Royal Bastard

The Instantly Royal Series, Book 1

By: Avery Flynn

Narrated by: John Lane

Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's Summary

Brooke Chapman-Powell takes her position as the Earl of Englefield’s personal secretary very seriously. This job is what keeps her sister in the university for the deaf and the town from completely shutting down. But the earl is dying, and they have only one hope: an American, from some place called Salvation, Virginia.

Now she will have to teach the in-all-likelihood-uncouth-and-lazy half American how to be a proper earl if they hope to save the village. God help them all.

Nick Vane has about two gazillion things that land higher on his to-do list than becoming an English earl. Things like naps. Hosting poker nights. Oh, and raking in the profits from his latest invention. But accepting the title that his grandfather has denied him since birth? It doesn’t even register. But Miss Prim-and-Proper won’t give up, and before he knows what’s what, he is on a plane to London.

He has too much pride to go down easily, and she’s got too much propriety to ever break the rules. They are as different as a cocktail fork and a bread knife - and the clash between them lands these two in the most unexpected positions.

©2020 Avery Flynn (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

A great listen.

Funny Witty and a Captivating tale. Worthy of a listen. Love the narrator's American accent!

loved and hated this book!

the story was good, but the narrator's attempt at a Yorkshire accent was hysterically bad..I swear it was Scottish most of the time..
had to skip over any steamy scenes.. couldn't bear to hear them on those accents!

Unfinished plot points, otherwise a solid romcom

Bonus points for; using the word discombobulated, references to naked attraction and a pretty accurate portrayal of English country village life (without cheesy accents) but a delightfully simple and lovely rom com can still be ruined by major plot points referenced throughout the book not being resolved which is unfortunately what happened here (i.e. the earl's diagnosis and the earl's sons actions on the night he died). Even more frustrating when there is an actual epilogue to the story! And it's not even mentioned there.

I would give extra points for the representation of a deaf character but as I don't think it's an accurate portrayal I'm going to say that cancels it out.

Otherwise a solid romcom chick flick with a couple of tropes, solid spicy scenes with believable pacing and emotional and sexual build up to those scenes. There are other innacuracies in the story but the emotions and connections written are pleasant and believable and that is definitely the thing I look for most in this genre of books. Good pacing and good chemistry throughout.