Dear Jane,
You’re a princess. I’m a thief. This isn’t a Disney movie. We never had a chance in hell of a happy ending. But I still wish I could have given you one.
When we met, I had you pegged as a snob. All polo and private jets. But you turned out to be the exact opposite. I fell for you the first day we met.
I lied to you about a lot of things. I don’t expect or deserve your forgiveness. You’re too good for me. But I was always honest about my feelings for you.
I hope you’ll find true happiness one day. That’s the only way I’ll ever be happy—knowing you’re okay.
I’m sorry—
Charlie
PS—don’t let your blackjack game go to crap. Practice it every day, all right?
A STANDALONE Royal Romance!
Source: advance e-galley provided in exchange for an honest review
All right. If you're looking for prim and proper royalty, that's not what you'll find here because Jessica Peterson is all about infusing the romance with a whole lot of sexy.The Flings With Kings series has been fun so far but yowza, Royal Rogue is the hottest by far and I'll say it's my favourite so far, too!
Princess Jane has been divorced for a bit and is tired of the same types of the guys who keep parading in front of her. It's hard to be in the royal fishbowl where everyone sees you and judges you when all she wants to do is be herself. Be real. After her failed marriage, she knows that's what she wants: a guy who is genuine, not one of these cookie cutter types that will say what they think she wants to hear just to get in with her and her family. Along comes Charlie who seems to dispense with some of the typical niceties and for the first time she feels like she's having a honest to god regular conversation. Not to mention the fact that his rugged good looks and cheeky banter are also delightful. Charlie sees the loneliness behind Jane's eyes and can tell that she's tired of the same old gimmicks. In trying a different approach by lacing what he says with some grain of truth, he's breaking every rule he has about interacting with his mark. A mark who happens to have a valuable item in her possession that will fetch a high price and bring him the freedom he desperately wants. For a guy who's streetsmart and experienced, he wasn't banking on falling for his prey.
I totally loved this story! With two characters from such opposite backgrounds and many incorrect assumptions about each other, there's plenty of fire and lust between them. Jane isn't as delicate as she seems and Charlie isn't as heartless as his line of work implies. In fact, Charlie's struggle with his duplicity is what makes their relationship fascinating, not to mention risky, which is not something that we've seen with this series yet. Holy cow, I gobbled this up and to make things even better, Prince John aka Jack has a significant role in this as her loving, protective and suspicious brother. I was so excited to see him since he was a no-show in the last book. But his appearance here provides laughs and a sexy glimpse into his storyline that I cannot wait to read. There are also appearances by characters from the previous books so we get plenty of their craziness as well.
Jane and Charlie's unlikely coupling and the subsequent issues that arise had me guessing all sorts of scenarios but the eventual ending was not something I saw coming. In Royal Rogue, Peterson increases the fervor to bring a scorching hot romance to make your summer even hotter!
~ Bel
