Review: His Royal Favorite by Lilah Pace (His Royal Secret #2)


Note: This ARC was provided by Berkley Publishing Group via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"I'm angry that my love for you has cost you so much. But more than anything else, I'm angry that it was all for nothing. Everything my mother gave up for me, everything you gave up for me, everything resembling a normal life that I didn't get to have--it was for the throne. For this role I never got to choose, but dedicated myself to anyway. For Indigo's sake, so I could at least protect her. Now I don't even have that."

With His Royal Secret leaving me wanting more from author Lilah Pace and the two men who are at the very center of this duet, James Clarence, otherwise known to the rest of the world as James, His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales and currently the Prince Regent, and Benjamin Dahan, known to most as Ben and an established financial journalist. Theirs was a secret fling that turned into a love affair with "scandal" written all over it as far as the public was concerned. We read about how they met and fell in love in the first book and in this sequel entitled His Royal Favorite, which picks up right after where His Royal Secret leaves off, readers join James and Ben as they face a public filled with the judgmental and self-righteous as well as the supportive and sympathetic, the media--both legitimate and otherwise--doing anything and everything to get the scoop, and family and friends, some of rooting for them while others appear ready to exploit the swirling storm of intrigue and the unknown. See why I was itching to read this?

The Prince of Wales is about to rock the monarchy with an admission about his sexuality. However, the announcement that James plans to make will also put his boyfriend Ben Dahan under the kind of scrutiny that has brought others to their knees. They've both confessed their love for one another, with neither one having truly been in a committed relationship based on the kind of love they've only felt now. With Ben preferring his freedom from being tied down in the past, he knows that adjusting to life with James won't be easy and that choosing James comes with a price...he just never realized how hefty a price it would be. On the other hand, James has to deal with the fallout of his public confession and as much as he was hoping to outmaneuver whatever machinations those who want to remove him from the line of succession have employed, holding on to his rightful place as the heir to the throne is proving to be more difficult than he expected. Will the prince and the commoner get a happy ending or will they just get to "the end"?

Ah, the feels I experienced with this sequel! Clearly, there was more to the story of the prince and his reluctant prince charming with that cliffhanger ending in book one, and the challenges these two had to face were far from simple. They came from two very different worlds and their being very much in love made it easy to forget that they hadn't really known each other all that long when they decided to be in this public relationship. I celebrated with them when they stood by their love and commitment and my heart squeezed in empathy when they were unsure if what they shared would outlast everything being thrown their way. As much as this was James and Ben's story, I adored the four women who stood out in this duet: Princess Amelia (aka Indigo), Kimberley Tseng, Queen Louisa, and Lady Cassandra Roxburgh--each one a force to be reckoned with. At times frustrating but always remaining rather endearing, James and Ben and the five-plus-starred His Royal Favorite, along with His Royal Secret, are not-so-secret 2016 favorites. ♥

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Read my reviews for the His Royal Secret duet:


His Royal Secret (book one) - five-plus stars - My Review

His Royal Favorite (book two) - five-plus stars - My Review (posted above)

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Release Date: 16 August 2016

Date Read: 12 August 2016

Learn more about Lilah Pace.

Purchase His Royal Favorite on Amazon | B&N | Kobo.

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