Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory

295 pages

Blurb

Vivian Forest has been out of the country a grand total of one time, so when she gets the chance to tag along on her daughter Maddie’s work trip to England to style a royal family member, she can’t refuse. She’s excited to spend the holidays taking in the magnificent British sights, but what she doesn’t expect is to become instantly attracted to a certain private secretary, his charming accent, and unyielding formality.

Malcolm Hudson has worked for the Queen for years and has never given a personal, private tour—until now. He is intrigued by Vivian the moment he meets her and finds himself making excuses just to spend time with her. When flirtatious banter turns into a kiss under the mistletoe, things snowball into a full-on fling.

Despite a ticking timer on their holiday romance, they are completely fine with ending their short, steamy affair come New Year’s Day. . .or are they?

Review

This is such a delightful and heartwarming romance. I think I read it from start to finish (more or less in one sitting) with a smile on my face.

Vivian is a wonderful romantic lead. Full of charm, with a great sense of humour, and an easy laugh she manages to charm everyone she meets and put them at ease. Malcolm is a bit stiffer, more set in his ways, and very recognizable as a ‘typical’ British male in that for the longest time he doesn’t ‘do’ feelings and, ignores whatever emotions he might be experiencing when it comes to Vivian.

Their coming together was smooth and natural, and the progression of their holiday fling was fluent and made perfect sense. In fact, even the aftermath, when they’re on different continents again with, as far as they can tell, no practical way to continue what they started, was logical. Yes, everything happened very fast but I really didn’t have an issue with that. I mean, why would two adults, both more or less at the midway point in their lives, waste time on silly games when they’re face to face with the opportunity to spend time with an attractive person who is obviously interested in them too?

The royal references and Vivian’s awe at everything she encounters were charming and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about two persons of colour falling for each other for a (much needed and very timely) change. It’s not that I actively avoid books about characters who don’t look just like me, it’s more that they are nowhere near as easy to find. Which makes me all the happier that this book found its way to the shelves of my library and I have no doubt I’ll recommend it to those borrowers who enjoy romantic reads.

In summary, I would call Royal Holiday a delightful and light-hearted romance with a bit of a fairy-tale feel to the story. Almost angst-free and filled with witty conversations, this book is bound to make you smile and leave you happy. Just one warning: Don’t read this book while hungry; the descriptions of the mouth-watering food Vivian gets to sample while in England made my stomach growl. 😊