Can't Escape Love: A Reluctant Royals Novella (Reluctant Royals, #2.6)

by Alyssa Cole

Regina Hobbs is nerdy by nature, businesswoman by nurture. She's finally taking her pop culture-centered media enterprise, Girls with Glasses, to the next level, but the stress is forcing her to face a familiar supervillain: insomnia. The only thing that helps her sleep when things get this bad is the deep, soothing voice of puzzle-obsessed live streamer Gustave Nguyen. The problem? His archive has been deleted.

Gus has been tasked with creating an escape room themed around a romance anime…except he knows nothing about romance or anime. Then mega-nerd and anime expert Reggie comes calling, and they make a trade: his voice for her knowledge. But when their online friendship has IRL chemistry, will they be able to escape love?

• ISBN10: 0062931881
• ISBN13: 9780062931887
• Publish Date: 19 March 2019 (first published 5 March 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 192
• Language: English

Reviews

[readingwithwrin]

I wish this one was a full book. Getting to see a character in a wheelchair is very uncommon in literature, especially written in the way this one was.
Regina is a very relatable character with how she has to deal with running her own business, managing her disability, and dealing with family drama. Because of all these things I wish she had a full book, maybe even a series because I just want to get to spend more time with her learning about her website and the things she loved all while dealing with a disability and all the care that goes into having one alongside regular everyday life.

(I am a disabled woman who also uses a wheelchair. Seeing representation like this is amazing and I loved it so much!

[celinenyx]

I usually don't really read contemporary romance, but I thought I'd give Can't Escape Love a shot. Reggy is a determined, ambitious disabled geek girl, who suffers from insomnia. It is only the voice of her former internet friend that can lull her to sleep. She contacts him to convince him to sell her some recordings, but he proposes a different deal: they can talk on the phone every night till she falls asleep.

Can't Escape Love was really sweet, and I enjoyed the interactions between Reggy and Gustave. I generally liked the novella length, making sure there is no drawn-out conflict, but I do think it could have benefited from an epilogue - the ending was rather abrupt and didn't touch on the main catalyst of the story, an escape room that Gustave is designing.

[Heather]

This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story

[Sam@WLABB]

I am not a huge novella reader, but Alyssa Cole has crafted a cast filled with such wonderful and interesting characters, that I found myself squealing with joy at the announcement of Reggie's book.

I wanted to know more about Reggie, because she was Portia's twin sister and the creator of Girls with Glasses. She was fiercely independent, a go-getter, empowered, and a fantastically fabulous geek girl. I not only wanted her to get her HEA, I wanted to be her friend.

And Gus, dear sweet Gus. I was so intrigued by him, and it warmed my heart that he was able to find someone, who could appreciate him and all his amazingness.

Cole gave these two a fun set up, and sweetened the deal with the whole anime escape room thing. I loved their history and the way they interacted with each other. It was fun spending time with them - Gus with his puzzles and Reggie with her love all things geek. They had chemistry and banter and the way they played off each other was fantastic.

One of the reasons I often stay away from novellas is because they tend to leave me wanting. Cole, however, gave me a story, that felt complete and left me satisfied.

Overall: File that under made-me-smile-excessively, because this book was sweet, fun, sexy, and wonderful! A fantastic addition to a delightful series, which just seems to get better and better with each book.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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