Novel Review: The Royal Treatment (Alaskan Royal Family, #1) by MaryJanice Davidson

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5
Publisher: Kansington Publishing Corp. (Brava Books)
Spoilers?: Minor.

Goodreads Synopsis:

In this delightful and dazzling erotic novel, MaryJanice Davidson creates an alternate contemporary world nearly identical to ours in which Russia never sold the Alaskan territory to the United States. Instead, Alaska has won its independence and established itself as a constitutional monarchy...and now, the King of Alaska badly needs a bride for his son and heir... The country of Alaska is as forbidding as it is beautiful. And the royal family is as rough-around-the-edges as they are coolly civilized. Other royal families may find them shocking, but after all, in this wilderness kingdom, being a crack shot and expert trapper is just as important as knowing your salad fork from your dessert fork. Unfortunately, when the rest of the royals find you mildly savage, marrying off your royal brood can be a royal pain. King Alexander II is desperate. Why, he'd settle for any girl. A commoner. An American, even Stranded tourist Christina Krabbe is American, and a commoner, but she has zero interest in enduring a royal wedding, producing royal heirs, and becoming Queen of Alaska...until she gets a good look at Prince David. He may be a bit unruly--actually, the words untamed and slightly dangerous come to mind--but Christina's no delicate flower herself. And when His Highness discovers Christina can give as good as she gets, he's Prince Charmed, if not quite charming. But can a wild man Prince and a modern American girl make a life together? And will the palace still be standing when the dust clears?

Available on Amazon.

Review:

This book was not amazing, but I still really enjoyed it.

This was the first in the series, and the last one that I read. It focused on Prince David and Christina, who incidentally get pushed together, and end up falling for each other anyway.

After seeing them in the other books, I knew I liked them, and was just interested in seeing how they met and how it all started. It kind of started with their father, and I enjoyed their story. They moved a bit slowly with falling for each other, which I liked since it usually happens much faster, and there was still that expected Davidson humor, which worked really well here.

One thing that seemed a bit odd to me, was that this book seemed to have more effort put into it than the others in the series, and you could very easily tell that this was originally going to be a stand-alone. There were some little tidbits put in that told of what happened to them later, including the excerpts written from Edmunds (I believe? Or was it supposed to be someone in his family, a son or grandson?) book. There wasn’t anything like that in the other books, which doesn’t make them tie in together all that well, but that’s all right. Also, there was a tiny action, suspense plot in the book, near the end, when there wasn’t really any of that in the other books.

I found the book rather interesting, and very entertaining. Also, as I said in the previous review, I like Edmund. He’s so very entertaining. I think I liked him best in the third book, but he’s fun in all of them. I would just like to see more of him.

I also got to know Nicholas better, and a tiny bit more of Alex the boy. I like all of the characters, really, and would like to get to know them all better. I want to know what happens with them.

This was a good book. I liked it about as much as I like Davidson’s other books, and look forward to reading her others.

Novel Review: The Royal Pain (Alaskan Royal Family, #2) by MaryJanice Davidson

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp. (Brava Books)

Spoilers?: No/Very Minor.

Goodreads Synopsis:

 In a world nearly identical to ours, the North won the Civil War, Ben and JLo got married, and everyone dresses well to attend the Grammys. Oh, and Russia never sold Alaska to the U.S. Instead, Alaska is a rough, beautiful country ruled by a famously eccentric royal family, including oldest daughter, Princess Alexandria, whose acid wit and bad case of insomnia have turned her into a tabloid darling, a palace problem, and overall...

The Royal Pain
PMarine biologist Dr. Shel ("Never Sheldon") Rivers has a problem. Some princess expects him to wait on her, hand and dimpled foot. His boss is taken with the royal redhead -- brunette, whatever, it's not like he keeps track of that stuff -- and nobody realizes that he just wants to be left alone in his lab. All alone. All the time. Weekends, holidays -- it's all good.

Now here's Miss Royalpants, insisting that he escort her around the marine institute, explain what he s doing, kiss her until her toes curl -- no, wait, that was his idea. She's not even apologetic about being born into a royal family! Says it's his problem to overcome, not hers. Which leaves him with one option: to kiss her again. And again. And...

So she's nothing like he expected. In fact, Dr. Rivers can see that this fantastic, exasperating woman has problems no princess should ever have to deal with. And he has an idea to help her get some much-needed sleep. Of course, it involves getting very, very tired beforehand, but if she's up to it, then so is he...

In this delightfully madcap sequel to The Royal Treatment, the Baranov family is back and as unpredictable as ever, and a prickly princess and cranky Ph.D. are about to discover that love conquers attitude every time!

Available on Amazon.

Review:

The third book in this series was my favorite (so far), but this one was still very good. Same Davidson style, different couple, great romance. Pretty much the same things I like about all of the Davidson books I’ve read so far.

The Royal Pain is about Alex, one of the daughters in the royal family, going to the U.S. and meeting a biologist, Dr. Shel Rivers.

This book had a bit more serious emotional stuff than most of Davidson’s books, and I think I would have liked more focus on it. Alex has insomnia, caused by her part in an attack on her family, and she’s not dealing with it very well. And, while there is some focus as well as the resolving of the issue, I would have liked more. There isn’t usually so much depth, or trauma, or anything very serious in Davidson’s books, which is okay, but I would actually kind of like more.

Alex takes the same route as Davidson’s other characters, hiding her feelings behind humor, and I guess my problem in this case, was that it didn’t seem all that honest or believable. I mean, I enjoyed the book, and I liked Alex, and I like humor and understood why and when a person is using it to hide other things, but sometimes there should be actual serious talk, and there wasn’t enough of that in this book. Alex is a bit more cynical and sarcastic, I think, because of what she’s gone through, and I would have liked more focus on that, as opposed to Davidson’s typical humor-focused style.

But, again, I did like this book. It’s fun, funny, easy to get through, I really enjoyed the romance between Alex and Shel. I liked seeing the other characters, and am interested in finding out how her brother met his wife in the first book. One character that I really enjoy all of the interactions with is Edmund, the King’s, um, assistant, secretary, or whatever. He’s very straightfaced, keeps his expression and his words unemotional, even when you can tell that he’s being sarcastic or is annoyed, and he knows just about everything. He was in the last book as well, and I just kind of love him. Also, the youngest brother, Nicholas, I find really interesting, and want to know more about. Well, and the brother Alex. I want to know their stories, as well.

So, while this one was not my favorite, I still really enjoyed it, and look forward to reading Davidson’s other books.

Novel Review: The Royal Mess (Alaskan Royal Family, #3) by MaryJanice Davidson

              Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

Rating (Out of 5): ~3-3.5

Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp. (Brava Books)

Spoilers?: No.

Goodreads Synopsis:

In a world nearly identical to ours, the North won the Civil War, flannel is the new bling, and Russia never sold Alaska to the U.S. Instead, Alaska is a beautiful, rough-and-tumble country ruled by a famously eccentric royal family who put the fun back in dysfunctional. And the tabloid darlings are about to get more ink once the King's "royal oats" come back in the form of a surprise princess, landing them all in, well.

THE ROYAL MESS
Jeffrey Rodinov is descended from one of the oldest families in Alaska, and a Rodinov has been protecting a Baranov for generations. It's a job Jeffrey takes VERY seriously. Six feet four inches, 220 fatless lbs., black hair, and blue eyes; weapon of choice: the 9 mm Beretta. In a pinch? His fists. IQ: 157. (Yes, crossword puzzle, in ink, just after taking out the guy behind you. No thanks necessary.) No one ever sees Jeffrey Rodinov coming, and no one-not even a mouthy, illegitimate princess-is going to keep him from playing bodyguard when his king decrees it.
Right. But no Rodinov ever had to protect Princess Nicole Krenski. Her credentials? Hunting guide in the Alaskan wilderness. Smart. Stubborn bordering on exasperating. Five-seven. Blue eyes. Very kissable mouth. Very kissable neck, back, legs, wrists, earlobes. The lady says she doesn't need a bodyguard, but that's where she's wrong. Someone needs to watch her and show her the royal ropes (and cuffs.and scarves.). Someone who can make her feel like a queen-in and out of bed. And that's a job Jeffrey Rodinov takes very seriously as well.
In this deliciously sexy, wickedly funny companion to The Royal Treatment and The Royal Pain, a reluctant princess and a determined royal bodyguard are about to discover that when it comes to powerful love, there are no defenses.

Available on Amazon.

Review:

So, I kind of love MaryJanice Davidson. I have, somewhat slowly, been getting through her books, and while I’m trying not to do it too fast, I just want to read them so badly, and I usually finish them to quickly. I have not read any in a while, and just got a couple more, so we’ll see how fast those go by.

While I have finished her Mermaid series, and have not been able to find the next Vampire Betsy book, I have been pretty much picking up whichever book of hers I can find. And I found this series. Normally, I hate reading anything out of order, but you don’t have to read these books in order, and I couldn’t find the first one. So I ended up reading the series backwards (not on purpose, but still).

This is the final book in the Alaskan Royal Family series, and I rather enjoyed it. This one is about Nicole, a girl who found out she was a princess after her mother died, and ends up falling for Jeffrey, a bodyguard to the royal family she is now a part of.

The writing is just like Davidson’s normal style, random and fun, fast to get through, with a heroine that doesn’t want anything to do with royalty, who’s stubborn and rough on the outside. My only biggest problem with Davidson’s style, as I’ve said before, is that a majority of her heroines are pretty much carbon copies of each other, and the male love interest almost always falls first. This is bothersome, but I can deal with it, at least for the moment.

This story was fun, like her others. I wasn’t expecting much else, and I enjoyed what I got. It’s fun, fast, a little bit steamy (honestly, I would have preferred more explicit sexy stuff, but Davidson doesn’t usually write full on sex scenes, and she didn’t here, just hinted at some kinky stuff). The romance was very nice, and I liked the couple together, as usual. There's some drama, but it's pretty lighthearted, not much suspense or anticipation, and I never had any doubt about how the book would end.

There's also some political stuff in these books, because it's set in Alaska as if we never bought it, and it has a royal family system, but I wasn't very bothered by it. Nor did I pay too much attention to it.

This story did get me interested in the other books in the series, but I hope to read all of the books by her that I can find.