Avoiding sleeping with women was my specialty, an art form even. As the future King of England I couldn’t be caught sleeping with men. My whole life played out in front of the paparazzi, and they didn’t miss a thing. I had a carefully crafted womanizing persona to maintain. My life came with rules, all of which I broke when I couldn’t resist a one night stand with the enemy: A beautiful paparazzo … beautiful paparazzo with a heart of gold. He may be the only person who doesn’t want me for my title, and he can never be anything more than my secret.
But secrets have a way of coming out and not only will they scare him away, but they’ll lose me the crown.
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I totally adored this book. It was ran the gamut of emotions without being dark. I loved Louis and Xavier together, but hated their situation. Louis had it all, looks, money and the heir to the throne, yet he wanted more. He was loyal to his country and family, but at a terrible cost – losing his freedom to love who he pleased. Xavier was scarred and hid in the shadows, but Louis looked beyond that and saw him as beautiful…. but there was something else that could keep Louis and Xavier apart… the odds were against them to make it beyond a “hook-up”. Louis was royalty and Xavier was the paparazzi hired to find the heir in scandalous and compromising situations. They were drawn to eat other and fought against those odds. Louis could lose the crown and shame his country if he were found out, but still they found ways of being together… and in the end they were…. love a HEA story!
This is my first book from this author and it was a good read. I enjoyed both Louis and Xavier characters and there was chemistry between the two with a whole lot of steamy parts but I needed just a bit more from them. Something was missing from this story and I can’t exactly pinpoint what it was, but it was missing something. The flow of the story was good and I enjoyed the storyline. There were a few surprises, a few laughs, a little bit of drama with a sweet ending. It was a good one time read story for me. I would give another book from this author a try.
This book was full of emotion. The highs and lows, the good and bad, it had everything. Louis and Xavier were a perfect match and Anne stole your heart when her secret was revealed. I loved this story and cannot wait to read more by this author!
Original review: https://myshelfbooks.wordpress.com/2018/12/21/king-consort-j-r-gray/
I was away from Romance books (and books in general) for several years and when I came back (2018) romance novels with Royals had become a huge deal. One of the current trends for a genre liable to have new ones every single year. Back then stepbrothers were all the rage!! This is my first taste of this flavour of the hour and I must say it wasn’t tasty enough…
In this book we meet Prince Louis of Britain, a womanizer who is going to inherit the Crown sooner or later. His misadventures with multiple women are well recorded in the media, but the truth is he is not the kind of guy who goes through female after female to quench his thirst. Actually, he doesn’t like women at all, but his hmosexuality must be a well kept secret due to the out of date rules of the monarchy. On the other hand; we have Xavier, a paparazzi who is not comfortable at all in his own skin. The attraction among them is very strong, but the relationship seems doomed before starting. Will they be able to make it work?
I’m going to focus first on the good part: the characters. Well, not all of them, but most. Louis has been a nice surprised. He seemed pompous with a stick through his… uuuhm… noble back parts? You get my meaning ;). But in reallity he is a really good guy who wants to make right to everyone surrounded him, especially his sister. The struggle of the Prince is the best part of the book and it makes the reader fall in love with the character quite easily. The guy has to deal with his secret, his troublemaker of a sister and the weight of the Crown. It’s a wonder he is able to keep a good humor most of the time.
With such a co-star, Xavier falls in the short side. It’s not a bad character, per se; but his constant insecurity bores me a little too much. I guess it can’t be easy to handle with the special life of Louis, but Xavier has too many demons that make him blind to what he has in front of him. It’s not all bad, though. His sense of honor and morals is remarkable in a profession that usually works in simple terms of prey and hunter. So, kudos for him!!
Too bad the rather good character are paired with a boring story that goes in circles over and over again and doesn’t even end. Yes, we knew since the beginning the difficult situation for their relationship. That’s chaprter 1. By charpetr 10 I expected the plot to have gone forward, but it was totally stuck. My hope gets renew when they travel to London, but it’s totally crushed with the most unemotional and sloppy ending I have read in a long time. The way everything ends makes me believe that the realtionship has no real future, just wishful thinking…
I can’t finish the review without mentioning the real star of the book and the main reason this book has got one more point in its mark than what it deserves: Doug. The bodyguards steals all the scenes when he has an appearance. His brotherly relationship with Louis and his peculiar way of dealing with Xavier bring always a simle to my face.
4 1/2 out of 5 stars
Prince Louis and Xavier met for what should have been a one-night only thing, but the feelings and emotions were too high for them to let it go…especially when Xavier was tasked with getting the money shots of the Prince on his tour of Canada.
You wouldn’t think that a paparazzo and a Prince would have any chance at working out, but in this story, it worked so very well. I loved the interactions. I loved the emotions. I loved all the feelings that reading this book gave me. And not just for these two, but for Prince Louis’ sister Anne as well.
This isn’t my first book by this author, but I think it’s my favorite. I just couldn’t help but be captured in the pages of the story and want more. I am happy with the ending and only wish the story could keep going.
*** I voluntarily read a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ***