Title: Royal Fiancée Required
Author: Kali Anthony
Published: February 2025
Genre: Engagement of Convenience, Love at First Sight, Royal Romance, Harlequin Present, Mills and Boon Modern

Blurb:
The convenient princess bride...

He inconveniently desires!

Six months ago, vivacious Princess Anastacia Montroy enthralled Aston Lane at her kingdom’s society ball. Now he needs a bride to secure his billion-dollar birthright, she’s the only wife he’ll accept! With chemistry this powerful, how could she refuse?

Ana does not want a husband. Certainly not one who knew her before the accident that scarred her and stole her self-esteem. Yet a royal wedding would silence the scandal of her first failed engagement... And alone aboard Aston superyacht, his on-paper proposal is written with red-hot passion!

My Review:

Here is an irresistible royal romance featuring a masquerade ball, a wonderful maze scene and a luxurious superyacht that Kali has spoiled you with!

I particularly enjoyed the chapters where Ana and Aston reunited at the masquerade ball, where they couldn’t resist their attraction as they flirted. When Aston first met Ana six months ago, he was enthralled by her personality, yet Ana he meets now has changed. Yup, not only has the accident in the past damaged her physically but also personally. But don’t worry, with his tender and considerate move, he’s going to crack Anastacia’s wall piece by piece and I loved every step of it!

Despite his low status and his parents’ pressure to marry, Aston will not choose any women but Ana, the only princess who has caught his attention. Meanwhile Ana, what choice did she have after what she had been through?

As their relationship deepens, their emotional rollercoaster brought me to the depths of their traumatic pasts and the weight of expectations that begin to unravel their true selves. Despite this, Kali really spoilt me with her vivid storytelling where the luxury of royal romance is provided.

Well, if you want to be pampered by a royal romance with a protective hero, an imperfect yet resilient heroine and its luxurious vivid setting, Kali will absolutely spoil you with this story. Thank you Kali for sending me this e-arc, which I voluntarily reviewed.

About the Author

When Kali Anthony read her first romance novel at fourteen, she realized a few truths: there can never be too many happy endings, and one day she would write them herself. After marrying her own tall, dark and handsome hero in a perfect friends-to-lovers romance, Kali took the plunge and penned her first story. Writing has been a love affair ever since. If she isn’t battling her cat for access to the keyboard, you can find Kali playing dress-up in vintage clothes, gardening, or bushwhacking with her husband and three children in the rain forest of South East Queensland. You might contact her on https://www.kalianthony.com/ or her twitter https://twitter.com/KaliAAnthony

Picture and blurb source: goodreads.com

Title: The Viking’s Princess Bride
Author: Sarah Rodi
Published: January 2025
Genre: Historical Romance, Viking romance, Love at First Sight, Enemies-to-Lovers, Harlequin Historical, Mills & Boon Historical

Blurb:

Feel the heat as two enemies are forced to wed in this spicy Viking romance!

He’s won the throne...

But she’s his royal prize!

Victorious in his quest for revenge, Viking Njal takes the Saxon crown – and their princess! But while he’s wedding Cwen in the name of peace, he cannot deny the way she entices him. Even if it’s clear she’s holding something back...

Princess Cwen has long accepted being used for her kingdom’s gain, but attacking the enemy’s hand is the most outrageous request yet! Still, the rugged warrior ignites a fire inside her... Cwen just can’t let Njal storm her carefully constructed walls. Because she’s harbouring a secret that could rock the foundations of their marriage!

My Review:

A marriage of convenience? A Viking warrior? Enemies turned lovers trope? You bet, I’m in!

A Viking warrior hero has always had a place in my heart. With his fierce rugged appearance but has endless patient and kindest heart, Njal captured my heart with him from the moment he appeared amidst the war between the Norsemen and Saxons.

I was rather baffled as the first few chapters dramatically revealed the war between Njal as a Dane and Cwen, as a Saxon. Cwen, a princess carrying a sword, is actually fighting on the battlefield! From the very first time Njal catches the sight of Cwen, He can’t get her out of his mind. Love at first sight in the middle of war, how fascinating.

I think Njal is the kindest and most considerate warrior. Despite his desire for revenge, he doesn’t want to completely tear down the Saxon. He just wants peace, and he proposes the marriage as a solution to stop the vicious cycle of revenge and war. Meanwhile, Cwen, despite her beauty and stubbornness, she bears greatest burden of secret. Their whirlwind marriage is full of mistrust, miscommunication, unease and a closely guarded secret that always hover over their burning desire, but Njal’s true hunger kept their relation burning slowly and steamy. I enjoyed reading it as the secret uncovered slowly. Being a new king, Njal is continuously inflicted with dilemmas yet his kind-hearted character is truly remarkable.

To me, it is a powerful tale of festering vengeance with intense sexual tension that completely ends with a satisfying prologue. Thank you Sarah Rodi for sending me the e-arc, which I voluntarily reviewed.

About the Author

Sarah Rodi has always been a hopeless romantic. She grew up watching old, romantic movies recommended by her granddad, or devouring love stories from local library. Sarah lives in the village of Cookham in Barkshire, where she enjoys walking along the River Thames with her husband, two daughters and their dog. She has been a magazine journalist for over twenty years, but it has been her lifelong dream to write romance for Harlequin Historical. Sarah believes everyone deserves to find their happy-ever-after. You can contact her via https://twitter.com/sarahrodiedits or visit her website at https://www.sarahrodi.com/ .

 Picture and blurb source: goodreads.com

Title: The Lady’s Bargain with the Rogue
(The Disreputable Marsden Brothers #1)
Author: Melissa Oliver
Published: January 2025
Genre: Enemies-to-Lovers, Forced Proximity, Victorian Romance, Harlequin Historical, Mills & Boon Historical, Historical Romance, Opposite Attracts

Blurb:

The Rogue she loves to hate

Or her greatest temptation?

Lady Elisabeth Bawden-Trebarr’s determined to claim the Cornish ancestral home her good-for-nothing late husband gambled away, and unearth her family’s long-lost riches. As the new owner is Sebastian Marsden – a notorious rogue she would rather avoid – she’ll ensure he cannot dismiss her by storming his gaming hell!

Sebastian wants nothing more to do with the ton after bitter family scandal. But when Lady Eliza refuses to give up without a fight, he entertains her treasure hunt – if only to stop her pressing on his every nerve! Yet he reluctantly admires her tenacity, and sizzling attraction begins to stir...

My Review:

In the early New Year of 2025, I embarked on my first reading journey with Melissa Oliver’s first Victorian romance, and I couldn’t stop pestering on how wonderful the story was!

Who would have thought that a Cornish castle and a treasure hunt could entangle Eliza and Sebastian?

With nothing left but her ancestral Cornish castle, Eliza will do anything to save it, even though she has to go toe-to-toe with a rogue that people considered as gruff, brooding and indecipherable, Sebastian, but to me he is the most swoon-worthy hero that I would want to have one for myself, if it were feasible. Sebastian doesn’t expect that the plain widow of Ritton will bring his world upside down, especially when he refuses to give Eliza time to pay off her husband’s debt in exchange for the ancient castle.

Well, Sebastian, I also didn’t expect that Eliza to be so genius and attractive, albeit impulsive, beneath her plain appearance, so I could understand over why you couldn’t leave her alone and are so protective of her.

The journey and treasure hunt have brought so many entertaining and vivid historical artefacts that Melissa Oliver has brilliantly written and devised. I derived immense pleasure from reading it through, the sparring and banter between these two contrasting characters, particularly when Eliza created a commotion outside his estate, and Eliza’s other clever inventions to hunt for the said treasure and their way of finding love.

I really loved Melissa’s strong and fascinating writing. It is well-plotted with the Bawden-Trebarr ancestors (if you have read Elowen and Simon’s story, you will be fascinated by this one), splendidly witty, vividly depicted and beautifully ended. I can’t wait to read Dominic and Cecy’s story! Thank you Melissa Oliver for sending me the e-arc, which I voluntarily review.

About the author

Melissa Oliver is from southwest London, UK, where she writes historical romance novels. She lives with her lovely husband and three daughters, who share her passion for decrepit old castles, grand palaces and all things historical. She won the Joan Hessayon Award for New Writers from Romantic Novelists’ Association in 2020 for her first book, The Rebel Heiress and the Knight. When she’s not writing, she loves to travel for inspiration, paint, and visit museums and art galleries. If you want to find out more, follow Melissa on Twitter https://twitter.com/melissaoautho

Picture and blurb source: goodreads.com