what I was reading because I don’t usually spend my lunch so lovingly enraptured by my cell phone.

An extremely charming romance centered around two Black adults in their 50s who are thrown together during Christmas, The Royal Holiday is an easy book to jump into, even without having read other books in the series. All I had known was that the book was loosely inspired by a news story about Queen Elizabeth inviting the mother of Duchess Meghan to spend Christmas with the royals (which obviously launched a thousand squee ships of joy), and I didn’t feel lost at all inside the narrative despite not knowing the back stories of the other characters.

Me in love with just all of this book
My knowledge of Duchess Meghan and her mom is fairly limited, so it was pretty easy to forget the fact that this book is inspired by a real person. And this could just be my own ignorance speaking (as I have not been particularly interested in asking the internet about more specifics), but it seems like the similarities between reality and fiction stop at the point where both have a middle-aged Black woman from California with some connection to the British royal family. Ultimately, forgetting about reality and getting settled into the narrative was easy to do because the characters and the story were so engrossing.

Vivian Forest is the mother of a woman hired as the stylist to a Duchess for the Christmas holidays. Malcolm Hudson (initially nicknamed Hot Chocolate by Vivian!) is the private secretary to the Queen. They are at the same estate because the royal family is spending Christmas together and Malcolm, as part of his service to the Queen, must stay close because Parliament is causing trouble and he needs to keep her informed.

Vivian and Malcolm find each other very quickly at the beginning of Vivian’s trip and over a short number of days they are not hesitant to jump into a holiday romance. They are single adults in their 50s with very little situational or internal drama attached to their existence (no one is on the run, no meddling exes, no deep dark secrets, no struggle with some inexorable destiny prophesied long ago), so there is no shame and no denial over the attraction they feel towards each other. Like Vivian and Malcolm, this romance doesn’t shy away from the sexy bits. While there is on-the-page sex, the characters take a reasonable amount of time to get there in their relationship, so though the characters are immediately attracted to each other there are no real instalust issues in this story. It’s all very delightful and very low conflict. And generally hilarious.

Vivian’s got jokes:

No matter what, she’d [Vivian] better go downstairs showered, with her hair in place, and with a bra on. There might be a prince in the kitchen, for God’s sake.

And some unrepentant man-ogling:

Vivian couldn’t decide what appealed to her more, hot coffee and fresh scones, or that man in the corner who looked like a tall mug of hot chocolate.

Why choose?

Both? Both.
But also, Malcolm and Vivian together are a hoot:

“There’s nothing to be terrified about,”[Malcolm] said. “The horses will be lovely to you, I promise, and so will the staff.”

Would she be open to getting on a horse? Would the stable master give her the chance? For some reason, he was very much hoping she’d be able to have this opportunity.

[Vivian] raised an eyebrow at him.

“Oh, you can speak for horses now?”

He nodded seriously.

“The Queen’s horses are monarchists; they would never dare to mistreat a guest of the royal family.”

They looked at each other and laughed.

The only major conflict is at the end of the time they have together. Since Vivian lives in Oakland, California, and Malcolm’s job serving the Queen obviously means he has to stick close to where she is, they decide that neither wants to do a long-distance relationship.

To which I’m like:
SPOILER ALERT
There were two big things that I loved about this story. One moment was at the wooing and flirting stage where the main characters wrote notes to each other and, because they are on a royal estate, they had footmen delivering their cute little letters back and forth to each other. Malcolm knows that Vivian, who pokes gentle fun at the staid Englishness of many of the traditions she encounters, would find communication via footmen-delivered notes on official stationary to be hilarious and all he wants to do is delight her.

Both characters acknowledge that they are in a space that makes them more aware of their Blackness and, in particular, the former British empire’s own historical relationship to race and oppression. But, they also refuse to bound by that history. It was a fun surprise to see hints of this double consciousness. Upon meeting Malcolm, Vivian almost immediately asks him if he is the first Black man to serve the Queen as the private secretary and Vivian perpetually worries that the estate staff will resent having to serve someone like her, a Black (and American) woman in her 50s. They still manage to gleefully engage in a particular piece of a traditional English courtship, both aware of the anachronistic nature of their flirting, but also aware of how no part of their current circumstances would have been possible in the time period of that practice.

I love historical romance novels despite the fact that the story often fails to acknowledge that it is operating within a time period where various kinds of people were being exploited, often (but not exclusively) through slavery, and that many of the main characters are able to live very comfortable lives through their conscious and unconscious participation in very violent systems of oppression. And so, I sometimes engage in a fair bit of mental gymnastics where I tell myself that perhaps the book is set in the multiverse, in another universe where all the characters aren’t overwhelmingly White and did not get their wealth through the exploitation of labor and conquering of people of color. Which would then excuse the characters for never discussing slavery. It would totally makes sense for there to be no discussion of slavery in a universe that has no slavery! So in some ways, by engaging in this multiverse overlay of historical romances I’m doing the genre a kindness, meeting it where it is and reframing it in my own headcanon so that it is something more complex and reflective of a world I’m looking for, but it is extra work I do.

What Royal Holiday gave me was an opportunity to not have to bend over backwards. The story lets two Black people engage in silly historical romantic tropes and simultaneously acknowledge why their Blackness means they would have never been able to engage in such practices in the past while also refusing to have that be a reason to limit the choices they are making in the present.

The other thing I loved about these characters is that they are both Black people who are extraordinarily good at their jobs and who have to carry not only the hefty responsibilities of their actual positions, but also know that they represent the hopes and dreams–some denied, some deferred–of the people who came before them and those who follow in their footsteps. Both struggle with the psychological impacts of shouldering that responsibility alone and are only beginning to acknowledge that they have other choices besides choosing the greater good over creating a life for themselves that makes them happy.

But, this book does not dwell on the ways Vivian and Malcolm are unhappy; it only firmly roots the story in the realities of what it means to be a Black person and never lets those realities be a barrier to falling in love. In the end, this story is overwhelmingly about saying yes to good things put directly in your path. If all you want to do is wrap yourself up in a Christmas love story with two adults just admirably adulting all the way through the book, I say grab a Christmas sweater and a hot chocolate, and get ready to have a stranger ask you why you look so happy reading the book you have in your hand!

Vivian is invited to spend Christmas with her daughter in England. Her daughter was hired as the temporary stylist for a royal. Staying in a “cottage” on the royal’s estate, Vivian has a chance encounter, over scones, with Malcolm, the Queens secretary. They have an instant connection that leads to a sweet romance.

Royal Holiday is a light romance that spans two continents. Based on mature characters, it is a refreshing change.

I received this ARC copy of Royal Holiday from Berkley Publishing Group. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I have loved all of Guillory’s books, and I think she has the ability for a variety of audiences. All of her books are interconnected, but all are unique stories, both in plot structure and in overall vibe. That being said, I think that this one was not for me. I loved that this book was a romance about a woman in her 50’s, but I am not the target reader for this story. And that is totally OK. It was a cute story, and I can think of lots of people I would reccomend this book to

This is a cute fun romance. Fast paced and sweet. I am excited to read the Wedding Party now after reading this book.

Wonderful characters who are easy to identify with make this light holiday romance a delight to read.

I had loved the previous books in this series and loved the idea of a holiday book in London.

I liked Vivian and Malcolm well enough. They’re both sweet and unassuming and much too polite to have any actual chemistry. I was a little wary at reading a book with older people and perhaps that’s the reason I didn’t connect to either of them.

Plot wise, it was so very bland. I quickly found myself skimming chapters just for the dialogue. As much as I love London {which is at an insanely high level of obsession}, I didn’t want to bother reading the descriptions of the city. One of the things I did really love was the letter writing, but sadly, that’s about it.

Overall, I was really into this idea, but the execution just didn’t work for me.

**Huge thanks to Berkley for providing the arc free of charge**

When Vivian agreed to accompany her daughter on a business trip to England, she expected a nice vacation and some quality mother/daughter time. She definitely didn't expect to fall head over heels for Malcolm, the Queen's charming private secretary. But while on holiday...

Charming is truly the best word for this book. Jasmine Guillory's warm and down-to-earth characters make you want to join their friend groups. Royal Holiday had a bit of a slow start for me, but I definitely warmed to it as I spent more time with Vivian and Malcolm. I adore the mother/daughter dynamic at the heart of the book. If you're a fan of cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies and heartwarming romcoms, you'll love Royal Holiday.