Royal watchers and tabloid devotees will devour this juicy look behind the gilded curtain of palace life.
Cocks and Morgan, the fashion bloggers known as the Fug Girls, return with the highly anticipated sequel to their regal rom-com, The Royal We (2015).
Nick and Bex, more formally known as the Duke and Duchess of Clarence, have escaped from London and taken refuge in Wigtown, Scotland, where they are posing as local booksellers Margot and Steve. The newlyweds are not only running from their disastrous wedding ceremony—during which rumors of an affair between Bex and Prince Freddie, Nick’s brother, were released to the public by a former friend of Nick's who's a tabloid journalist—but from the resultant wrath of Nick’s grandmother, Queen Eleanor. Both Nick and Bex are uncertain about how to move forward in their marriage following Freddie’s declaration of love for Bex, and they're contemplating never returning home. But when Queen Eleanor concocts a scheme to get them back, they return to their public lives, where they must confront the deepening cracks in their relationships with each other as well as with Freddie and the way history seems to be repeating itself in the palace. It’s clear that the authors are experts on all the juicy rumors about the real British royal family, as they deftly inject recognizable scandals and characteristics from real-life people into a world of their own making. A mystery from the past involving Princess Georgina, the queen’s late sister, mirrors one in the present day of the book and adds more intrigue to the plot, though some readers might find the resultant drama a bit over-the-top. The novel takes place over the course of several years and can feel drawn out as multiple illnesses, pregnancies, scandals, and secrets keep cropping up, but the characters are so compelling that most readers won’t mind spending extra time with them.
Royal watchers and tabloid devotees will devour this juicy look behind the gilded curtain of palace life.Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5387-1591-8
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
A romance that could have used significant rethinking.
Childhood friends, almost-sweethearts, a misunderstanding, and a funeral.
Blair Lang and Declan Renshaw were best friends who went on one date before a disagreement and an accident sent them in different directions after high school. Now Blair is back from college to be with her great-aunt Lottie, who’s dying, and to support her single mother in small-town Seabrook, California. Finding a job at a coffee shop puts her in the path of her former boyfriend, since he turns out to be its owner. Can the two get past their mistakes? The novel uses the popular second-chance romance trope, but Pham fails to energize it through interesting characters. Blair’s grief over her great-aunt’s death and her plan to help her mother are overshadowed by internal monologues about her feelings, the way her friends aren’t paying attention to her, and the novel she plans to write. Declan’s distinguishing characteristic, besides being a former high school quarterback, is his skill at building birdhouses. Unsurprisingly, the couple doesn’t have much chemistry; when they embrace, their “bodies meld like…memory foam.” The wooden characters, unusual word choices (“conglomerate of pedestrians,” “litany of plants”), and odd turns of phrase (“tension melting from his eyebrows like butter melting in a warm pan”) are almost enough to obscure the lack of plot development. What passes for stakes is easily defused when Blair comes into an inheritance that saves her from working as a consultant at Ernst & Young in New York—so she can write a romance novel.
A romance that could have used significant rethinking.Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781668095188
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.
A heartbroken man lusts after his therapist while seeking revenge on a drug kingpin and his enforcer.
Mitch Haskell’s wife, Angela, died two years ago of an apparent suicide, but Mitch has always believed the scene was staged. Certainly, she would never have willingly left their young son, Andrew, behind. Consumed with a thirst for vengeance, Mitch—a former Marine and undercover agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration and currently a police detective—is struggling with alcohol dependency and uncontrolled rage. Andrew is living with his in-laws, who are making not-so-subtle suggestions that they might apply for permanent guardianship if Mitch can’t get it together. So his boss and best friend, John Bowie, mandates that he go into therapy, which puts him in the path of sexy Dr. Dylan Reede. Within a few days, Mitch makes a connection between two new murders and the death of his former partner; finds a big clue that points to the truth about Angela’s death; goes undercover as a homeless man; takes on a vicious drug cartel; and obnoxiously bullies Dylan with a charm offensive that leads them inevitably to bed. While Mitch seems to lean into the stereotype of the ex-soldier/cop with deeply buried trauma who believes that the ends justify the means—at least in law enforcement—Dylan offers the strength and sweetness to help him start breaking down his walls, allowing herself to be vulnerable in turn. Is passionate sex enough to ground a relationship and a family for the long term? For these characters, and the breakneck speed of this thriller, it’s as good a foundation as any.
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.Pub Date: March 17, 2026
ISBN: 9781538743027
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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