Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Review: Recklessly Royal by Nichole Chase

After reading the cute and entertaining Suddenly Royal earlier this year, I was looking forward to the next installment of the trilogy. Recklessly Royal is not a Cinderella story like its predecessor though. In this contemporary romance, Cathy might be looking for her Prince Charming, but she's already a princess by birth and that changed the whole tone of this one.

Catherine has spent her whole life safeguarding her reputation and her heart. She is thrilled that her oldest brother has found the love of his life and while she too would love to find love, she is wary of men looking to take advantage of her simply because she is a princess royal. She wants what her brother has, someone who loves her in spite of her title, not because of it. When she takes her hair down and really lets loose at Samantha's private bachelorette party, Cathy meets and embarrasses herself in front of David, an old friend of Sam's and a guy who definitely doesn't give two blue beans about her title. While the two of them are immediately attracted to each other, they move very cautiously and for a while other things in Cathy's official life are as, if not more, important than their potential relationship.

Cathy's long time assistant Selene is getting older and is starting to allow others to help her in her job. Cathy isn't sure she entirely likes Tabitha, the young junior assistant who seems to be pushing to take over for Selene, but when Selene has a medical crisis, Tabitha takes advantage and steps in despite Cathy's misgivings and gut feelings. All of this happens just as Cathy and David are getting to know each other and having a lot of trouble keeping their hands off of each other. Can Tabitha be trusted to protect their budding relationship from the press?

Cathy's concerns are certainly valid given her position as a princess and her concern and care for her assistant is nice but most other times in story, she comes off as spoiled and immature. There's little there that would explain why the charming, smart, and seemingly perfect David would have any interest in this woman and the glass house of her life. David comes across as ideal but there's not a lot of depth to the portrayal of his character and certainly no insight into his feelings. The first book in the trilogy was pure confectionary delight but this one failed to live up to its predecessor. Although not all I'd hoped, it was still an interesting look at the loyalty and discretion surrounding royals and what cost to a private life a life lived so in public can be.

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