Rating: 4.5 Stars

Publisher: Max Rowan

Genre: Gay Romance

Tags: Contemporary, Enemies to Lovers (Kind of), Mystery/Suspense, Opposites Attract, Romance, Royals, Series, Spies, Virgin

Length: 287 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Amazon.com

Blurb –

A spy prince needs: a man who sees through his disguise.

Prince Benedict is not what he seems. His image as a lazy playboy is carefully constructed to hide the truth. Trained since childhood to become Rosavia’s top spy, he spends his life in disguise—and danger—to protect his country. Nobody sees the loneliness in his heart.

Felix Wright is a genius with four degrees, no real-world experience, and a top-secret job… and he’s never even been kissed. A lifetime of being alienated for his most valuable assets has left him reluctant to trust the charming prince who thrusts him into fieldwork for the very first time.

When the Crown Jewels are stolen two weeks before the royal ball, it’s their job to save the country’s reputation. Benedict helps Felix believe in himself, while Felix slowly coaxes the real prince out of hiding. But can they find the jewels and rescue the most priceless treasures of all: each other?

Welcome to the tiny European country of Rosavia, where roses ramble over alpine slopes and princes fall for the men of their dreams. Every Rosavia Royals book happens simultaneously, so books can be read on their own, or in any order… but keep an eye out for familiar faces around the palace!

Review –

Prince Benedict is the fourth son of the king and queen of Rosavia. Twenty-two, he comes across as a bit of a lazy, unreliable playboy. In reality, he’s far from it. As far as the family knows Benedict is in the Army which explains his not being around much, even missing the occasional important family event. In a word, he’s a spy, having started training by his paternal aunt (the head of the security agency he works for) when he was only five-years-old. His assignments usually involve some kind of danger, which would be a whole lot worse if those he was chasing or spying on were to ever discover that he’s Prince Benedict of Rosavia. His last dangerous mission almost cost him his life, literally leaving him in a tree as an avalanche destroyed almost everything in its path below him.

It was in those few minutes that he felt well and truly alone. If he were to die – and he almost did – he knew that nobody would miss him other than his own family. Sure, the country would mourn him but not really. They’d be mourning the loss of a man nobody outside of family even knew. They saw the Benedict he and his agency wanted them to see, nothing more.

If he survived, could he really live a whole life the way he lived right now, lying to the ones who loved him and letting them think he was some idle dilettante who was being coddled by life in a military who would be expected to treat him like some precious cargo?

It sounds like he was feeling sorry for himself but he wasn’t. He was just realizing some truths – that there’s nobody waiting for him to come home safely after each assignment/mission.

Felix was a boy genius. The same age as Benedict, he’s already gotten four degrees and has qualifications that most decades older would never have. He has the book smarts but he’s never had much of any type of social life, meaning he doesn’t have the social skills his peers have. He likes his new job at the agency and all is well until he’s forced to work with Six, known to the rest of the world as Prince Benedict. All Felix knows about Benedict is what he’s read about him, which isn’t all that flattering. He thinks Benedict is only there because of nepotism, nothing more. It certainly doesn’t help when Benedict goes out of his way to pretend he’s exactly who Felix thinks he is. Thankfully, Felix is smart enough to see that he was wrong. It still doesn’t stop him from calling the prince asshole every chance he gets. 😉 It was cute because it actually became an endearment of sorts later.

Someone has stolen the Crown Jewels two weeks before The Royal Ball that will celebrate Rosavia’s 500 years of existence. If word got out that something as priceless as the jewels were stolen, the king would lose the respect of the world. If he can’t take care of something in his own house (so to speak), how can he continue to run a country?

Once news spread that King Alphonse couldn’t protect his own crown, all bets were off.

Benedict and Felix are tasked to find out what happened to the jewels. Felix, being the computer genius he is, finds evidence almost right off. This has him and Benedict on a bit of an adventure as they are forced to go in the field together (against Benedict’s wishes) to get more information. The place they’re going doesn’t have systems that Felix can hack remotely. He has to actually physically be there.

Benedict jokes a lot but inside, he’s devastated over the Crown Jewels being stolen. These are items that belonged to his ancestors, that have been in the family for generations. They’re literally priceless.

They were his family’s history, the distilled essence of their sacrifice and strength, their honor and their passion. The Crown Jewels were triumph over adversity, they were a unifying symbol that ended countless wars hundreds of years ago, and they were Rosavia incarnate.

~~~

His heart, which was struggling to stay afloat in the sea of his pain, the knowledge that someone had intentionally struck out at his family like this.

~~~

The Crown Jewels were theoretically the most protected items in the whole country, and if they could be stolen, what else might a hostile nation seek to take from them?

On the trip, Benedict and Felix get to know each other a little better. It actually starts before they leave when they share a kiss and a bit of touching. Inside the car, there’s hand holding and getting to know each other a little. Felix has never been with a man before so it’s all new and overwhelming, and did I mention it was with a prince? A sexy, gorgeous prince? Felix is a commoner who was bullied his whole life for being smart. So whatever is happening won’t last, Felix believes. Even so, he’s going to enjoy it while he can.

Benedict, on the other hand, has fallen and he’s fallen hard. He’s barely spent a day with Felix before he’s 100% convinced that he’s found his life partner. Sure, it happened super fast, but the heart wants what the heart wants. Benedict wants Felix and he plans to keep him forever. He, like his brothers before him (except Jules who got with another prince) doesn’t care if his choice of partner is a so-called commoner. But then again, Benedict has never truly given a damn what anybody thought of him anyway.

When the mission doesn’t quite go as planned, poor Felix is stuck fending for himself. Upon his return, things are starting to come together because of the information he was able to obtain. This opens the door for another mission for Felix, only this time without Benedict being there to back him up. He’ll be in danger every minute of the mission but he’s determined to do whatever needs to be done to find the Crown Jewels and to bring the thief or thieves to justice.

Felix was never supposed to be a field agent. His job was meant to be behind a desk, nothing more.

There are imposters, smart cats, more than a little sneaking around, and a sexy agent (Benedict) who’s bound and determined to finish the assignment so he can finally be with the man he’s fallen in love with. When they finally came back together it was cute.

Things happen really fast with these guys.

With this being the 4th in the series I was able to see some of the others from the series – even a couple of scenes from those books in the current characters’ point of view. The number one thing for me, however, was that finally (geez, finally!) something is done about the annoying reporter who’s been the bane of the palace’s existence, especially in the weeks leading up to The Royal Ball.

A touching moment is when Benedict finally realizes that he’s not alone in the world, that Felix is his missing piece. I loved these two together. My only issue with them is that there wasn’t a whole lot of together time. They were together but not. Even so, it worked.

There is one issue I had with the story and it’s yet another major question (for me anyway) that wasn’t answered. I don’t know what it is about these authors because every single book leaves something outstanding. I can’t say what this was without typing a big spoiler. Because it wasn’t answered in the final book, it’s been added as a spoiler on my Goodreads review for In His Court.

Seriously, the only thing that’s been outstanding and then resolved is the nasty journalist and why she was doing what she was doing.

I also should note that this book – unlike the others before it – has quite a few editing issues. I found myself having to read the same sentence more than once a few times. It’s not every single page but it’s enough to take the reader out of the story for a few moments. Until this book I’d only seen one or two issues and they weren’t worth mentioning.

Overall, a nice story.