This is a romance book. I have found Maisey Yates books this year, and she is quickly becoming one of my favorite author. I really loved the writing in this book. The characters I enjoyed, and the plot was good. I loved the characters how to figure out to get over things, and they did not have a perfect life everyone thinks they did. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (HARLEQUIN - Romance) or author (Maisey Yates) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review about how I feel about this book, and I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

Crowned for My Royal Baby by Maisey Yates This story is full of secrets and a love child who's father had no idea they existed. The palace had forced the mother to believe he wanted nothing to do with their child when in all reality they had never told him that said child existed so when he sees her mother again and finds out about the child he must have them both.

This was a pretty good story by a good author. I’ve read a number of her books and they don’t disappoint. I really liked both main characters as well as the plot. I recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

This was written in first person, which was a bit jarring and unexpected for a Presents novel. I did not like the book, not because of the narration in first person, but because none of the characters were the least bit memorable or even likable. I usually like Maisey Yates's Presents offerings, but this one was a miss for me.

I haven’t read a Harlequin Presents in years...a lot of years. And oh, this took me back. There seems to be a specific type of story, characters, and dialogue that the reader gets with a Presents book, and Yates nailed it. It took me back. The story is one that Presents fans will love.

This was a painful book to read, not because it draws on emotions but because it is so over the top with dialogue that’s either stilted, dispassionate or too emotive. At its heart, it’s a romance between two broken people whose fathers hurt them deeply through verbal or physical abuse and whose mothers stood by, allowing their husbands to harm their children. As a result, Hercules (yes, that’s really the name Yates has given him) doesn’t believe in love because he’s never seen it and his mother professions of love were empty. Marissa, on the other hand, has a daughter Lily who she’s loved from birth. Ultimately, it’s Lily’s innocence and innate love that enables Hercules to finally recognize love in all its manifestations. Yates’ books are generally reliable sources of sweet romance, but she totally missed the mark on this one. Not recommended.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Harlequin Presents through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

This book was ok but it wasn't the greatest I have read by this author. One a good note, this was a quick read so i was able to finish it in one afternoon.

So, I pretty much immediately became obsessed with this book.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has worn on, I’ve begun to indulge in a very specific form of self-care: the nightly reading of Harlequin romance novels.

Well after the sun sets on my day, I will snuggle deep under the covers and bury my head in my Kindle, escaping the troubles of the day and integrating myself into the simple, happy-ending-guaranteed lives of these characters.

I was, I think, chasing that high I first experienced when I surreptitiously read a tattered Harlequin I had pilfered from my mom’s shelf. And my success in achieving that high has been hit and miss.

But even my highest-romance-induced-high was nothing compared to the warm excitement that almost immediately engulfed me as I read the first chapter of this Maisey Yates novel.

With a beautifully laid out backstory, engaging characters and a plot that makes up for in swoon-worthiness what it lacks in believability, this novel is definitely one to tuck in your purse, bury in your beach bag, or cuddle up with in your own bed when the house is quiet and it’s finally time to indulge.

UGH! WHY can't Heroes ever stay celibate? And why are heroines always frozen? Sheesh!

These lines were the best thing about this story:

<spoiler> "I steer clear of everything concerning you to the best of my ability.”

His lip lifted into a curl. “Except for my money.”

Anger sizzled through my veins. “I’m sorry. Should I have sat in poverty and virtue with your child after being rejected by you and by my parents? Would that have made a more beautiful and sympathetic picture of maternal suffering for you? When I had an offer of comfort and riches on the table, should I have opted to take something else? There is no shame in poverty, not when life has given you no choice. But I was given a choice. A choice to make sure that no matter what happened, my child would have food. Would have shelter. That I would be able to be home to take care of her. I have been all she’s had. Her only parent. It is my job, and mine alone, to care for her. There has been no one else. If you would have preferred to come back to a life in ruin so that you could rebuild it again, I am sorry to disappoint you. When you left, my life was ruin. My father looked at me and called me a whore. I had nowhere and nothing, and I rebuilt it with what I was given. I will not feel shame for that.”

“Do you know what I think?”

“I’m sure you’re going to tell me what you think,” I said, “because you think the world stops and starts on your word. Because once you were able to make my world stop and start at your word. But I made a life without you in it. And I will tell you gladly that there is nothing for you here. So whatever you say, it better be compelling, and not predictable as I suspect it will be.”

“I think that you didn’t want to hassle with me, and when you were offered a payoff, you took it rather than making sure you did the right thing.”

“The right thing? The right thing. To ensure that a man who goes about the world spreading his seed whenever he feels the urge knows about a child he didn’t even want? How many other women are like me, do you think?”

“None.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I have always used condoms,” he said ferociously. “With every other woman.”

“Oh,” I said. “So I’m special. The woman who had never even touched a man’s hand before you is the one that you couldn’t be bothered to protect? I’m glad that our dalliance meant so much to you.”

“Say what you want, Marissa, but I came back for you. I came back for you, and you were not here. And a damn good thing, I have told myself over the years, because I had a responsibility to my country and to my people, and you did not fit anywhere into that responsibility. But now there is her. Lily. And I cannot ignore the implications of her existence. My father has ruled Pelion with an iron fist for generations. And the only reason that I have not overthrown him in some kind of civil war is that the casualties would be too great, and there is a law that states the current leader is to step aside at seventy if the successor has married and produces an heir. I found that suitable woman some time ago.”

“Yes. I know. I’ve seen photos of you with her.”

“But Lily is my heir. And my father has had a significant birthday. That ushers in a new order in my country immediately. And that must be fulfilled. Because over the years my father’s tyrannical tendencies have gotten worse. He is beginning to crack down on even the most basic of freedoms people in my country used to experience. And while there is breath in my body and power to do so, I cannot allow it. But the consideration of the cost to civilian life and the danger to my mother and sister has weighed heavily on me. But this... We have a binding document.”

“Your father is a tyrant—do you think he would honor it?”

“It is not him that I need to honor it. It is the military. They serve the King. Not only that, it’s whether or not I am King in the eyes of allies.”

“It all seems trivial to me.”

“It is the nature of being royal. Tradition is what it is.”

“But will I be deemed acceptable?”

“That is for the Council to decide, but I suspect that the existence of an heir and the law as it is written will trump any concerns about your suitability.”

“I have a life. I have built a life for Lily and myself in Boston. I am terribly sorry about your country. Not for your sake, but for the sake of your people.But I fail to see how it’s my problem.”

“It is your problem because you had my child.”
I picked up this book before I requested a pre advanced copy from NetGalley and following is my honest opinion of this story. Thank you NetGalley & Publishers for the opportunity to review.

I stepped forward, rage simmering in my blood, boiling over. “She is my child. Your contribution to her genetics does not make you a father. It does not make her yours. I gave birth alone. The pain and fear that I felt in that moment was horrible, and if not for a nurse who felt sorry for me and sat there and held my hand the entire time, there would’ve been no one there for me. I took an infant back to my home by myself, and I’m the one who didn’t sleep for months. I’m the one who paced the halls rocking a crying baby.”

I took a jagged breath and continued, all my anger—at him, my parents, the world—spilling out now. “And you... You were at parties. You had a new lover that same week that I gave birth, and she was on the cover of magazines with you, all slim and beautiful and perfectly made up, and my hair was in one giant mat, my pajama pants were too tight and I wanted to weep from lack of sleep. Lily is mine. She is mine by rights. You have parties. And endless photos to document the way that you enjoy spending your time, and all the glittering, sparkling objects you can lay claim to. But I am not one of them, and neither is she. Your father might be a bastard, but it’s his money that kept us off the streets, if I’m understanding this correctly.”👏👏👏</spoiler>

It may be personal preference but I didn't like that this book was written in first person. It really threw me off. It also switches constantly between the protagonist and the antagonist which I found very distracting.

Marissa had a romance with Hercules when she was a young girl. She was left pregnant and made to believe that Hercules rejected her and the baby. She's spent the last several years feeling bitter about their relationship and taking care of their daughter.
Hercules returns to the island where he originally met Marissa and by chance she is there visiting her mother. They reconnect and Marissa finds out Hercules was never told about their daughter. The two must now come together for their sake of their daughter, the future heiress to the throne, and put their differences aside.
While there were some emotional scenes in the book, the book didn't really make that big of an impact on me. I rated it 2 out of 5 comparing it to other Harlequins..

*An e-ARC was provided in exchange for my honest review from Harlequin through Netgalley.

Maisey Yates is a consistent voice in the romance genre. I enjoy whatever style she writes in, from the classically romance style of old to this more recent duel prospective. It's hard not to enjoy her work.

Rating 4.5

Maisey Yates is a go to author for me and I enjoy a majority of her books. In this book her writing is a little different and I liked it. In this book her writing is somewhat poetic, her monologue and some inner dialogue. And then she has two differing view points (hero and heroine) and it's done different from her past books. Again I like how she also changed this around as well. The view points of each character are sometimes a chapter long. A nice change for MY, for me anyway.

We open with a background story of how the hero and heroine met. Hercules is a prince and Marissa was a 16 year old preachers kid. Marissa lived on a small Island of Midland, Massachusetts. An island that the upper echelon of society came to frolic and play in the summer. And it was when Hercules was on vacation that he and Marissa met. We have a short back drop of how they met, fell in love and then their tragic heartbreak. I thought that it was as well done as could be expected for a short HP. But I would have loved a longer version.

Marissa had become pregnant, her father disowned her and she was told "supposedly" by men that supposedly worked for the palace and Hercules that he doesn't want anything to do with her or the baby. Hercules returns to the island and finds Marissa gone and send his "men" on an extensive search for her with no results.

Five years later Marissa and her daughter return to the island to visit her mother (her father has passed away). She decides to go for a stroll, a stroll that ended up were she knew she would spot him. On a deck of a country club with the woman he was engaged to be married to in weeks. And of course as fate would have it Hercules looked out and couldn't believe his eyes as he saw Marissa.

He looked for her for a very long time before he gave up and seeing her now, there was no way he was going to let her go without an explanation. He arrives at Marissa's parents home and as the two confront each other both are shocked and appalled by all the secrets and ugly deceptions that were revealed. And a majority of the deception is thanks to Hercules dear Dad who played a major roll in all their pain.

The two decided that they will marry for the sake of Lily and Hercules country. The two have a lot of walls up from all the deceit and hurt each has experienced. But I appreciated the communication the two worked on and the willingness to be totally honest with each other in their relationship from this point forward. Lily is a cutie in this story and helps in melting Hercules heart. Hercules had a horrible Father and had a lot of terrible things that happened because of him.

Hercules and Marissa work on becoming a couple and a family. They realize that they never stopped loving each other and that they are better together. I loved the epilogue and would have loved that part to be longer as well.

Well written, different for MY but I really liked the style. Good storyline and pacing.