Some men are born responsible, some men have responsibility thrust upon them. Henry John Edgar Thomas Pembrook, Prince of Wessco, just got the motherlode of all responsibility dumped in his regal lap.
He’s not handling it well.
Hoping to help her grandson to rise to the occasion, Queen Lenora agrees to give him "space"—but while the Queen’s away, the Prince will play. After a chance meeting with an American television producer, Henry finally makes a decision all on his own:
Welcome to Matched: Royal Edition.
A reality TV dating game show featuring twenty of the world's most beautiful blue bloods gathered in the same castle. Only one will win the diamond tiara, only one will capture the handsome prince’s heart.
While Henry revels in the sexy, raunchy antics of the contestants as they fight, literally, for his affection, it’s the quiet, bespectacled girl in the corner—with the voice of an angel and a body that would tempt a saint—who catches his eye.
The more Henry gets to know Sarah Mirabelle Zinnia Von Titebottum, the more enamored he becomes of her simple beauty, her strength, her kind spirit... and her naughty sense of humor.
But Rome wasn’t built in a day—and irresponsible royals aren’t reformed overnight.
As he endeavors to right his wrongs, old words take on whole new meanings for the dashing Prince. Words like, Duty, Honor and most of all—Love.
A Prince falls in love with a shy librarian in this new adult romance. Review time!
I'm torn on this novel. On one hand, this story stayed with me far longer than the first novel, Royally Screwed. On the other hand, it was a little icky reading about Prince Henry dating other women as he fell in love with Olivia. As you can probably guess from that statement, I am not a fan of reality dating TV shows. This aspect may not bother other people, but it did bother me.
I also had problems with Olivia's characterization. I am SO OVER the shy librarian stereotype. I'm a librarian, and I probably wouldn't get any work done if I was as painfully shy as Olivia. Hell, I probably would not have finished my Master's degree with that amount of shyness. I can let some of it go because a) her position is not necessarily driven by customer service and b) Wessco may not have the same job requirements America does. While it ultimately works for her characters arc - overcoming her shyness to be the future queen of Wessco - I'm looking forward to the day when librarians are no longer synonymous with "shy."
Ultimately I did enjoy reading Henry and Olivia's story, but I also had some reservations on loving this story. I'm hoping to read the next book in the series, Royally Endowed, sometime in the future.
tl;dr An enjoyable romance if you can get through the cringe worthy reality TV aspects of it.
