ARC Review: A Royal Kiss and Tell (A Royal Wedding 2) by Julia London

Title:  A Royal Kiss and Tell

Series: A Royal Wedding Book 2

Author: Julia London

Release Date: May 19^th, 2020

Published By: Harlequin

Category: Historical – Romance – Suspense – Victorian

Type: Digital – Paperback – Audio – CD

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Julia London Website

Rating: 

Heat: 

Blurb: 

Every young man in London’s ton is vying for Lady Caroline Hawke’s hand—except one. Handsome roué Prince Leopold of Alucia can’t quite remember Caroline’s name, and the insult is not to be tolerated. So Caroline does what any clever, resourceful lady of means would do to make sure Leo never again forgets: sees that scandalous morsels about his reputation are printed in a ladies’ gossip gazette…all while secretly setting her cap for the rakish royal.

Someone has been painting Leo as a blackguard, but who? Socially, it is ruining him. More important, it jeopardizes his investigation into a contemptible scheme that reaches the highest levels of British government. Leo needs Lady Caroline’s help to regain access to society. But this charming prince is about to discover that enlisting the deceptively sweet and sexy Lady Caroline might just cost him his heart, his soul and both their reputations…

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Favorite Lines:

He could feel Lady Caroline’s gaze on his back, and he swore he could hear her laughter. Impudent woman. Impudent, irreverent, beautiful woman. Impudent, irreverent, beautiful, enticing woman. With a mouth he would very much like to kiss into submission.  ~  Leo

“Something not right, I agree,” he finished for her. “About the way you are feeling about me. About the way I am feeling about you. But devil take it all if I know what to do about it.”  ~  Leo

Her heart would be irreparably broken, she was certain of it. But until the moment of its death, there was nothing to be done for it…  ~  Caroline

We all join the couple in our fervent wish that the castle can indeed be renovated before Jesus calls them home.  ~  Hollis

Vocabulary Word:

Raconteur

ra·​con·​teur | \ ˌra-ˌkän-ˈtər  , -kən- \

Definition of raconteur

: a person who excels in telling anecdotes

Excerpt:

          “Aren’t you returning to England as well, Leopold?”Eliza asked. 

          “As it happens. I sail tomorrow evening.”

          Lady Caroline gasped loudly. “So do I! What a coincidence! What a delight to share a ship with you, Highness. I am very good at whist, sir, I’ll warn you now.”

          “Oh, Caro... I think His Highness will be on a different ship,” Eliza said with a slight wince. 

          “Really? Are there so many ships sailing to England from Helenamar on the same day?”Lady Caroline asked jovially. “An entire fleet, is it?”

          “Well, no,” Eliza said. “But I think there is a special ship for, ah... for the royal family?”

          Lady Eulalie coughed. She looked as if she was choking on a laugh. 

          “Oh.”Lady Caroline seemed to take that in, then suddenly smiled again so brightly that Leo was a little amazed by it—she was bold as brass and hard to ruffle. “Of course you’ll need a special ship, Your Highness!” she said. “However could I think differently? I’m such a cake about these things.”

          “You’re not a cake, Caro,” Bas said. “It’s a mistake anyone might make.”

          “Perhaps not everyone,” Lady Eulalie murmured, and smiled as she toyed with the earring dangling from her lobe. But Leo could see her smile was not one of shared amusement. It was the sort of smile people used on witless children. 

          “Why should you know how ships come and go?”Eliza added charitably. “It’s not the sort of education that is required of proper ladies.”She and Lady Caroline laughed again. They seemed to have their own unique sense of humor. 

          “Your brother will miss you terribly,” Eliza said to Leopold. “And so will I, quite honestly. You’ve been so very helpful to me.”

          “It’s been my pleasure,” he said sincerely. He truly had come to adore Eliza. 

          He noticed that Lady Caroline was smiling at him as if he’d directed his comment to her. Her smile was so dazzling that he realized he might have noticed it a moment too long. He quickly shifted his gaze to Eliza. “I’ll return to Alucia soon enough, once I’ve wrapped up my affairs in England,” he assured her. He had no idea what that meant, but it seemed to appease everyone when he said it. “I hope to return to the joyous news of a future arrival of a niece or nephew.”

          “Ha! Ha ha!”Eliza laughed hysterically. 

          “By God’s grace,” Lady Eulalie agreed. 

          “When the time is right,” Bas said. 

          “Ah, there he is,” the duke said, looking over Lady Eulalie’s shoulder. “The Weslorian prime minister has arrived. If we may have your leave, Your Highness?” he asked, turning to Bas. At Bas’s nod, the old duke offered his arm to Lady Eulalie, and the two of them departed. Bas sighed with relief. “Now that the prime minister has deigned to join us, we might dine. I’m famished.”

          “Should we assemble the promenade?”Eliza asked. “Lord help me, I’ve already forgotten the order—”

          “Don’t trouble yourself, darling,” Bas said. “We’ll go in informally and ask everyone to find places. Leo, you’ll escort Caro, will you?”He turned around and called for the butler. “Jando? Jando!”He waved the butler to him. 

          Leo glanced at Lady Caroline. She frowned. 

          “Jando, let them all proceed and find their places. Dinner is served.”He presented his arm to Eliza. “The duchess first, of course.”

          With another glorious smile, Eliza put her hand on Bas’s arm and they walked away, completely lost in each other. 

          Leo must have sighed when he offered his arm to Lady Caroline, because her frown deepened. 

          “What?” she demanded crossly. “It wasn’t my suggestion. I don’t like it any more than you do.”

          “I didn’t say a word.”

          “You needn’t say a word, as your displeasure is plainly written on your face. Really, why do you hate me?” she demanded as she put her hand on his arm. 

          He arched a brow with surprise. “There is nothing plainly written on my face but the tedium of another wedding celebration. And I don’t hate you—how could I? I don’t know you. Well,”he said after a slight hesitation. “I suppose I do know you now, don’t I? You’ve made certain of it.”

          “I understand that the concept of cordiality doesn’t come easy to you, Highness, but many of us who don’t reside in palaces practice it frequently.”

          “Cordiality? Is that what you call it?”

          “I call it any number of things. Civility. Manners. Conduct becoming a polite society. Friends, even, as we are practically related by marriage now. You should look them all up in your palace manual of etiquette. I think you will find some illuminating entries under ‘enviable traits of the common folk.’”

          He snorted his opinion. “And you may find some entries worth your perusal under ‘questionable traits of the common folk,’madam, and particularly, the rules of engagement with royalty.”

          She gaped at him. “Are you accusing me of lacking decorum?”

          “I am indeed. Will you walk?”

          Caroline moved her feet. “Once again, your grasp of social conduct confounds me! You confuse effortless congeniality with some broken rule of etiquette that has been quite forgotten by the world at large. I do not lack decorum, sir, but I swear on Beck’s life you could very well push me to it.”

          “Ack, but you are a bloody obstinate woman, Lady Caroline. On my life, I can think of no other who could react so vainly to a proper chastisement. It’s a wonder your brother hasn’t told you.”

          “Ha! What makes you think he hasn’t told me so? He is as insufferably superior as you, which I would think you might have noticed, given that your feathers have flocked together with his. I’d rather be vain than ill-mannered like you.”

          He nearly choked on that. “Ill-mannered? Your pride astonishes me at every turn! I am unaccustomed to being so completely contradicted every time I speak. Do you treat every gentleman of your acquaintance in this manner, or do you reserve this behavior solely for princes?”

          Lady Caroline’s eyes turned a shade of green that he would have described as blistering, had it been possible for lovely green eyes to be blistering. “Well, I would ask the same of you, Your Highness—do you treat every lady in your acquaintance with such disdain? I am proud! Why should I not be proud? I’m a good friend, a caring person and I happen to be exceedingly personable. And I’m an excellent dressmaker, too! So yes, I am proud. Aren’t you proud of you?”

          They had reached the dining room, and he turned to face her. They were standing only inches apart, and her eyes continued to blaze just as hotly as the fire in his chest. She was defiant and beautiful and, bloody hell, he felt a twinge in his groin that was almost as strong as the thud at his temple. 

          “Am I not demure enough for your liking? Do you find it difficult to establish friendships? Do you think women should be seen and not heard?”

          Inexplicably, his gaze dipped to her mouth and her full, succulent lips. And there his gaze lingered a fraction of a moment too long, much like it had lingered on her smile in the salon. He made himself lift his eyes. “Perhaps I have gone about this all wrong. If I may, Lady Caroline, allow me to ask you, as a gentleman and a prince, to stop perpetuating the fantasy of some sort of friendship between us. If it pleases you, you may consider us acquainted.”

          Those lush lips parted slightly with the sharp draw of her breath. Her eyes narrowed. “Why, thank you for clarifying that we are not quite friends, as that assumption, apparently, is a stunning lack of decorum. You are so generous to allow me to consider us acquainted. I cannot begin to describe the leaps of joy my heart is taking just now. What I can say is that I have never in my life been treated so abominably. You may be a prince, sir, but you are no gentleman.”And with that, she took a long look at his mouth with such intensity that he thought for a split second she might throw all caution to the wind and kiss him. 

          And for a split second, he eagerly prepared himself for the possibility. 

          Lady Caroline didn’t kiss him. She turned on her heel and flounced away. 

          He watched her march across the room, find her seat and grip the back of her chair with both hands. When she realized that guests weren’t to be seated just yet, she glanced up and caught his gaze. She gave a shake of her head and turned away from him. 

          Leo didn’t know if he should be royally offended. 

          Or inspired.

Highlight:

          “Watch your tongue, Caroline,” Beck warned her. “Naturally, he said what any man would say—that it’s well past time you married.”

          “Ah—with all due respect, Beck, that is not exactly what I said,” the prince politely demurred. 

          “It was implied,” Beck said impatiently. 

          “What did you say?”Caroline asked, turning back to the prince. 

          “Caro, please! Do not speak to His Royal Highness as if he were some servant to be interrogated for a missing spoon!”

          “It’s quite all right,” the prince said. “I merely said that in Alucia most women are married by the time they are twenty. It was an observation, that’s all.”And now he was observing her hair with a curious look. 

          “And you are well past twenty, Caro,” Beck needlessly pointed out. 

          Ooh, she would strangle Beck when they were alone. Why was it she could never meet the prince when she looked her best? Why must she always look so bedraggled? He’d been casually looking on all the while she was standing with her hair half down and stuffing cheese into her mouth. 

          She slowly turned back to her brother. “You’re right, Beck. I should marry. Bring on the suitors, then. Bring them now! If the prince says it—”

          “Again, I did not say it,” the prince said quickly. “I simply had a conversation with a friend—I didn’t mean to offer advice.”

          “But you did.”

          “Caro! For God’s sake, he is a prince of Alucia! Show some respect!”Beck bellowed. 

          “My lord?”

          Caroline and Beck turned toward the door at the same moment. Garrett had stepped inside, unnoticed by them, and interrupted what Caroline felt was the prelude to a brawl. “My lord, there is a gentleman at the door about the horse.”

          “Ah!”Beck grinned and hopped to his feet. “That must be the stable master where I intend to house my horse when she arrives. Fine blocks of stables they are, too—the queen’s Horse Guard is stabled there.”He started for the door but paused to look at Caroline. “This would be an opportune time to do something with your hair,” he added, his fingers fluttering in the direction of the fallen tress that drooped over her shoulder as he hurried out. 

          Caroline made a face at his back and remained where she was, her arms folded. When she was certain he was gone, she pivoted around and marched to where the prince stood behind the open door. 

          He seemed alarmed at first and straightened as if he thought he might have to do battle. But then he quickly clasped his hands at his back, his legs braced apart, and seemed to prepare himself for whatever she had to say. 

          “How dare you,” Caroline said. 

          “How dare I...?”

          “Speak to my brother about my marriage prospects!”

          “Once again, I did not speak to your brother about your marriage prospects. Or even that you were not married. Your brother asked a question and I answered as I would answer any friend.”

          “I am not his ward, for God’s sake. I’m a grown woman and I do as I please.”

          “Evidently true on both counts,” he agreed. And then he smiled. 

          It infuriated her that he should smile in a way that would make her feel so buzzy. With a quick look at the door, she shifted closer. “I don’t have to do as he commands, you know.”

          “I never dreamed that you did. I can’t imagine there is any man on this earth that can tell you what to do.”

          She shifted even closer. She could detect the musky scent of his cologne, could see a bit of lint on his collar. “Why should any man tell me what to do? I am as much a person as him or even you, Your Highness.”

          “Obviously.”He picked up the tail end of the loose tress of hair and brushed it along her collarbone before dropping it over her shoulder. It instantly slid forward again. 

          All the nerves in Caroline’s body began to sizzle. She despised this man, but she’d never been quite so aroused as she was in this angry moment. She dropped her gaze to his mouth and the shadow of his beard. “Why are you always here?” she demanded. “Are you having an affair with our Ann?”

          His eyes widened. He barked out a laugh. “Good God, Caroline, do you speak every thought that occurs to you?”

          She would ignore, for the moment, that he had used her given name, which meant, she supposed, that they were very much acquainted, thank you, just as she’d maintained all along. She would further disregard how pleasant her name sounded in his melodious accent. And she would not use this moment to discuss how many thoughts did not pass her lips, for there were quite a lot of them. “Well? Are you?”

          His brows dropped into a dark frown, and he leaned forward. “Hear me plainly, woman. No. For God’s sake, no. If I were to have an affair, it would be with a woman who is lush, and curved in all the right places, and open to my suggestions for how to debauch her. Not a timid maid.”

          The sizzle was quickly turning to fire. She couldn’t help but wonder what his suggestions for debauching a woman might be. Her gaze fell to his mouth again. She was feeling a little heady. 

          “My turn. Why aren’t you married? Surely a beautiful woman like you, with her own inheritance, and an enormous dowry, apparently, who does not have to do what any man says, would attract quite a lot of gentlemen in this town. Particularly the type who enjoy a great challenge. Or are they all bloody fools?”

          Aha—again, she would not be put on her heels by a compliment casually tossed to her. “Of course I’ve attracted them,” she scoffed. “I don’t care for any of them. Why aren’t you married? Been waiting for the right Weslorian to come along?”

          He chuckled, and his gaze moved to the bit of lace she’d sewn along the edge of her bodice. “The same as you, madam—I don’t want anyone to tell me what to do and I don’t want responsibilities.”

          “Aha! So you do prefer maids, then.”

          He slowly lifted his gaze to hers and held it tight, like he had her attention in his fist. “I prefer women, Caroline,”he murmured. “I prefer women who are confident of their place in this world... but perhaps those who hold their tongues when they ought.”

          “Because you don’t agree with everything a woman says doesn’t make what she says wrong.”

          He lifted his hand, and with the tip of his finger, he traced a line from the curve of her shoulder up to her chin. “Tell me, Caroline—what gives you the right to speak to me in this manner?”

          She leaned forward, just an inch or so from him. “I was born with the right to speak however I want to whomever I want. You are not the prince of me.”

          The prince blinked. “Of all the outrageous—”

          She didn’t let him finish. She pushed at his chest with both hands, forcing him against the wall, and before he could recover, she rose up on her toes to kiss him. She kissed the prince like she’d never kissed another man in her life. Admittedly, there hadn’t been very many, and certainly she’d never kissed a gentleman like this. But there was something about this man that begged for it—he was so high and mighty, so sure of himself. She had never taken such liberties, and she’d never been so wholly thrilled with an act in her life. This was fire. 

          But for a high and mighty man, he seemed not to know what to do. He held his arms out wide, as if he were silently announcing he wanted no part of this. Except that his mouth said differently. Oh, but his lips and his tongue said something else entirely. He wouldn’t touch her with his hands, but he nipped at her lips, his tongue playing with hers. He pressed against her, his chest against her chest, and kissed her back as passionately as she kissed him. It was intoxicating, and it wasn’t until her hair found its way between their lips that she suddenly pushed him away and stepped back. 

          She was breathing raggedly and so was he. They were both panting like they’d chased each other around this room. They stared hard at each other for one endless moment. An entire book of thoughts and feelings and unspoken words flowing between them was written in that moment. Caroline felt something open in her, warm and wet and accepting. 

          But then he said, “What the hell is the matter with you?”

          She didn’t have a good answer for him. A fever? If it was a fever, it was a new sort of fever, one that struck without warning and consumed her quickly. 

          He held up his hand, his palm facing her, as if he thought she would throw herself at him again. His eyes were dark, his lips slightly parted. He looked shocked. But he also looked dangerously aroused. “Never do that again,” he said in a low voice. 

          “Don’t tell me what to do,” she said, and wheeled about, fleeing for the door. She leaped into the hall and nearly collided with Beck on his way back in. 

          “Caro?”

          She ignored her brother, picked up her skirts and fled to her rooms with that kiss burning on her lips.

Review: 

Caroline is a member of the ton. Orphaned at a young age and left in the care of her brother, he has indulged her in very nearly every whim. His only irritation the ridiculous amount of funds she spends on modistes. However, the dress obsession has turned into talent and Caroline is now high in demand for her beautiful creations inspired by both English fashion and Alucian fashion. Her brother is appalled at the idea of her working and decides its high time she gets married. Nearly on the shelf herself, she determined long ago to marry only for love. Her best friend Eliza may have found the kind of love with her handsome Prince that makes Caroline green with envy, but Caroline is sure love will not be in the cards for her. If it were to happen, she’d want it to be with Leo, Eliza’s brother-in-law. But alas, Leo has no recollection of their meeting in England and seems to be annoyed whenever in her presence, so she is left with little but her own whimsical fantasies to indulge in. Until everything changes. Suddenly she has an opportunity to make the sexy prince hers, if only for a small amount of time. Resigned to her life as a spinster and finding joy in her exquisite gown creations, she isn’t beyond taking every bit of pleasure she can with Leo for as long as she can have him, counting on the memories to get her through her lonely future. She’s no fool. She fully understands that he can never be hers in the way she truly desires, but a brief amount of time is better than no time at all. And before too long she and the Prince of her dreams are passionately intertwined in romance and intrigue as they fumble their way through a heinous plot stretching across the seas and involving both of their homelands. But an ill-timed rescue puts Caroline’s reputation in shambles and separates her from everything she holds dear.

Leo has only ever wanted to be embraced by his parents and thought of as useful. But he is merely the spare with all privilege going to his brother Sebastian; the heir. Once he realized he would never be anything more to them, he indulged in a life of excessive drink and debauchery, most often in England. He returns home for his brother’s wedding but is eager for the festivities to end so that he can return to his life of ease in England. To his horror, his parents have conspired an arranged marriage for him and expect him home permanently just as soon as he wraps up his affairs across the sea. How dare they now make use of him as it suits them. It doesn’t suit him at all. Still, he will concede to their wishes. It’s not as if he had anyone else he was planning to woo. But an odd encounter sets Leo on a mission he is initially loathed to accept. Even as the deeper he falls into the dastardly plot the worse his reputation suffers, still he continues on his quest. But with his lackluster status snatching away invitations, he finds himself in need of a confidante and who better than Caroline? She’s well connected and can get him into the homes he must search, so he confesses all, but just a bit at a time. And the more time he spends with her, the more he is drawn to her. It confounds him. He also isn’t willing to walk away from her until he is forced to by his ridiculous upcoming engagement. If he can only have her for a while, he will have to take what he can get and let the memories keep him going while suffering in a loveless marriage. His brother may have been able to marry the love of his life, but there is no way Leo will get that lucky.  

To begin, I can’t say that I would describe this blurb as precisely accurate. I wouldn’t say every young man was after her hand initially. Perhaps some, but that changed once her brother let slip a bit of information that then had every young buck running after her. And I do not believe that she went after Leo in the gossip sheets maliciously for revenge. She just happens to have a very close friend who publishes one so when she confides in her, snippets of her confessions make it into the publication. I did find it odd that at times she didn’t swear Hollis to secrecy though. Friends or no, she shouldn’t have had to worry about everything she confided being printed. That was a bit low. Or enterprising. I suppose it depends on how you look at it. Overall, I struggled with both of these characters. The book is a slow burn with nearly half of it occurring before Caroline and Leo even engage one another again following the wedding in Alucia. And while Caroline is ridiculously attracted to Leo and vice versa, they both refuse to acknowledge such in the presence of one another for an ungodly amount of time. Once they do, it’s always a rush because they never know how much time they will have before tempting discovery – or if there will even be a next time. But what is most aggravating is the contradiction that both of these characters are. Leo morphs from what seems to be disgust at Caroline’s atrocious behavior to noting how beautiful she is, to observing what a nuisance she is, then becoming utterly besotted by her. His inconsistent emotions towards her gave me whiplash. And Caroline isn’t any better. A member of the ton from birth, she is fully aware of how she should behave, yet she refuses to. But she does so in a sorely off-putting and almost obnoxious manner. I believe she was meant to be charming in her confidence that had her continually breaching the rules of society, but instead, it took me forever to warm up to her and finally not be so annoyed by her mannerisms. Ironically, she wished for a man who would love her for who she is, yet she engages in a game with each of her potential suitors as to how long it will take to have them wrapped around her finger. When playing games, how does one discover love? I also did not at all like that she so quickly fell to the worst of explanations regarding Leo’s curious behaviors or preferences as the rumor mill told it. Granted he was a self-proclaimed rake, but for the feelings she claimed to have toward Leo, her quick acceptance of anything negative toward his character was disheartening.

I did appreciate the title. It was completely appropriate as each of them tends to confide just a bit more in one another after each interlude they share whether innocent or not. Additionally, each time she kisses the Prince, she confides to Hollis, and more information ends up in Honeycutt’s Gazette of Fashion and Domesticity for Ladies. Kiss and tell at its most literal I suppose. Now that gazette was a gem. Every chapter had an article to start it out that gave just a bit of information as to where the chapter could be heading. It also was quite entertaining in its advice for ladies both in fashion, life, and beauty. But again, as per the theme of this book – contradiction – Hollis longs to write real news articles that can make a difference and inspire change, yet she continues to push out the chin-wagging column. She could have made the leap far sooner then she discusses.  I also don’t really understand why the prince and heir was allowed to marry a commoner but somehow Leo is forced to marry by arrangement. Granted, I did not read the previous book, which is the first in this series. Perhaps I missed some enlightening information. But neither was I inspired by Eliza or Sebastian enough to want to actually read the first book in series. There is also the fact that it is highly unbelievable that Leo would have carried out the actions that he did himself. With guards and others in his employ around him, it would stand to reason that he would have hired people to do the “dirty work” for him. Not to mention his list was never completed that I recall. And possibly most disheartening were the decisions handed down by the King regarding several of the corrupt individuals surrounding him following Leo’s return home with the information he has uncovered. I mean what kind of crooked bullshit is he tangled up in that he would fail so miserably in doling out punishment? I was completely miffed to say the least.

Admittedly, I do not have much experience with Ms. London’s books. Her name is familiar, so I may have read something at some point, but was unable to locate a previous review. I cannot speak to if this book is typical for her writing style. Unfortunately, for me, it was more miss than hit. I dislike having to say that about any book if I am being honest. But honest I am. Now there were some fun elements and fantastic scenes within this book. I did end up enjoying it despite aggravating flaws. I was able to finish reading it with little issue. But given so many glaring inconsistencies and a couple of main characters that fell short, I was less than moved. I will say that I recognized traits that I generally find enjoyable in a historical romance read though. For that reason and those few redeeming qualities that had me smiling and giggling within these pages, I would be willing to give Ms. London another go … just perhaps not within this particular series.

Kindle version provided by NetGalley/Harlequin in exchange for an honest review.