Caroline is a deposed princess from Dresden. Her grandmother the Queen disinherited her when she eloped with a race car driver. Now a widow in hiding, Caroline is stunned to come across the supposedly dead former fiancé of her sister the crown princess. This meeting is the beginning of a mysterious and dangerous adventure across Europe.

Hugh has spent much of his adult life in service as a body guard to the royal family of Dresden. Much of that time has been spent guarding Princess Caroline, with whom he has been secretly in love with for years. Her life is in danger, and Hugh is determined to protect her at any cost.

Can Hugh protect Caroline with her fighting him every step of the way and will the two of them ever be able to admit their feelings for each other?

I absolutely loved The Royal Runaway so I was thrilled to receive this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book was told from Caroline's (the disowned princess's) point of view. I immediately loved Caroline and was drawn into the story. Stavros, the race car driver Caroline ran off, with was killed in a car accident early on in the novel. Caroline retreats from the world and is secluded in Lake Como when she runs into Christian, the supposedly dead ex-fiance of her sister, of all people. Caroline soon learns that several other people are after Christian, including her former bodyguard and first love, Hugh and she is the missing piece to finding him. Caroline and Hugh reluctantly team up to find Christian and sparks fly from early on. This story has romance, humor, intrigue and some mystery. It was really fun to join Caroline and Hugh on their adventure throughout Europe. The Royal Bodyguard also feature's some favorite characters from the first novel but can be read as a standalone as well. The ending sets up perfectly for a third book and I can't wait!

I'm a fan of Princess/Bodyguard romances and The Royal Bodyguard looked to be an interesting twist on the trope since Caroline is no longer a princess and Hugh hasn't been her bodyguard for years. And I did enjoy the chemistry between the two of them. I loved all the action in the story. I also thought Caroline's narration was interesting, her use of things like "/sarcasm font/" giving the sense that you're reading something she wrote herself. All of those things kept me turning the pages long after my bedtime.

But I was confused by the timeline. Caroline's sense of alienation from her family makes it seem like she's been gone much longer than she has. And I was never clear on what exactly Christian had done when he left Thea or how other characters may have connected to his plans. The resolution feels rushed and the big reveals glossed over.

I think some of my confusion is because The Royal Bodyguard is actually the second book in Emory's Runaway Royals series. It's not labeled that way because the previous book was from a different publisher. Had I read Thea's book first I might have had a better understanding of the backstory. I wish more effort had been made to ensure this one would stand alone. In fact, I felt the ending might be setting up Thea's book next before I did some research.

In the end, The Royal Bodyguard is an action movie sort of romance novel - it's a lot of fun as long as you don't think too much about the plot.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Netgalley but all opinions provided are my own.

3.5 stars

Lindsay Emory’s immensely readable The Royal Bodyguard is a dishy mix of entertainment and danger, with a scandalous formerly royal heroine and an honor-bound bodyguard determined to do all he can to resist her.

Part of Emory’s Royal Runaway world, this book focuses on Drieden Princess Thea’s sister, the former Princess Caroline. After eloping with a race car driver, Caroline was disinherited by her grandmother, the Drieden monarch, and cut adrift from the rest of her family. Now, her husband’s dead and Caroline finds herself once again in a liminal space: a princess but not, a widow, and also a secret journalist.

When her sister’s former betrothed Christian approaches her with a can’t-miss-it story, her journalistic fervor is activated. That is, until Hugh Konnor, royal bodyguard and her first-love-who-didn’t-share-her-feelings, convinces her that Christian’s actually dangerous to her & to the Drieden monarchy she once belonged to…

Told in a conversational style by a fascinating heroine who’s adept at taking on her Princess persona, The Royal Bodyguard kept me flipping pages, eager to see what would happen next between Caroline & Hugh. There’s strong chemistry between them, and the will-he-or-he-won’t-he is captivating.

But as much as I enjoyed the tension between the leads, I was bothered by what felt like a few inconsistencies (specifically regarding Caroline’s active participation in hunting down Christian) and an ending that feels hurried.

Overall, while I really enjoyed the read, I didn’t connect with the heroine or the plot as much as I did with The Royal Runaway, and that was a bit of a disappointment.