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A review by whimsicallymeghan
Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory
3.5
When Vivian’s daughter, Maddie has her work take her to London, England over the Christmas holidays to style a member of the royal family, naturally she asks her mother to join her. After some convincing, the two make the trip over. On their first day there, Vivian meets a tall, dark and handsome man named Malcolm, who is willing to put everything on hold to show her the royal grounds. Over the course of the week Vivian is there, she gets closer to Malcolm, and so do her feelings. Extending her trip to see where it goes, is it love, or just a vacation romance? This novel was very cute, but it felt like it lacked a bit of substance and belief. Yes, the reader understood they had to suspend their disbelief for the Christmas story, but this one felt realistic enough that the plot felt hokey. The plot of going on vacation and finding love was very believable, but the way they got there felt a little unbelievable, and that’s what took the reader out of the story a bit. Also, it felt like our two main characters just jumped at the chance to be in love with or attracted to one another that it felt like there was no build up to it. It was one minute they met, the next they were lusting for each other and with each other constantly. The reader did like their communication through letters and postcards, that was old school, refreshing and hella cute. Aside from this though, the plot was fun and good natured; the characters felt a little predictable at times, and their own personal struggles were ones we’ve seen before, but the way they talked and communicated about them felt different and it came from a place of deep thought and care. The reader could really tell the characters all cared for one another in the way they spoke to each other, which was great, especially in a romance. Even the side characters were well fleshed out to give the main couple a good balance of perspectives. In the end, this was fun and bit silly, but still entertaining. This has intrigued the reader to see what the other novels in this series are like.