Royal Love and Intrigue

It all starts with an Alucian wedding, a happily ever after for the oldest royal son. Society, and royal parents, demand that it’s time for the second son, the extra, to perform his duty and find a bride as well!

Lady Caroline Hawke’s friend Eliza found true love. Now all she needs is to get Prince Leopold to notice her, after all she is quite the catch. Unfortunately Prince Leo isn’t interested. In fact he is appalled by Caroline’s inability to hold her tongue or conform to societal norms.

At first, neither Caroline nor Leo have many redeeming qualities other than physical beauty. Caroline is selfish, shallow and self-absorbed. Likewise Leo is snobbish and a total rake.

What I loved about this book was how Julia London was able to create a backdrop of family obligations and societal expectations, and then shift that by blending in a mystery of missing girls to set the stage for Caroline and Leo to redeem themselves. It began as a spark of annoyance and disdain between two unlikable characters and then evolved into a compelling, romantic, and often humorous dance between a prince and a lady. I couldn’t see how I would like these characters at first but I couldn’t put the kindle down – their story pulled me in. I can’t wait to read Hollis’ story!

Lady Caroline Hawke is used to men fawning over her, so when the handsome Prince Leopold can't even be bothered to remember who she is, she takes it as the utmost insult. So, she decides to do what any level-headed lady of society would do: drop little morsels of gossip about the Prince in a popular ladies magazine. But shaking up the Prince's reputation isn't enough for Caroline, she's setting her sights on his hand as well.

Prince Leopold of Alucia is beside himself about who could be behind the attack on his character. What sort of rogue could want to ruin his societal standing so completely? The worst part is this slander is hindering his investigation into a trafficking scheme that reaches the highest in London's government. Leo has no choice but to accept the help of the flighty Lady Caroline if he wishes to stop his name from dragging in the mud even more. It's only a matter of time before the pair realize the spark between them is more than just annoyance.

I went into this not realizing it was the second in a series, and I think that lessened my enjoyment. There were certain small details that I missed out or didn't pick up on because it had happened in the previous book. Despite that, there were other aspects of this that just didn't work for me. I didn't particularly like Caroline; I felt she was selfish and conceited. I also didn't feel much chemistry between her and Leo so I wasn't invested in their relationship. The pacing of the story was clunky and the human trafficking mystery felt off and almost like it was just thrown together. I've been getting more into historical romance lately, so I was excited to try this, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.

I got a copy of this one right after it's the release date. This is the second book in The Royal Wedding Series, and I did not read the first book. There seemed to be enough backstory missing for me that if this is your genre, you should probably read them in order. That said, I liked the setting and historical references (which to me seemed correct). The wedding is beautiful; the conflict between characters believable and best of all the love scenes are delightfully steamy. Leo and Caroline grew to be better people together (the first half of the book I didn't like Caroline at all), and that's a pretty good outcome for a story like this one. If you have some bias toward Harlequin based on reading them in the 80's you should try them again.

A fallen Prince and a societal lady stuck on appearances. There was tremendous growth and development for both Prince Leo and Lady Caroline. As Leo sets out to on a mission that shakes him out of selfish ways, he learns more about himself and those around him. He also opens his eyes to Caroline, who begins to experience her own growth as she sees the consequences of her own actions on an innocent man. I have to admit I was back and forth with annoyance for Caroline and the society gossip, but was solidly with her towards the end of the book. This is Caroline and Leo's great adventure and it did not disappoint. Definitely not a smooth road to happily ever after, but one that had to be traveled. I devoured this book! Fantastic second book in this series. I loved all the side characters and hope to see more from Hollis, Duncan, and Beck.

Helenamar, Alucia - 1846

Lady Eliza Trickleband has marred His Royal Highness Sebastian Charles Ives Chartier, the Crown Prince of Alucia. Their titles will be the Duke and Duchess of Tannymeade and will reside in Tannymeade Palace.

Lady Caroline Hawke is Eliza’s best friend and had wanted to be her Maid of Honor, but Eliza’s sister, Mrs. Hollis Honeycutt, took the honors. Caroline is chatty, outgoing, and publishes articles in a gossipy magazine. During the festivities, she so wants to attract the attention of Sebastian’s younger brother. Leopold (Leo), but he treats her with disdain and considers her just another English girl.
Now, the King and Queen of Alucia have told Leo that it is his turn to get married and he must find a bride.

When Caroline returns to England, Leo is there too explaining that he has business to attend to. They continue to spar with one another much to the chagrin of Caroline’s brother, Beck.

The story continues with clandestine espionage that Leo is involved in regarding young women sold into slavery from a neighboring county close to Alucia. Those two countries have been at odds for many years. Will Leo succeed in solving this quest? Will he and Caroline manage to put aside their differences and at least be friends?

Oh, dear. This book was just not for me. A pet peeve of mine is espionage, spies, etc. in a historical romance novel. It simply does not belong, and I find myself disappointed when romance novelists continue on this path. It only ensures that I will not read more of their books. As a saving grace, I did get a chuckle here and there when I read the little tips for women that Hollis added in her gazette.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is the second book in the Royal Wedding Series by Julia London.
Lady Caroline Hawke is the belle of the Season. Every man is vying for her hand except the one she wants, Prince Leopold of Alucia. They met previously at her best friend’s wedding, but he does not remember her. She decides to get revenge by smearing his name in a gossip rag. Prince Leopold is in England on a highly sensitive mission and the rumors are hurting his investigation into the highest levels of the government. He enlists her help to get back into Society but it might cost him more than he bargains for.
I did not really care for Lady Caroline. She is vain and self-centered. She does redeem herself by the end of the book as does Prince Leopold. A good read but I preferred the first book in the series.

I requested an ARC of this book, and these opinions are my own.

This is the second book in Ms. London's 'A Royal Wedding' series, and while it does stand well on it's own, there are enough references that it might make sense to read the first book as well.

Lady Caroline Hawke has had several Seasons in London, all of which have bored her silly. To make them somewhat enjoyable she has created a game to see how many admirers she can amass - not by being loose with her reputation, but by being her charming and bubbly self.

Prince Leopold of Alucia is the spare, and feels at loose ends once his brother marries. He's never been jealous of the attention given to his older brother, but just wishes someone would look at him and not see the lazy gadabout persona he's created.

It's a definite frenemy to lovers tale - she is appalled that he's not falling at her feet, and he thinks she's the most uncouth ill-bred Englishwoman he's ever met. They are continually thrown together by circumstance, leading to many a wrong impression, but eventually see beneath each other's veneer to the true person - who is much more interesting than the characters they show to the rest of the world.

Falling for each other is inevitable as their chemistry ignites every page, almost from the beginning. And when Caroline decides to help Leo with his personal mission to aid those who cannot help themselves, it's just a short leap to love.

I enjoyed the character development in this book more than the first, which was filled with a great deal of back-story and 'getting to know' everyone. When I started this book, I found Caroline to be obnoxious, and Leo to be a snob, but those impressions quickly changed as the story evolved. They are complex people who only wanted the same thing - to be seen and taken seriously for who they are, not who people thin, they are. The love scenes were delightfully steamy - I would expect nothing less from Julia London, after all - and the mystery sub plot was intriguing.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes some action with their romance.

I was given a copy of the book for review in exchange for an honest review.

This book was great from beginning to end. The wedding was beautiful, and of course Lady Caroline Hawke was there to support her best friend Eliza Tricklebank as she wed Prince Sebastian of Alucia. But Caroline only had eyes for Prince Leopold.

As the story wends, you watch Caroline find opportunity to see and talk to Leopold until he realizes that she's the one for him.
But, the story is more than a romance. It is also a story of a man coming to his own. You watch Leopold change from a drunken playboy prince to a man who knows what he needs to do and isn't afraid to do it.
I loved this story a little bit more than The Princess Plan, the first in the series. I think it was because of the way Julia showed the characters developing and changing throughout the story.

I commend Julia London for touching on a topic that a lot of people ignore, sex trafficking. I am sure the topic was as relevant then as it is now.

This is book 2 in the Royal Wedding series and I recommend reading the first book before reading this one. In this one we get Lady Caroline Hawke and Prince Leopold of Alucia's story. Everyone is trying to win Caroline's hand except Leo. Leo honestly can't remember Caroline, which makes her angry. So in order to get back at him, she makes sure that his name is in the gossip gazette. And that what is being said about him is risque! Leo knows someone has been setting him up as a blackguard, but he doesn't know who. But because of it, his investigation has been put in jeopardy. So he enlists Caroline's help, not knowing that he might just fall for her while trying to solve the mystery.

I had a really hard time with this one. For me, I really didn't like Caroline. She was entirely too full of herself and for her to do the things she does just because he didn't remember her? It just put me off of her. It was just too vindictive for me and especially over something that is essentially meaningless? Yeah, I didn't like her. Leo often came across as someone who is lost and just trying to find his way in a life that he didn't truly ask for. On a whole, I liked him. He was just trying to figure his way out and how he wanted to be able to live his life. I liked the sub-plot with them trying to solve a case about trafficking but it almost felt like it was thrown in in order for them to have something to connect over. On a whole it wasn't a bad story, I just really didn't like the heroine. Hopefully, the next one will be better.

This is the second book in Julia London's fun A Royal Wedding series. I found it to be a harder read than the first in the series, and picked it up and put it down several times before finishing.

Lady Caroline Hawke is in the country of Alucia attending her friend Eliza's royal wedding (from the first book). Prince Leopold, brother of the heir to the throne/groom is quite handsome, but he cannot seem to remember her, probably because he was very drunk when they were introduced a while ago; this annoys her no end and she is very nasty to him. Back in England, Leo's reputation is increasingly in tatters and he is being dropped from the guest lists of Society functions due to a variety of issues, some caused by Caroline dropping hints into her friend Hollis' ear for publication into her gossip column, some by loose-lipped friends of his own.. However, he is attempting to rescue missing women who are being ill used by those high in government and he needs Caroline's help to regain entrance to entertainments.

Caroline is vindictive, vain and self-centered. Poor Leo, though, feels lost in the world, wanting to do something that would benefit his country; he wants to be more than a tool to make an advantageous marriage for his country. His life changes when he has the chance to save some women for their neighboring country who have been basically sold into slavery. With Caroline's help he is able to turn into a true hero.

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the author and NetGalley for an honest review.

Leo parents have found him a wife, but before that announcement is made he has plans to return to London to wrap up a few things. One of which is finding some missing woman that have been taken from his country to put to work in England, possible against their wishes. Leo needs to track down the men responsible for it and make sure it doesn't happen again. Unfortunately, each new rescue makes his reputation take a hit. No one wants anything to do with him. How can help the rest of the women?

Caroline Can't believe that Leo doesn't seem to remember her from their earlier and her every attempt to get him to notice her seems to be failing. But once back in London, Leo starts spending more and more time with her brother and putting him in her sights. While he still does his best to not interact with her, she does finally make an impression on him. When Leo is no longer accepted in society, he finally comes to her for help. He needs entrance to the ton to continue his rescues.

Now that Leo and Caroline are working together, they see a side of each other that they rarely share with another. Will all this time spend together bring them closer and maybe end with their HEA?

I really enjoyed Leo and Caroline's story. I will say that I didn't particularly care for Caroline for about half of the book. She was so conceited, that she really turned me off. I really wish that London had gone a different direction with her. I like Leo better than Caroline, for sure. Although he did take a little warming up to. But Once he got back to London, he quickly realized that what they were printing about him in the papers weren't not true. He then started to see that he needed to reevaluate how he was living his life. So while I didn't particularly care for Caroline, I did enjoy the story and by the end of it she had grown on me.

I am excited to see Hollis get her HEA in the next book which will be out in September.

Honeycutt’s Gazette of Fashion and Domesticity for Ladies: It has been heard that there is intrigue in the air between a certain rogue prince and a certain witty debutante. Some say there is a plot to damage the prince’s already wanderlust reputation and that a lady should not involve herself with said prince. It is also rumored, however, that there is an evil plot about town regarding young girls and some high society gentlemen...Ladies, when an excellent cut of meat has been marinating long enough be sure to add a few spices to said meat before grilling and dining.

I really liked how Julia London presented the story from the different but connected viewpoints of all the characters! I decided that Caroline is the cayenne pepper in Prince Leopold’s marinating steak. How it will taste when dinner is ready will take you the whole book to decide! Thumbs up on a great story.

A Royal Kiss & Tell is the second book in Julia London’s A Royal Wedding series. I did not read the previous book, The Princess Plan, and while it didn’t affect my enjoyment of a Royal Kiss & Tell, I would definitely recommend reading the series in order. There was a little bit of back story that I was missing, but the exposition filled in most of the blanks.

A Royal Kiss & Tell is the story of Lady Caroline, the best friend of Eliza from book 1, and Prince Leopold of Alucia, the younger brother of Sebastian from book 1.

Lady Caroline is the younger sister of a baron, Lord Beckett Hawke, and he’s raised her since they’re parents died when he was 14 and she was 8. She’s beautiful, definitely spoiled by her brother, and loves to be the center of attention, but she’s also very kind and loves to design, create and alter her own gowns.

Leo is the typical “spare heir.” He lacks purpose and spends most of his time drinking and partying and most of the time he lives in London away from his parents that barely notice him. Now that his brother is married, the only value Leo has (according to his parents) is his ability to marry and provide them with a political alliance.

The story begins at the royal wedding of Eliza and Sebastian in Alucia, a fictional European country. As long-time family friends of Eliza, Lady Caroline and her brother are present for all of the wedding festivities. When Caroline and Leo meet again, it is very much a Pride & Prejudice situation, except while Leo is Darcy, Caroline is more of a Lydia. Leo finds Caroline to be too loud, too impertinent, too silly – and “beautifully annoying.” While Caroline thinks Leo is an arrogant jerk, especially since he acts like he doesn’t know her. During his time in England, he and Caroline apparently met at a house party, but since he was probably drunk, he doesn’t remember, much to the offense of Caroline who believes she is very memorable. After the wedding, they both head back to England. Caroline to return home, and Leo so he can get his belongings and tie up other loose ends before heading home and announcing his engagement to a neighboring country’s heiress. They keep crossing each other paths (Hawke and Leo have become besties), so what started as loathing, turns to tolerance and clever banter and ultimately friendship.

Over the course of the book, the characters go through a lot of personal growth. That being said, I was slow to like either of them. Seeing Leo through Caroline’s eyes, he was unforgivably rude, and Leo’s perception of Caroline showed her as immature and oblivious to appropriate behavior in social situations. In trying to jab back at each, they just looked foolish themselves. But, as I said, they did grow and their perceptions of each other changed. Obnoxious and silly to Leo initially, he now saw Caro as unique and charming, and as the reader, I began to see that, too. Leo you ultimately love because you know that he’s just a lost second who is looking for some way to provide some sort of value to his country, and when he finds that, his facade of arrogance falls away. “You are the woman who has made me wake up to life and understand it’s worth living.” Swoon. In the end, when they’ve finally grown up, I just love them together.

Other than my slow acceptance of the main characters, my only criticism is that overall this is a very light-hearted, low-angst story, but London introduces a very heavy and very real world subplot of a human-trafficking slave ring. This is such a dark and sinister subject that it felt a little glossed over amongst the more light-hearted romance. One direct example, Eliza’s sister, Hollis, owns a gossip/fashion newspaper, and each chapter begins with a snippet from a recent edition. As a set up to her book, A Princess by Christmas, she begins to become interested in revealing more serious and important social issues. This is mentioned in the book as Hollis says, “I mean to expose this corruption.” But then the next article we see merely says, “Disturbing rumors of a slave ring operating at the highest reaches of British government continue to swirl, and we’ll be keeping our eyes and ears open to bring you more news of it.” I wanted a touch more on the subject in general, but also think a darker, grittier romance would have better supported this social issue subplot.

Overall, I really enjoyed A Royal Kiss & Tell. It was quick read that left me forgoing sleep so I could read to the end. Leo & Caro’s growth throughout their story won me over and had me rooting for them. I’m definitely looking forward to A Princess by Christmas!

A Royal Kiss & Tell is the second book in Julia London's fun A Royal Wedding series. I very much enjoyed the first book; the heroine was sweet and really made me laugh. I didn't like the heroine here - at all - until the second half of the book. But stick with it...you will like her in the end, plus the hero ended up being wonderful.

Lady Caroline Hawke is in the country of Alucia attending her friend Eliza's royal wedding. She finds Prince Leopold, brother of the heir to the throne/groom, to be quite handsome. However, he cannot seem to remember who the heck she was; in his defense, he was probably in his cups when he's seen her. So she'll teach him to ignore her...she will feed details of his exploits to her friend Hollis to publish in her gossip gazette! Back in England, Leo's reputation is increasingly in tatters and he is being dropped from the guest lists of Society functions. This makes things difficult, as he is attempting to rescue missing women who are being ill used by those high in government. He needs Caroline to help him regain entrance to entertainments. Can Leo help these unfortunate women with Caroline's help?

As I stated earlier, I wasn't a big fan of Caroline's for at least half of the book. She was vindictive, vain and self-centered. Also, she giggled. I can't stand adult women giggling...just a pet peeve of mine. She eventually began to grow on me, as hidden layers of her personality were revealed. It's Leo, though, who shone here. He felt lost in the world, wanting to do something that would benefit his country. He wanted to be needed, not just be used as a tool to make an advantageous marriage for his country. He fed his ennui with alcohol. When he had the opportunity to make something of himself - saving unfortunate women of a neighboring country - he began to turn his life around. It wasn't easy, as he really hadn't DONE anything before, but with Caroline's help was able to turn into a true hero. I am totally looking forward to the next book in this series, starring Caroline's friend Hollis, a widow who writes and prints the lady's gossip gazette.

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

I have been a huge fan of Julia London’s books for many years now, I have always loved her witty, clever and passionately romantic writing, her historical’s are in a league of their own – especially those Highlander…phew, those are scorching!! But, I do have to admit that the first book in this series wasn’t the huge boom I had expected it to be, which I do hate saying.
You know me, I hate saying anything negative. But that wouldn’t stop me from continuing with this series after all this is the great Julia London we are talking about, and I am pleased to say that this is soooo darn good!
Don’t you just love a proper rogue, a scandalous, cavorting and debauched; rake? Off course you do, and with gorgeous, sexy, exciting, mysterious, scandalous and aloof; Prince Leopold of Alucia …sigh!! We have got one hell of a swoon-some hero!
Lady Caroline Hawke is the shining star of society, she is lusted over by every man except the man she would like to lust over; he doesn’t seem to like her at all which makes him hugely fascinating to her but also infuriates her, for our Caroline is exceedingly vain, it’s not actually her fault it’s just how she has been treated that has made her that way. But she cannot abide the fact that the such a man can’t even remember who she is, so she thinks up a way to make sure she is well and truly imprinted on to his mind and suddenly scandalous stories about him start appearing in a ladies gossip rag. Which is the last thing that our hero needs at the moment as he has bigger fish to fry, one that could very well cost lives? Leo needs help so what does a prince with a blackened reputation do? Go straight to the source of all of his problems – even though at the time he doesn’t realise it.
This is the second book in the hilarious romantic comedy series; A Royal Wedding by Julia London, this is marked as a stand-alone which it could very easily be read as such, but my personal opinion is that you should read the previous book first. Even though with all of Julia’s books each story is very central to the two lead characters I do think to really grasp the entirety of the series then you should read the first book – just a suggestion. I personally think that this one is far better than the first book, there is far more wit and well I can’t put my finger on it but this one has that Julia London magical feel which we all know and love back which I don’t think the first book in the series had. This is full of belly laughs, I was happily giggling away at Leo and Caro’s shenanigans, what a marvellous could they are even though they both have huge flaws.
I will admit that as much as I loved the sexy banter, chemistry and blossoming romance between Caroline and Leopold, it did take a while for me to see past her vanity. I was in two frames of minds about her, she is beautiful there is no questioning that and she knows it, but she has this marvellous catty wit and brilliant mind hidden beneath the mask she wears, at times I found her to be quite the enigma; rather aloof and then thoroughly passionate. But deep down past all that bravado she just wants a good man to actually see the true her; the brainy owl and not just the beautiful swan. But, the more you get to know her, and see her with Leo; how she shines, I did start to warm to her and ended up really liking her.
Another winner for Julia London, it captivates and entertains; its full of danger, passion and intrigue. Highly recommend, I can’t wait to see what comes next in this series.
This was an arc copy via the author, which I voluntarily reviewed. Thank you, Julia and Nitty.

This is the second book in a historical romance series, and can be enjoyed as a standalone.

Lady Caroline Hawke is in Alucia enjoying the celebrations of her dearest friend Eliza Tricklebank marrying her love, Crown Prince Sebastian of Alucia. Caroline is a celebrated English lady, invited to the poshest of salons and all the right balls. She lives with her brother and guardian, Beckett, who is a duke. Caroline takes great offense to the notion that Prince Seb's younger brother Prince Leopold does not remember making their acquaintance--and she makes an official nuisance of herself in the courts of Alucia acting far too familiar and breaking all the rules of protocol. Leo, if he did find her attractive, is thoroughly turned off by her boorish breaks in decorum.

Leo, himself, is a man of little accomplishment. He's spent years in England attending Cambridge and drinking his days away. As the "spare," his father doesn't bother educating in matters of state, he's led an indulgent life. There are some intigues of the Alucian court--especially with concerns over its bordering nation Wesloria and the possibility for conflict--but Leo has had very little interest in any of this--and even less had been shared with him regarding the politics of the situation. Still, he's inexplicably approached by an Alucian insurgent who tells him that Weslorian girls are being sold into sexual slavery in London to gain favors for those who seek to stage a coup de etat against Leo's father, King Karl and unite Alucia and Wesloria under Karl's younger half-brother's rule. King Karl, seeking to unite factions in his favor, has just announced that Leo is betrothed to the daughter of a wealthy Weslorian industrialist--who has been implicated by his informant to be a cog in the sexual slave network. Leo has the summer to return to London, find five missing Weslorian slave girls, and potential stop his marriage to a girl who makes no secret of preferring the captain of her guard.

Leo and Caroline return to London, and their paths continue to intersect, not the least because Leo and Beckett have become fast friends. Leo steps in when Caroline is deeply ill, assisting Beckett get a doctor and bringing tokens to cheer brother and sister. Part of his attentiveness stems from the fact that the contact his informant gave is a maid in Beckett's London home. And, when Caroline thinks she sees Leo messing about with their maid, well, she does let the rumor out to her friend, Hollis, Eliza's sister and the editor of Honeycutt's Gazette for Fashionable Ladies--a gossip rag that starts spreading Leo's less-than-genteel exploits in the homes of esteemed Lords--who have themselves a Weslorian slave Leo hopes to return home.

Everyone in London thinks Prince Leo a depraved and degenerate man, helped along by all the gossip of Caroline's friends, and his social status dries on the vine. Invitations are rescinded and he has no way of finding the remaining girls. Caroline is desolate because her heart had definitely turned toward the prince since his help with her sickness. She regrets her gossiping, and can't understand why Leo would cavort with maids and prostitutes when he has plenty of access to quality women. When agents of the Crown turn up on Caroline's door, she finally demands that Leo--who has indeed become a friend in these times--tell her the truth of his shenanigans. And, that turns the tide--getting Caroline in board with the rescue effort. The romance, which had been simmering begins a slow boil. It's a long time before Caroline and Prince Leo admit their love, and even longer before they do more than kiss.

The story really revolves around the intrigue of English, Alucian and Weslorian courts. The romance is slow to develop and adversarial from the outset. Both Leo and Caroline have a lot of soul-searching to complete to turn them from vapid caricatures of the upper echelons into richer, complex characters. They do this work, first Leo and then Caroline, and the compassionate and passionate people they become are people I enjoyed reading about. If you enjoy historical romances, and royalty romances, this might be a book for your list.

A Royal Kiss & Tell is the second book in the 'A Royal Wedding' series. I did not read the first book in the series. This read fine as a stand-alone, however, the context provided in the first book might add depth to the storyline in this one. Since I didn't read it, it's hard to say.

Caroline Hawke and her brother, Beck, are attending their dear friend Eliza's wedding to Prince Sebastian, the heir to the kingdom of Alucia. Caro has had her eye on Prince Leopold, Sebastian's younger brother. Unfortunately for her, during the wedding festivities, he either ignores her or challenges her manners. He thinks she is oblivious to social expectations- for example, she keeps interrupting people who are ranked higher than she is. Caro is used to attention and is fit to be tied by Leo's reactions to her. She is outgoing and owns her own behavior.

Back in London, PrinceLeo continues his friendship with Beck, Caro's brother, so, of course, he crosses paths with Caro. Unfortunately, she keeps catching him in what appear to be compromising positions. However, the more they are thrown together, the more they spark off of each other and actually develop a bit of a friendship. The growing relationship is fun to watch and there is a mystery as Leo works to rescue girls that he learned were in situations not of their choosing. As he further investigates how the girls came to be in these unwanted roles, Caroline becomes more ally than foe. This is an easy, gentle read with a slow build of a relationship. I'm looking forward to the next one.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and Harlequin-Romance for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

This was a well-written, entertaining historical romance. Lady Caroline Hawke is used to being noticed, and she cannot believe Prince Leopold of Alucia can't remember her. They keep running into each other, and before long he starts looking forward to it. Meanwhile, she is drawn to him despite herself. The banter was fun, the story moved along quickly and drew me in, and I didn't want to put it down. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more books by this author.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley to read in exchange for a fair review. A Royal Kiss and Tell by Julia London is the second book in her delightful A Royal Wedding series. I do think you should read the first book in the series before reading this one. Lady Caroline Hawke is someone who knows her own worth, she’s funny and charming, has a talent for creating fabulous dresses and simply cannot comprehend why that annoying Prince Leopold wants to pretend they’ve never met. His Royal Highness Prince Leopold is a bit of a wastrel, a second son, he feels useless and unappreciated. His only value is to secure a treaty by marrying as his parents direct. When he discovers a plot to sell young girls into slavery in exchange for political favour, he determines to rescue the girls even at the risk of his own reputation. Along the way, his antagonism with Lady Caroline grows to friendship and then love. I found this story to be exciting and delightful, and highly recommend it. Medium Steam. Publishing Date May 19, 2020. #ARoyalKissAndTell #JuliaLondon #HistoricalRomance #HarlequinRomance #bookstagram #NetGalley

Posted on Tales to Tide You Over on 5/14/2020

This is the second in A Royal Wedding, a series where royalty steps beyond the bounds of expectation to find true love. The series is more than only romance so far with this book also containing intrigue, though not a mystery. Instead, Prince Leopold is tasked with using his access to discover what treachery is afoot between those with the power to modernize Alucia and its sister country. As a story, A Royal Kiss & Tell offers everything that drew me in with A Princess Plan, something I found a little surprising to be honest.

Lady Caroline Hawke, or Caro to her friends, is not my kind of female lead. Eliza, from the first book, was much more someone I appreciated, and I shared Prince Leopold’s opinion of Caro as self-obsessed and shallow. Leopold didn’t start out all that strong either, being more often in his cups than doing anything of interest.

It didn’t take long for these two to revise my opinions, though. Both undergo a period of self-reflection in which we learn why they have become the frivolous people they are at the beginning. Even better, they are each working to amend that image of themselves, if in very different ways.

Caro has recently discovered her love of fashion carries with it a love of, and talent for, design. Over her brother’s objections, she has even gone beyond designing for herself, Eliza, and Hollis to taking requests from others. Her brother and guardian Beck worries for her future and the cost of all her expenditures, but he cannot see her vision. This is the heart of Caro’s fears. She worries there’s nothing inside her at all as none of the potential suitors, or even her brother, see something other than her shell. The very fact of her concerns tells me there’s more.

Leopold has always been the spare prince. He received little attention and no training for a role his brother Sebastian is destined to fill. Rather than let frustration swallow him whole, he drowns his lack of purpose, going from party to party until he doesn’t even remember the first time he met Caro. She does, however, and presumes a close friendship because of it he doesn’t share.

The book begins mostly with the aftermath of book one (including a recap of the murderous plot). While Eliza and Sebastian finish the last of their social obligations in a grand, formal, Alucian wedding, Leopold drips contempt on the pushy, yet beautiful, sister of his friend Beck. As with the first book, the descriptions, as seen through Caro’s eyes, run a little long for me, but it also does a good job of setting the reader up.

Not only are we put back into their world, but the grounds are laid for Leopold’s change and Caro’s unfortunate habit of catching sight of, and misunderstanding, odd circumstances with the prince. It’s no coincidence. Caro refuses to admit to her infatuation, especially after Leopold gives her a firm dressing down, but she cannot keep her eyes off him. She has a sixth sense of his location at any given moment.

Intrigue, open-door intimacy, and a firm dose of sharp dialogue mix with the costs and complexities of London society. This is a fitting continuation of the series, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Caro and Leopold. I’m looking forward to what the fates will bring Hollis’ way, as I’d guess she’s next to find love, a second love in her case.

The book will be available for purchase on May 19th, and I recommend it for fans of Victorian romance and Georgette Heyer.

P.S. I received this Advanced Reader Copy from the publisher through NetGalley.