Title: Royal Valentine
Author: Jenn McKinlay
Series: A Museum of Literature Romance #1
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary romance
Pace: Slow
Format: eBook, Novella
Year: 2022

This is a short and cute novella. It is filled with fun little twists and turns without being too angsty. I love that Molly and Albert have this great little whirlwind romance. And then he just disappears. Because this is a contemporary romance, I knew that he would have a good excuse. And I knew that there would be a happy ending. But I loved how Molly has to come to terms with this nonsense. And there’s the whole re-meeting moment that was all kinds of awkward and delicious at the same time.

I really enjoyed that for the first half of this novella, you get to follow Molly and Albert along as they fall for one another. But then, the second half is all about them reconnecting after Albert disappears. It means that, in following them fall for one another, I was so much more emotionally invested than I would have otherwise been. Anything that can get me this emotionally invested in such a short amount of time writes a wonderful romance, and the fact that I was completely rooting for these two from the beginning, right up until the end makes me feel ridiculously happy to read more of McKinlay’s books in the future.

This was a fairly normal Prince and Pauper kind of trope. But, rather than feeling privileged to be with a man who is so far out of her financial league, Molly is seriously suspicious. I love her level of cynicism, this is coming from a reader who would seriously freak out if her husband bought flowers. So I understand that level of cynicism. Plus, it made her more realistic. No one I know ever believes in the happily ever after with no strings attached. It’s the strings we choose to take on that make our happily ever afters perfect.

Image source: Goodreads