Title: The Heir Affair by Heather Cocks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Format: ARC~Kindle (474 pages)
Published: July 7th, 2020 by Grand Central Publishing
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Blurb: After a scandalous secret turns their fairy-tale wedding into a nightmare, Rebecca “Bex” Porter and her husband Prince Nicholas are in self-imposed exile. The public is angry. The Queen is even angrier. And the press is salivating. Cutting themselves off from friends and family, and escaping the world’s judgmental eyes, feels like the best way to protect their fragile, all-consuming romance.
But when a crisis forces the new Duke and Duchess back to London, the Band-Aid they’d placed over their problems starts to peel at the edges. Now, as old family secrets and new ones threaten to derail her new royal life, Bex has to face the emotional wreckage she and Nick left behind: with the Queen, with the world, and with Nick’s brother Freddie, whose sins may not be so easily forgotten—nor forgiven.
This book was just like book 1 but with more drama. Though I don’t know this became an entanglement? A love triangle? The only love I acknowledge here was Bex and Nick. All other relationships were flirtations at best and some attention seeking jealousy but not abiding love.
Nick and Bex being this sequel in seclusion as married people trying to navigate their relationships with each other, their siblings, their parents AND the monarchy. I found all of that stressful especially the Queen. I will admit that I never quite warmed to Eleanor but I was amused at certain
things in the book as she finally deigned to get to know the woman her grandson loves and possible future Queen.
Nick and Bex were my highlight. They were a loving team and I was so happy that they got to a place where they really love each other. They had grown and this journey was their learning how to balance their marriage with the expectations of others as well as how to find boundaries to all the forces pulling at them.
I was a bit confused with Freddie because I loved him in book 1 but here I found him having revisionist history with both Nick and with Bex. I do love that Bex and her sister got to a good place with their sisterhood since that was what I had wanted them to mend in book 1. I am glad that Freddie is coming out of Nick’s shadow. It is good for him and they will be able to meet each other as equals in the future.
I would love it if the authors could shorten these stories because it felt long just like book 1. It began dragging especially when I felt like the Bex and Freddie thing wasn’t authentic. Still, this felt like I was getting an insider tale from the real family and it was juicy.
If you love stories about The English monarchy, then you should dive into this one. It had all of that intrigue, secrets, traditions and romance.
Special thanks to Grand Central Publishing for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
