Michaels' To Kiss a King (Regency Royals 4)

Regency Royals (Book Four: To Kiss a King)

Jess Michaels

NOTE: NETGALLEY REVIEW, not a typical MAR review

To Kiss a King is the fourth book in the Regency Royals series. You really should read the first three before you tackle this one; there is duplication of scenes from previous books with the focus being another character’s perspective of what happened, so you really do need to have read the others. They’re actually pretty quick reads, so I suggest you grab them before you give this one a whirl.

Kudos to Jess Michaels for adding content warnings. Adding those don’t hurt anyone and can only help.

This book is about the last sibling in the Athawick royal family, King Grantham. We met the headstrong little sister Princess Ilaria in the first book, To Protect a Princess; loyal adopted sister Sasha Killick in the second, Earl’s Choice; and rakish brother Prince Remington in the third, Princes Are Wild. Grantham has been featured throughout the series, but we really haven’t gotten to know the real him. He may seem strict and cold and unfeeling, but we have seen in the previous books that he loves his siblings and his mother. His father was a terrible person, and he doesn’t want to be like him, but he also has a lot on his plate running the kingdom. There’s also a rebellion afoot, which we learned in the very first book when folks were trying to kidnap Ilaria. Grantham doesn’t have any friends, and has basically even pushed his siblings away—he feels the weight of the world (well, kingdom) is on him and it’s crushing him. But most of the subjects are very loyal to him . . . except for the rebels, of course.

Our heroine, Ophelia is the sister of the Duke of Gilmore. His HEA with Abigail is the story of book three of the Three Mrs. series: The Duke’s Wife. If you’ve read that book, you’ll remember her, but knowledge of that series is definitely NOT required to read this one. Again, I suggest you read the previous three books in the Regency Royals series because you’ll see more about Grantham and why Ophelia absolutely loathes him.

Ophelia’s best friend is Priscilla, our heroine of book 3 and married to Prince Remington. Priscilla actually had her sights on Grantham in the beginning, but Grantham is not looking for a wife. Grantham wants peace and quiet, logic and—frankly—boredom. Ophelia is like a whirling dervish, always moving, always loud and boisterous . . . Grantham actually describes her as a hoyden. She is 100% NOT the sort of woman he should find interesting, yet he does. And, as a result, he is super rude to her. Ophelia is sort of “stuck” in Athawick since they’re preparing for her bestie’s wedding to Prince Remington, which means she’s constantly running into Grantham. She can’t stand him, but she’s attracted to him. Everyone can see the heat between them from the beginning EXCEPT THEM. He severely represses his emotions, because we all know how THAT works out (but it’s believable because I’ve actually had to deal with people who do this).

The rebellion portion is an interesting addition and made this book unique. In most books, the subjects never complain about the monarchy, but we know that hasn’t always been the norm. So it’s nice to add that portion, as well as seeing how that affects the royals, not just the common people. And you can see how Grantham is torn about how to deal with it—with force or some other way? Who can he trust?

In general, it was a pretty quick read—I actually finished all of the four books in the series in a weekend—it WAS snowing so I had a lot of free time. There were some cute parts, such as when she had her interaction with Grantham’s statue and his reaction. I laughed out loud a few times. Jess Michaels’ writing is always entertaining, though this didn’t require a lot of focus or brainpower. Her books are always spicy, but this one felt a little subdued in the intimacy area. I liked the main characters enough to stay invested while reading—I felt sorry for Grantham with all he had going on to be king, and though I definitely didn’t love Ophelia in the previous book in this series, I started liking her in this one!

I would recommend this series. It’s different than many other historical romance novels—particularly with a fictitious kingdom coexisting with England. I REALLY liked the second and third books, and would give them 4 out of 5 stars each. This one is nearly that good. By the way, the matriarch of the kingdom, Queen Giabella, is wonderful and I would love to read a novella about her and her true love. A mature love story would be amazing.