The Reluctant Wife

A Bodyguard-Princess Marriage of Convenience Romance (The Davenports, Book 4)

De: L. Steele

Narrado por: Shane East, Ava Lucas

THE ONE RULE I CAN'T FOLLOW: DON'T FALL FOR YOUR FAKE HUSBAND

He's, my bodyguard. My marriage of convenience husband. And the one man I can't have feelings for.

Ryot Davenport: Former Marine. Billionaire security expert. A man built to keep his walls high and his heart untouchable.

Our fake marriage? A calculated political move.

Our real chemistry? Impossible to ignore.

He’s sworn to keep me safe. I’m determined to make him feel again. Every unspoken promise. Every stolen glance. We’re playing a dangerous game where the only rule is: don’t fall.

But some rules were never meant to be kept…

This is a grumpy bodyguard x princess fake marriage billionaire romance with:

Only One Bed A Possessive Bodyguard who calls you “my wife”

A Curvy Princess Who Turns His World Upside Down

Found Family That Will Make You Cry

A Champagne-Drinking Great Dane Who Steals the Show

A meddling grandfather

A Guaranteed HEA That’ll Leave You Swooning

Some contracts are written in fire. Some hearts can't be contained.

Fall into the world of the Davenports. 1-Click could change everything!

©2025 Laxmi Hariharan (P)2025 Laxmi Hariharan

Aurelia + Ryat

Big on miscommunication and constant reluctance surrounding an ex-lover, but overall the chemistry was there and the suspense left me excited to continuing reading!

Balm to Their Souls

🩵🎧 DUET NARRATION 🎧🩵

I love the palpable tension between Aurelia "Aura," Princess of Verenza, and Ryot Davenport from the onset. Oh, the things I was hoping would happen in that alley. I'd say I'm ashamed, but I'd be lying. 😘

While the twist wasn't a surprise, I love that we got to see Ryot and understand his first marriage better. We also got to see him try to deny his attraction while she pushed his boundaries. I found it entertaining.

So, back to the twist. I won't give anything away, but seriously, people? Ugh. Some people are such idiots! That said, there was a smaller twist that I didn't expect.

I liked Aura most of the time, but she did get a bit too whiny, especially towards the end. I can understand some of the internal conflict, but I wasn't keen on how she handled it.

I received an author's copy of the audio book. The narrators are the growly Shane East and sweet and sassy Ava Lucas. Being in duet narration means their characters maintain the same level of energy and voice throughout. I say it every time. I love duet narration! I also love these narrators and their accents. 🩷🎧🩷

Story: 4 stars
Narration: 4.5 stars
Listening Speed: 1.8x

Ryot and Aurelia

My review is written after listening to the audio version of this book, which is superbly narrated by Ava Lucas and Shane East. These two work perfectly together and bring the characters to life so well.

Ryot and Aurelia met in a club when she was trying to escape unwanted advances from another man. The attraction between them was palpable and instant but when Ryot asked her to go home with him she declined. Neither expected to see each other again but fate had other plans.

Aurelia is a princess about to enter into a political marriage was at the club to have some fun and perhaps lose her v card to a man of her choosing before entering what she knows will be a lack-luster marriage. The next day she is called into her father, the King's presence and told that there have been threats made against her life and that her new personal head of security is none other than the sexy Ryot she met the night before.

Being in close proximity to each other proves difficult without acting on their mutual attraction but Ryot steadfastly refuses to coss the line although it's becoming harder to resit the temptation. After numerous attempts on her life Ryot decides to move himself and Aurelia to a safehouse where their close proximity makes the temptation even harder to resist.

Aurelia breaks off her arranged marriage and Ryot purposes a marriage of convenience this ould help her country and solve his problem with his grandfather Arthur who is determined to see his unwed grandsons wed. But when he and Aurelia go on their honeymoon danger strikes again and this time it effects not only them but Ryot's family members too.

Their journey to their HEA is not smooth as both of them refuse to admit their true feelings for each other. When they finally do it beautiful. This series by L.Steele is one of my go to listens and I can't wait for Tyler's story!

Aurelia and Ryot

The Reluctant Wife is a delightful story about a princess and her bodyguard. Listen to this audiobook that is narrated in duet by Ava Lucas and Shane East. Ava Lucas was phenomenal in her portrayal of Princess Aurelia. You could feel all of Aurelia’s happiness, fear, lust and love through her voice. Her Italian accent was beautiful. Shane East as Ryot-really need I say more? When he said “my wife” in his perfect growly alpha voice-WOW! These two made this book come to life. I highly recommend listening.

Spice for dayssss

𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑫 𝑰𝑭 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑳𝑰𝑲𝑬:
♡ bodyguard x princess romance
♡ virgin FMC
♡ marriage of convenience (x2?)
♡ who is threatening her??

𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑻𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑮𝑯𝑻𝑺:
If you’re in the mood for a spicy audiobook, I would recommend this one! We follow a princess who ends up wanting the one man she can’t have: her bodyguard. Which is fine because she’s engaged to a prince for the sake of her country, but it turns out he wants her too.

There’s danger in this book which causes a lot of tension and kicks her bodyguard’s protectiveness into overdrive. You’re also trying to figure out who the danger is and that reveal took me be surprise!

The spice was often and hawt. We also had some really sweet moments as well that made me kick my feet. My only issue with the book was the reason for the third act breakup. I’ve accepted that third act breakups are kind of inevitable in books, but the “I need time away from you because I love you so much it scares me,” reason just seems silly to me. We did have a HEA that I loved though!

The narrators did an amazing job. We love a man with an accent and the female narrator did such a great job bringing her character to life!

WOW!!!!!

Thank you @hambright_pr @authorl.steele for this audiobook copy of The Reluctant Wife.
This was an amazing ride that I never wanted to end. I absolutely adored Aurelia & Ryot. (Seriously I need more!) The fact that a little mystery/death threats went on behind the love story pushed this one in 5 star status for me. The spice is SPICING & will surely not disappoint. 🔥🔥🔥 Getting to know the characters as well underneath the spice & angst, truly made me fall in love with them.

If you love:

🛏️ Only One Bed

❤️‍🔥Possessive Bodyguard who calls you “my wife”

👸🏽Curvy Princess Who Turns His World Upside Down

🩵Found Family That Will Make You Cry

🍾 Champagne-Drinking Great Dane Who Steals the Show

💍 Guaranteed HEA That’ll Leave You Swooning

This is the book for you!!! 💋

Perfect Blend Of Steamy & Plot

I couldn’t wait to listen to this one!! I recently read The Unplanned Wedding by L. Steele and absolutely loved it! So I knew I had to deep dive into this one! Shane East & Ava Lucas did an absolutely great job at duetting this one! I seriously couldn’t stop listening to them! They truly brought Ryot & Aurelia to life. I honestly could listen to these two for days! L. Steele not only brought us a bodyguard x princess romance but we get suspense and drama!! The plot was amazing! I was hooked and had to know what was going to happen! The chemistry between Ryot & Aurelia was absolutely PERFECTION!! The build up was amazingly paced! And it was a steamy one!!
L. Steele definitely knows how to add spicy scenes without it being to overwhelming. Perfect blend of Spice & Plot! Ryot and Aurelia are perfect for each other!! And I am so glad I got the opportunity to listen to the New Audiobook of The Reluctant Wife!

Sweet and Dangerous

I enjoyed the danger and spice in this princess and bodyguard romance. I also liked that the princess learned so much about herself. Ryat was a fantastic MMC. He’s a broody alpha male who has his walls up because of past traumas. The way the two end up working together and through their issues was so great. I loved the added aspect of danger. I will definitely be continuing L. Steeles books!

Interesting dynamics!

I realized, a ways in, that I came into this at a Book 4 in the series—that does explain some things, but it wasn’t hard to roll with it.


Royals.
Arranged marriage.
Bodyguard romance.
Second-chance romance.
Curvy girl.
Lowkey suspense.
Danger.
Forbidden vibes.

Overall, this was okay.
Very dramatic, intense. And slow-paced.

3 stars.


🎧 Audio:
Overall, quality-wise, very mixed. It’s a dual-narration with excellent voices and voice actors, however the male parts had poor sound quality—which especially stood out against the female’s stellar sound quality. He sounded as though he was under water? Or … something like that. I’m not really sure what prompts this particular issue. Usually I hear it in amateur-made productions, however, this one seems professionally produced in all other aspects, so it’s baffling. 3 stars.

A wonderful narration of a classic bodyguard princess romance!

⭐️: 2/5

💕 Only One Bed
💕 A Possessive Bodyguard who calls you “my wife”
💕 A Curvy Princess Who Turns His World Upside Down
💕 Found Family That Will Make You Cry
💕 A Champagne-Drinking Great Dane Who Steals the Show
💕 A meddling grandfather
💕 A Guaranteed HEA That’ll Leave You Swooning

A bodygaurd with a princess combo is always swoon worthy. Aurelia and Ryot were definitely unable to stay away from one another after an almost one night stand. Action packed romance with traumatic pasts that MCs are able to work through to find their happy end.

The narrators in this audiobook were phenomenal. I can’t get enough of Shane East, he could read me a grocery list and I’d be a happy camper.