#AuthorAmberMalloy @GoddessFishPromotions @debbiereadsbooks
#AuthorAmberMalloy @goddessfishpromotions @debbiereadsbook
@authambermalloy @GoddessFish @debbiereadsbook
Thanks to social media, beauty mogul Astoria Richards fell into a multimillion-dollar business at the age of sixteen. Unfortunately, burnout threatens to snatch the rug straight from under her. With no personal life to speak of, and competitors nipping at her heels, she jumps at a unique proposition from a king. As long as Astoria keeps her heart out this arrangement, her bottom line would benefit from this weirdness … right?
Raphael Castille needs a wife. Tasked with taking over the throne until his twin brother gets stamped with a clean bill of health, he will be required to play his royal part. A simple one-year contractual obligation to make the people of Calor Dunas believe he was capable of leading their country turned into much, much more. The second he sets eyes on Astoria Richards, all the rules went straight out of the window. No one said love was a part of the deal, but if he stayed around the gorgeous, brown-skinned beauty for much longer, he’d have to find a way to add it to the contract.
She lowered her voice to a whisper. “May I ask a question?”
“Of course,” he answered, bending his head toward her in the cutest conspiratorial manner.
“What’s with the hair?” Astoria reached for the ends of his shorter jet-black strands. Still longer than the basic business style, he’d cut off his bad boy shoulder-length locks.
“Do you like?” He beamed, forcing those high cheekbones to the ceiling, igniting a spark of mischief in his eyes.
“It’s very, very royal, sir.”
“Good enough for a king?” His lowkey flirting produced a throb of wanton need to work its way into her womb.
F**k, this man is sexy…
“Ahem,” bossy clipboard chickee interrupted, knocking her out of the Rafael Castille bubble.
While internally rounding up the rest of her horny senses, Astoria dropped her hand back to her side.
Elana speared her with a glare. “We have over sixty different news outlets waiting in the courtyard for the Q and A session.”
“Ready.” He gently nudged her toward the double doors Elana pulled open to enter the square. “Ladies first.”
“No, your majesty.” Astoria held out her hand. After a beat, his large palm dwarfed hers. If he was shocked by the physical display of intimacy, he certainly didn’t show it.
4 out of 5 (very good)
Independent Reviewer for Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
This is book 2 in the Royal Series. I have not read book one, Royally Screwed and a quick read of that blurb tells me you don't need to read that one before this. Those characters do not appear in this book. It's also the first book I've read of Mallory's. I'll come back to that.
Rafe needs a wife, a temporary arrangement, while his twin brother, his ELDER twin, gets a clean bill of health. A business arrangement which Astoria enters, with a shelf life to the arrangement. At least it started as such.
I liked this. It follows a proven track: an arranged marriage; they have sex (which wasn't part of the arrangement) there is a major fall out, and then a make up, and all is happy in the world. And sometimes you need to see what's coming at ya, like a freight train, and ain't nothin' you can do to stop it. And I LIKED that in this book!
It's steamy in places, but I didn't find it overly heavy on the smexy times. I didn't find it particularly emotional, either. Rafe lost his wife and son, but you don't FEEL that pain from him.
I think that is what I missed the most in the book: emotional connection. Yes, they have smex and do all the things they are supposed to, but I didn't find an EMOTIONAL connection between them. They do say those three little words, but again, I didn't FEEL the love between them.
As I said, my first book by Mallory. I'd like to delve into the backlist of this author to see if I can find that connection. Might just be how the author writes, is all.
So, because I felt that was missing, I gave this book
4 stars
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
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Amber Malloy dreamed of being a double agent but couldn't pass the psyche evaluation. Crushed by despair that she couldn't legally shoot things, Amber pursued her second career choice as pastry chef. When she's not writing or whipping up a mean Snickers Cheesecake, she occasionally spies on her sommelier. Amber is convinced he's faking his French accent.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/authambermalloy
FB: Author Amber-Malloy (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008306342348)
Tour hosted by: Goddess Fish Promotions
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