Codename Charming
Ratings5
Average rating4.4
A delicious romantic comedy about a fake relationship between a grumpy royal bodyguard and the charming, sunny assistant who melts his cold, hard exterior.
Petunia De Vere enjoys being the personal assistant to lovable, bumbling Johnny Marchmont. But the job has its share of challenges, including the royal's giant, intimidating bodyguard, Matthias. Pet and Matthias are polar opposites--she's spontaneous and enthusiastic, he's rigid and stoic--but she can sense there's something softer underneath that tough exterior...
For Matthias Vaughn, protecting others is the name of the game. But keeping his royal charge out of trouble is more difficult than he imagined because everywhere Johnny goes, calamity ensues, and his petite, bubbly assistant is often caught in the fray. Matthias hates the idea of Pet getting hurt and he's determined to keep everyone safe, even if it means clashing with his adorable new coworker.
When a clumsy moment leads to a questionable tabloid photo, the press begins to speculate that Pet is romantically involved with Johnny. To put an end to the rumors, the royal PR team asks Pet and Matthias to stage a fake relationship and the two reluctantly agree. But as they spend more time together outside of work, they begin to wonder what real emotions this pretend connection might uncover. Especially when a passionate kiss leaves both of their heads spinning...
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2 primary books#2 in Palace Insiders
Palace Insiders is a 2-book series with 2 released primary works first released in 2021 with contributions by Lucy Parker.
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Another excellent romance from Lucy Parker. Her books never fail to make me smile. She has a way of writing characters and character interactions that feel so real even if the circumstances of the stories sometimes feel farfetched. All of her books are perfect comfort reads for me and Codename Charming is no exception.
I was very fascinated by Pet as a side character in Battle Royal and am so glad that she got her own book! She is a quirky oddball character but Parker does a great job writing her in such a way that she doesn't feel like a “not like other girls” type or like a manic pixy dream girl. Matthias is a character who is more reserved and quiet, he is still grieving the loss of his best friend but his perspective never feels bleak or boring. I definitely felt the chemistry between the 2 of them and it was fun following along on their fake dating antics.
I also really loved Rosie and Johnny appearing as side characters again, they are a fun couple to follow even when they are background characters.
Overall, this was a very enjoyable read and I look forward to all of Lucy Parker's future releases.
4/5
That was so cute, I liked it! I loved the first book better, but this one was great too. Not as funny, but just as warm.
I love a fake dating scenario and I enjoyed it here. I love how much they loved each other and protective Matthias was over Pet.
And I liked the subplot of Pet looking for the mysterious woman and finding her father, though I would have preferred if it didn't happen on the last pages of the book. I would have preferred this to be more fleshed out. But I'm glad that she found more family!
I wish we saw Dominic and Sylvie's wedding, though I'd prefer for them to still be dating in this book. They were together, what, 6 months? Maybe? 7? I hate when in the books the couple marries that quickly lmao. But I loved them and I was glad we saw them here.
I was hoping for more Dominic and Pet interactions though so I was disappointed. But I loved her friendship with Benjy and Rosie.
Jonny was annoying most of the time. I liked him but seriously, how can someone be that clumsy?? Anyway, this book was fun.
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