Where trust is the most precious jewel of all.When Mayfair jewellers Starsmith Stones wins the commission for a British gay royal wedding, CEO Joel Sterling is recommended to the brilliant young designer Matt Barth—only to discover Matt’s the man with whom he shared an anonymous and passionate kiss on the celebration night.Disenchanted with the commercial jewellery industry, Matt nowadays prefers … nowadays prefers muddy archaeological digs to designing. Openly resentful of Starsmith’s hostile takeover of his family’s firm, he is horrified at the realisation he’ll be working with the man who engineered that deal—but the opportunity to create something fabulous and unique for the royal couple is too tempting to refuse.
Working as a team reignites the spark between Joel and Matt. But when betrayal from within Starsmith threatens both the project and Joel’s confidence, will they have built enough trust to keep their newfound love as precious as the royal jewels?
**This story offers you a gruff designer who prefers digging for treasure, a smooth CEO who’s too used to his own company, the glamorous Mayfair world of expensive jewellery, enemies to lovers, a gay royal couple who are fond of mischief, and an embarrassing accident on the Buckingham Palace railings!**
Note: this is the same book as previously published by Dreamspinner Press, but with a new cover, and now published by the author.
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Matt + Joel = adorable (an audio review)
I’ve been reading a lot of paranormal romances recently and so was looking forward to something different. This book is that something different in all the good ways. Meet cute? Check. Mild conflict? Check. HEA? Absolutely.
Joel is a businessman who is responsible for nabbing the job of producing the jewellery and other assorted baubles for the upcoming nuptials of the first gay royal couple in British history. A real feather in his cap so to speak. That’s all well and good, but he needs the right designer. The solution? Matt. The problem? Minutes after they’d met, they’d locked lips. Not knowing who the other was, of course. The other problem? Matt blames Joel for the takeover of his family’s business and Joel blames Matt for mucking up the deal.
But the prestige of a royal wedding is on the line.
Now, I have to say that I loved the royal couple and I had hoped they might’ve had their own story. Just super sweet adorable and very much mischief makers. I loved the idea there could be a gay royal wedding. Hopefully in my lifetime…?
Anyway, I keep saying it’s a cute story – and it is. There are also some steamy scenes and a truly hilarious scene outside Buckingham Palace. And what is the difference between a palace and a castle? Had to think about that one.
Rounding out this delightful book is narrator Joel Leslie. He did a fabulous job and was perfect for this quirky book. Overall I enjoyed it and I’ll be going back and picking up the others.
Audiobook Review:
Overall – 5
Performance – 5
Story – 5
Loved the ebook and the audiobook is even better.
I read Romancing the Rough Diamond back in September 2019 and I loved it. I was so happy to get a review copy of the audiobook – especially since Joel Leslie is on my list of favorite audiobook performers. He did a great job with this story but that’s no surprise as I always love to listen to his audiobook performances.
There’s not a lot more that I could say about the story other than what I wrote when I first read the book so below is a copy of what I wrote back then:
A bit angsty and very romantic with a great HEA.
I’ve read quite a few books by Clare London and really enjoyed them but Romancing the Rough Diamond has just jumped to the top of the list for me; I loved it!
This is a great enemies-to-lovers story. I’ve haven’t read too many books with this trope and I really loved this one. It has the added “royal” element of the two MCs working together to create something magnificent for the upcoming gay royal wedding.
Although Matt blames Joel, the CEO of Starsmith Stones, for the failure of his family’s jewelry business he agrees to work for him to design jewelry for the prince and his fiancé. They become closer as they work together and soon a great romance begins.
I loved everything about this story but darn if I can find the right words to do it justice. Writers sometimes experience periods where they have difficulty finding the words they need to put down on paper. This reviewer has been experiencing that same condition lately. All I can say is that Romancing the Rough Diamond kept me engaged right from the beginning and didn’t let me go, even after I finished reading it.
A copy of this audiobook was provided to me but my review was voluntary and not influenced by the author or narrator.
Romancing the Rough Diamond is the fourth book in the Romancing series. However, each book in the series is completely independent of each other abc should be read as standalones. This book featured an enemy-to-lovers trope which was done well. The passion between Joel and Matt was fiery and fierce which led to some steamy intimate scenes. I also enjoyed the characterization of the secondary characters who were all entertaining. There a few hilarious moments that caught me off guard and had me laughing out loud in public. This was a fun read with drama, slight angst, humor, and romance.
The audiobook was narrated by Joel Leslie who did a fantastic job. The characters were all voiced perfectly and performed well. I thought the overall audiobook production was smooth which made this a great listen.
So much fun!
Clare London sure has a way with regular lads. She writes terrific salt of the earth type characters, and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know Matt and Joel.
This is a fun peek into the jewelry manufacturing biz, and the cast of folks which surround it. (I especially enjoyed the scenes with the royal family.) And Matt’s family are fantastic.
Some fascinating insight into the business of high end jewelry in London, England – and a little archaeological history as well.
Romancing the Round Diamond is nicely performed by Joel Leslie, and listening to him perform this is making me want to re-visit the With A Kick series. Mr. Leslie does a stellar job with those as well.
Rough Diamond or Royal Jewels
I have to be honest about the first part of this book, and I almost gave up on it. It just didn’t grip me at all. I kept stopping the audio, and it took me days to finally get far enough through that. I then got engrossed in it and couldn’t put it down. I’m so glad that I persevered.
The two MC have a brief past without knowing who each other was. Then a rocky start to their working relationship with a hefty dose of hatred from Matt towards Joel.
The Jewellers Starsmith win the ultimate commission from the Royal Household to design the wedding bands for the Prince and his soon to be husband.
The story is good, and the characters are well written, but as I said, in the first quarter of the book, I struggled with it, but it redeemed itself.
Well narrated, clean and clear. Joel Leslie is always a joy to listen to.
Romancing the Rough Diamond
By: Clare London
Narrated by: Joel Leslie
Series: Dreamspinner, Book 4
Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
Overall
Narration
Story
Read at 1.25 speed on Audible
I received this audiobook for free from GRR, and my review is my opinion and an honest review.
Audio = 5 stars
Joel is a pleasure to listen to no matter what the book is and this was no exception. His accent is lovely and he brings the story alive. Expressing all the emotions. Although there isn’t much difference between the 2 MCs voices he did a great job with the side characters voices.
As for the story, this was a fairly quick read that was light, sweet and humorous at times. Unfortunately I thought that it was just ok. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t overly like it. I got bored alot of the time and kept zoning out and had to re-listen to chapters. The characters were likeable and they did have good chemisty and there were some steamy scenes. I just had no interest in the general plot. I was actually more curious about the gay Prince. This is my first time reading this author and I thought that the actual writing was good so I would probably give them another chance but I wouldn’t really recommend this one.
A Delightful Gem of a Story! Fabulous Narration & Audible Listen
Romancing the Rough Diamond
Dreamspinner, Book 4
By: Clare London
Narrated by: Joel Leslie
I enjoyed this book immensely, the story is original and entertaining with interesting storylines that immediately grabbed my attention and captivated it the entire time. Though this is the fourth book in the series it stands on its own, it is actually my first Clare London book and definitely not my last. The characters are realistic, easy to relate to and connect with, they are easy to care about too. Joel Sterling and Matt Barth are opposites in most way but they share an eye for jewelry design, they hit it off when they first meet but neither knew who the other was. Joel is the CEO of Starsmith Stones and they were commissioned the job to design the jewelry for the upcoming royal wedding, the youngest royal, Prince Arthur, is marrying his boyfriend Paola Astra. They want Matt Barth on the team, he has a great eye for design. Unbeknownst to Joel that he had already met Matt but their second meeting does not go as well as their first. Matt despises what Starsmith Stones did to force his father out of business. He much rather be digging for lost treasures on his sister’s farm, but it is an honor to work on the royal line and he could use the money. I loved these two together, they were perfect for each other and the chemistry between them was undeniable, they also made a great team. This is a fabulously plotted romance story, there is plenty of drama, angst, a touch of humor, some heartfelt emotions and some hot loving. Secondary characters are great too. Clare London, thank you for this wonderful story and emotional rollercoaster ride.
And for the fabulous narration, Joel Leslie is a talented narrator and voice artist. He does an exceptional job portraying the characters, taking each role and making it his own, sounding believable in every role he played and is absolutely brilliant with accents, handles the dialogue with ease and switches roles flawlessly. He sets the perfect tone for the story, captures all the characters’ emotions and projects them into his performance. Joel Leslie is an entertaining storyteller and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for another wonderful listen.
Thank you #GRR
Clare London has an amazing talent for engaging her readers. From the first word to the last you want to know each of her characters and care about them. Matt made me shake my head with his quick temper and negative assumptions. Joel is determined to be in control of himself at all times. These two have to overcome their own stumbling blocks before they can build something permanent. I loved that everyone around them conspired to bring them together. The ending was divine.
Audiobook: Excellent narrator.