I didn’t read book one in this series and perhaps I should have, but I am jolly glad I read book two. It’s a treat.
Petunia De Vere (who everyone calls ‘Pet’ which takes some getting used to) is the personal assistant to a newly minted royal – Johnny Marchmont. He’s well-meaning, but endlessly clumsy and prone to putting his foot in his mouth. Pet often finds herself being flung aside by Johnny’s flailing limbs. Invariably, it is Matthias Vaughn who catches her, sometimes with his head. Matthias is one of Johnny’s bodyguards. He’s the strong, silent type you want to climb like a tree, while Pet is sunshine and humour and adventure.
Johnny’s clumsy moments are invariably caught on camera, but one particular photo causes a real stir because it appears as though Johnny and Pet are on ~intimate~ terms. This is, of course, not true. Johnny is devoted to his wife, Princess Rosie. Nevertheless, the rumours aren’t dying down and the team decide that Pet, who is a bit of a viral sensation due to Johnny’s clumsy antics, needs to be in a fake relationship, specifically with Matthias Vaughn. That Rosie gets a chance to play matchmaker is just a happy coincidence.
Cue a classic grumpy-sunshine, fake relationship plot. But kind of with a twist. Being in a fake relationship with your colleague while working in front of the rest of your colleagues is really awkward. They become so wonderfully shy with each other. But there are these tendrils of attraction that draw them closer. The first day or so of their fake relationship is absolutely swoonworthy.
Alas, after the initial phase, it plateaus a bit. They get to know the facts about each other, but their emotional closeness is pretty high right from the jump. That initial shyness almost forces them to be vulnerable and open with each other – in actions, if not necessarily in what they say. Then it’s just a waiting game to see who will take the leap first and confess their feelings. For the story, it makes sense that the emotions are there from the get-go because they’ve liked each other for years but done nothing about it, but the stakes are artificially inflated from that point on because we know they both adored each other from word go.
Perhaps because I didn’t read book one in this series, I found the first few chapters a bit confusing. I assume this is because there were references to events in book one that were more fully explained then and only mentioned briefly in book two. That said, I was still able to follow the story. I just wasn’t as immersed as I could have been.
In terms of criticism, I would say that the humour wasn’t always a good fit for me. It tends towards slapstick and a kind of forced, sometimes farcical humour. My favourite parts of the book were those that weren’t meant to be humorous – when it was just pure emotion with some sexytime thrown in there. There are also quite a few supporting characters, which makes sense as it is a series, but the sheer number meant that most of them remained relatively flat characters.
While the royal family in this series is completely different from the actual UK royal family, you do still need to be broadly on board with a) royals existing in the first place and b) paparazzi are generally bottom-dwellers. Rosie and Johnny are, of course, endearing characters and there is just as much emphasis on their staff as there is on them. Nevertheless, there’s a lot of inherited wealth and privilege.
Overall I liked this book, though some parts were much more swoony than others, especially as the tension between them became mostly me, the reader, waiting for one of them to admit their feelings to the other already. While the waiting part wasn’t my favourite, the emotional development and vulnerability between Pet and Matthias was delicious.
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I’m having a crap week, and am saving this for when I need something sweet. Thank you for the review!
I don’t usually read royal romances but Lucy Parker is an exception. I even decided not to wait for a library copy, despite my dwindling book budget.
I really really liked the preceding book and have enjoyed all of Lucy Parker’s (including the one set in New Zealand pub’d under a different name). This one is on my wishlist for when I get through the current TBR queue.
On my TBR!
@chacha1 i LOVED the Lucy-Parker-but-published-under-another-name novel set in NZ & I reread it on the regular. It is the deepest sorrow of my soul that she never published a sequel featuring the hero’s best friend.
@chacha1 and @Jessi
Please could you let me know the title of the book you love? I’ve added a book to my reading challenge and I THINK it’s the book that you’re talking about but I want to be sure!
Thank you!
@Lara that one is Artistic License. In several ways I’d say it’s not dissimilar to Code Charming – from what I’ve read, only 50% through the latter so far! Both have heroes who have issues with their appearance (or more accurately, *other people* make an issue of their appearances, I guess). I really appreciate romances where the hero isn’t straight out of a perfume ad or whatever!
@Lara
Also the author name is Elle Pierson.
@Lara
Just to be clear, Elle Pierson and Lucy Parker are the same person, I just thought I should add the actual pen name used for “Artistic License”.
Cute cover, but I think it should portray the hero wearing the heroine like a hat. That would be so awesome and not even a spoiler.
I really liked Battle Royal, but I loved Codename Charming. There’s a big reveal at the end that gave my tender heart all the feels.
Add me to list of Artistic License fans. I generally don’t re-read books except for those by Lucy Parker/Elle Pierson.
I’ve read most of Lucy Parker’s books and enjoyed them, but I find her prose to be a fairly tortured; she’s not a writer who uses words sparingly. I’ve noticed that before, but it’s giving me pause with this book.
I’m still reading Codename Charming, but:
1. How the title appears in the book is a little ridiculous
2. I understand romance requires suspension of disbelief, but didn’t anyone writing or editing this book stop to think that a fake relationship is one thing, but a fake relationship – including sexual contact! – mandated by someone’s EMPLOYERS, who happen to be royals, is another thing entirely? I’m pretty sure the whole situation is grounds for a pretty winnable sexual harassment lawsuit, the royals in question being very nice notwithstanding.
3. I knew the book sounded a little like Artistic License so I made the mistake of skimming that one alongside this one, and there is some considerable thematic overlap, so I now find myself losing patience with Codename Charming.
Maybe I should put the book aside and come back to it later.
Had to snag a copy of Artistic License after reading the comments here! I absolutely LOVED Codename: Charming!!
I rather enjoy the dry wit of Lucy Parker’s prose. Having just come from a historical romance where I felt the prose felt rather circular and tortured, it’s interesting to me that LP’s style feels that way to others, whereas I definitely enjoyed it.
I’m waffling on whether to get this book. The first one in this series, “Battle Royal”, was one of my all-time favorites, but I find the premise of this one a good deal less appealing, and I definitely understand M’s misgivings in this regard.
Lara’s review acknowledges that she didn’t read the first book in the series and thus didn’t get much out of passages that involve a lot of returning characters. I’d like to hear from readers who have read both how this one stacks up compared to Book 1.