Every time I open a Jenny Holiday contemporary I’m reminded of how much I like her books.

So This Is Christmas really got me going with:

❄️An uptight hero—Matteo Benz, an equerry to the king of Eldovia—who wears three piece suits on the daily, tries to be professional at all times, but is very much annoyed by the heroine. To quote the book: “He looked like a millennial dressed up as a boomer.”
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 ❄️A business-oriented heroine—American Cara Delaney who’s visiting Eldovia & serving as a business consultant for the King. She & her job immediately rub Matteo the wrong way.

 ❄️Both leads recognizing that there’s more to the other lead than their initial impression & slowwwwly coming to call each other by their first names.

 ❄️a fun glimpse back at previous characters

 ❄️​Holiday’s deft hand with emotions & nuance & pacing.

I feel like I’ve been really blessed on the holiday romance reading front this year & this is another adorable book that warmed my heart. If you haven’t checked out Holiday’s Eldovia series yet I really recommend it—especially book 2 which is a fave.

📖 Q: do you have a favorite royal couple? I’m team Harry + Meghan all the way!

The stunning cover of American Royalty—& the premise, of a white future prince of England & current duke falling in love with a Black American rapper named Duchess—had me pressing request on this one really fast.

While the basic premise is great (with a nod to Harry & Meghan), the book’s celebration of a female rapper also trying to amp up her skincare line is something worth cheering for, & there are some 🔥 sex scenes (including 🍑 action!), I also feel like things between the leads moved quickly & the hero sometimes comes across as judgmental & uptight (& not in a way that I appreciate).

Rapper & businesswoman Dani “Duchess” is in England to perform at a memorial concert for the King. Pretty much immediately Duke Jameson acts like a jerk, mainly because he judged her based on her music videos & because he’s secretly so attracted to her.

Forced proximity fans might rejoice when they realize they’re going to be spending so much time together on Jameson’s estate…

I noted what does & doesn’t work me earlier but on the whole this book just feels uneven to me.

On one hand Jameson can be an awkwardly adorable & cerebral beta hero; on the other, he makes weird, sexist judgments about how much cursing he might expect from Dani based on how she’s dressed (like women might be expected to curse more or less just because of how they’re dressed), as an example.

The couple doesn’t meet until 27% in which feels late to me, then they get physical a little too fast for me, & then there just isn’t enough emotional intimacy to have me falling in love.

But this was a fast read for me, largely because I found Tracey Livesay’s writing to be entertaining & enjoyable to consume & I had a lot of fun meeting Dani.

In the end this wasn’t an unqualified win for me but I’ll definitely try Livesay’s writing again!