Reluctantly Royal

Royals Gone Rogue, Book 1

De: Erin Nicolle, Erin Nicholas

Narrado por: Jason Clarke, Shaina Summerville

Duración: 14 h y 4 m

Resumen del Editor

A marriage of convenience between a dirty-talking prince and the socially awkward scientist who brings him to his knees...

A marriage proposal from a deliciously handsome and wickedly charming prince sounds like a fairytale.

But for a nerdy scientist with severe social anxiety, it's a horror story.

Prince Torin O'Grady, with his mischievous blue eyes and cocky grin, is always in the spotlight. And he needs to marry me to inherit the crown.

But we have nothing in common. He's a future king. And I'm perfectly happy slogging through mud in my work boots.

So why can't I stop thinking about him?

Maybe because he won't stop texting me. And sending me gifts. And making me feel like everything I find awkward and weird about myself is special and amazing.

And there's also that little detail of him offering me my dream job and telling me that together we can change the world.

Well, I could probably work for him.

And if I have to marry him temporarily to get what we both want, then fine. It's for the greater good.

It has nothing to do with the way he kisses me. Or that dirty mouth. Or the royal treatment he gives me in the bedroom.

Fine. Maybe it does. Still, it's only a year. Then I can turn in my tiara and come back to my normal, boring, behind-the-scenes life.

But Torin is determined to turn me from reluctantly royal to royally his.

©2024 Erin Nicholas (P)2024 Erin Nicholas

Absolutely loved this book...Perfect Narration

I loved everything about this book. I loved the story itself and it was made 100 times better with the fantastic narration by Shaina Summerville and Jasone Clarke. I have been a fan of Jason's for years. But this was the first time I have listened to Shaina and I just loved her performance. And Jason with an Irish accent...sign me up please. He did such a fantastic job with the accent work, he literally blew me away.

Who wouldn't want to marry a handsome prince...even if it is for convenience and for just a year. Torin needs to get married so that he can become King when his grandfather steps down. Unfortunately, the person his family wants him to marry is in love with someone else and Torin just doesn't want to marry her. But Torin does have his eye on a certain American he can't get out of his mind.

Abigail is working hard with her farming ideas but it's just not gaining the ground she needs for it to take off. Torin however loves her idea and wants to put it to use...at his home in Cara and he would love for her to do this as his wife. Abigail isn't sure about this at first but then Torin convinces her it will just be for a year while he proves to his grandfather that he can and wants to be King one day.

Abigail and Torin both agree that it's only for a year and feelings shouldn't be involved. But these two can't help but falling in love with each other. Together they prove to everyone in Cara that they are the perfect Prince and Princess.

10 out of 10 performance for this cute royal story

This is a really adorable story that I listened to within the day because the duet performance by Jason Clarke and Shaina Summerville is a 10 out of 10. Jason Clarke is one of my favorite narrators and this performance of Reluctantly Royal is no exception - his slight Irish accent is spot on and both he and Shaina really made this very cute story come to life.

Reluctantly Royal is a marriage of convenience coming off of instant attraction between Torin, a prince who needs a wife to be taken seriously, and Abigail, the introverted, anxious genius who wants to use her talents to create sustainable farms. They are complete opposites but their chemistry is fire. Torin has a very dirty mouth and uses it well. There are scenes where he encourages Abigail to use her words too which is spicy but also made me giggle.

Abigail's reluctance to get emotionally involved was frustrating but by the end of the story, I understood her perspective better. This story was overall fun, very spicy, and just a good time. I think listening to this one made some of what I thought were repetitive scenes not too bad because of the performance but I am not sure if I would have enjoyed this book as much if I had read it.

Tropes & Elements:
💍 Marriage of Convenience
🩷 He falls first and super hard
🔥 Spicy
👑 Prince finds a Princess
⚡️ Opposites Attract
🫶 Anxiety Rep
✌🏻 Dual POV

Fun, moving, and steamy story!

What a great start to the Royals Gone Rogue series. This entertaining, heartfelt and steamy romance is a modern day twist on Cinderella, only with cute pink cowboy boots. Prince Torin O’Grady loves his country, and has great ideas to help them be more independent and thrive. The king wants to arrange his marriage but Torin want's a quirky, intelligent American woman that he met and fell for at a wedding, and who disappeared on him after their dance. He is determined to win her over, convince her to marry him, while helping him become a great King. Abbi is extremely intelligent, sweet and caring, but is awkward and anxious in public situations. She is afraid of her attraction to the Prince, but Torin is too charming and convincing, and she soon agrees to marry him, with an agreed end date. I loved these opposites who understood each other, and made each other stronger, and their chemistry was palpable. This is a sweet and addicting story about love, and the complications of making a life together while under intense scrutiny by the world, but rising above together.
Jason Clarke, and Shaina Summerville did a great job bringing this story to life. I loved Clarke's accent, his easy charm, and his ability to express Torin's excitement for his country. This is my first listen to Summerville and I enjoyed her portrayal of the anxious, nerdy Abbi, who just wanted to be accepted for who she was. They helped make this fun, moving, and steamy story even more delightful.

Absolutely adorable start to a crossover series

Ok, so I’m gong to make a confession here…I haven’t read all of Erin Nicholas’ books, & I feel like after reading this I’m in desperate need of a trip to the Bayou.
Abi is so smart, so unique, & so adorably quirky. She’s an eco-friendly farmer who gas more ideas in her head than spoken words out of her mouth. She has an heir about her that just screams “you’ll love me just as I am!” And let me tell you…that little voice was heard loud & clear by Torin, the crowned Prince of Cara.
Torin has lived a privileged life, but ten years ago, he & his siblings all decided that they wanted more. They wanted more than what the small island nation could offer them & wanted to live a commoner life. But in them all abdicating the throne, that left no heir to their grandfather, the King. Torin made the tough decision to return home and take his rightful spot as next in line.
When the king issues a stipulation on Torin’s succession, he finds himself in need of a wife. Oh, but wait…he has an arranged marriage…one that was made in a nefarious bet at a poker table, but signed & valid all the same.
But when a small town farmer catches his eye at a friend’s wedding, Torin finds himself at n desperate need to make a connection outside of his intended betrothal. Besides…while they are close friends, their arranged marriage could be hurtful to others they adore.
This marriage of convenience of the suave prince & the quirky farmer was more than I could’ve wished for. Torin was determined to make all of Ali’s dreams come true. And his protectiveness over her at every turn just made me swoon that much harder.

Audiobook Review:
Jason Clarke as Torin was more than chef’s kiss. He was the absolute perfect voice to capture the smitten Prince. Shaina Summerville did phenomenal portraying our introverted genius, Abi. She’s new to me & I will gladly listen to more she has to offer.

at the top of my favorite list! ❤️🎤❤️

Reluctantly, Royal is an opposites attract,  marriage of convenience romance, about Torin Crown Prince of Cara who won’t inherit the crown to be king unless he’s married. Abigail is a socially awkward genius with an extreme case of stage freight who wants to feed to the world. The two first meet at a wedding that Torin attended in the U.S and he becomes completely enamored with her but being the socially awkward person she is she ends up giving him the slip and getting the heck out of there.  They meet again at another wedding after Torin is given a small time frame to get married by his grandfather, the king. Abigail is who he wants as his bride, so he offers a mutually beneficial proposal that she finds hard to pass up.

This was a great listen, I loved Torin and Abigail. She was such a wonderful character even with her social hangups and extreme nerves in spotlight situations she had sass and wit, she was so passionate about her goals and career she had such a heart for progression and change that would help community’s I really liked her a lot. Torin was the opposite in terms of he was use to being in the spotlight. He thrived and shined in social settings and speaking engagements. He had a love for his country and the people in it and wanted to bring positive changes but was never taken seriously. He was extremely attracted to Abigail, but it went further he admired her, and he knew her work her dedication and knew her brilliance. Together, he knew they could do amazing things for the people. As a couple, they were charming and steamy. They had wonderful chemistry, cute banter, and a mutual love of footwear. They were a perfect team and made for one another.

Jason Clarke and Shaina Summerville were a great choice for narration. Jason is one of my favorite narrators, I think his voice can lend itself to many different types of characters and personalities with varying emotions while still maintaining that distinctly Jason tone that brings out all the shivers and swoons. Shaina was not to be outdone she shined with Abigail’s awe and excitement over her work and her vulnerabilities and anxiety,  she was just fantastic in this performance.

This is right up there with my top listens so far this year. The characters were endearing,  the story was well written  flowed great, and held my interest all the way through. It was cute, charming, and had some very hott! Scenes. A must listen in my opinion

5 stars

Torin needs to get married to inherit the crown. So he makes a marriage proposal to Abigail. They have nothing in common, but she can't stop thinking about him. In exchange he's planning on helping her make her dreams come true.

I giggled and swooned over Torin. I thought the story was super cute and it's spicy! This was my first book by this author. I loved her writing style. I listened to an advanced copy of the audiobook. It's fantastic! Performed in duet narration by Jason Clarke as Torin and Shaina Summerville as Abigail. Jason has an Irish accent and is a prince. I loved him as Torin. He exuded Torin's charming personality. I loved how Torin fell head over heels for Abigail right from the beginning. Shaina is a new to me narrator. She captured Abigail's quirks and anxiety. I loved how Abigail was very passionate about climate change and farming. I loved how very supportive Torin was of her dreams. Overall, if you like royal rom coms I would recommend this one!

Princess

Reluctantly Royal-Erin Nicolle
Narrated by Jason Clarke and Shaina Summerville

Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Narration 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧

I loved this book! I am a sucker for marriage of convenience and he falls first books and boy did he fall first. Abby is such a brilliant mind but she’s also so socially awkward and gets social anxiety so bad that it’s debilitating. And it makes her so relatable, not only to us as the reader, but to our super charming hero Prince Torin as well. He is enamored with her from first sight and he turned the charm all the way up. These two are as opposite as two people could probably be, but they also work so well together. Torin needs a wife in order for his grandfather to pass the throne down to him, and Abby wants to end world hunger by building community indoor farms. Torin’s small remote country off the coast of Denmark and Ireland would be the ideal climate for her to put all her research into practice. Will they get through the year of their fake marriage in order to win over the people of Cara with Abby’s farms in order for Torin’s grandfather to pass the crown down to him?

The audio for this was absolutely phenomenal. I was not prepared for how freaking scorching Jason was going to be. Between an Irish accent and Torin’s dirty mouth 🥵🥵🥵 and Shaina did such a stunning job bringing Abby to life. Abby had a lot of vulnerable moments with her social anxiety and I think Shaina did a great job portraying all of Abby, but her vulnerable moments especially.

Why can’t I give more than 5 Stars!?!

Audiobook and Book Review

🩷 Reluctant Prince
💜 Scientist/Farmer
🩷 Marriage of Convenience
💜 D!RTY TALK!NG MMC 🥵
🩷 ‘Charming’ 😏😈
💜 “My wife”

Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Narration: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (can I give it 10?)

ABSOLUTELY SWOON-WORTHY. The amount of gasping, squealing, hand to my chest or mouth out of sheer excitement, giddiness, screeching, and overall smiling so hard my cheeks hurt, while reading this book was astronomical. It has been a very, very long time since I have read a lighthearted book that made me feel so many wonderful things, all while being Spicy AF! Reluctantly Royal has moved to the top of my list of favorites for 2024! 💜🩷

Ok this story is adorable AND spicy! But more than that, Abigail’s reasons for being a farmer and believing that government should be taking care of its people. Feeding its people. Providing assistance, not to the BIG farming corporations for money and profit, but to the small mom and pop farms. To family farms so that people can eat healthier and have better access to all types of foods. Well damn it, it just makes sense! Our government needs to read this book. Because Abi makes more good points than most of our “leaders” combined!

Generational stubbornness adds to Torin’s frustration to try to make real changes. He may have abdicated but he’s back and wants to make real change, positive change for Cara. Torin may have a proposition for Abigail to get the throne, but there is a ‘rightness’ to it. Torin wants a wife yes, but he wants to support her dreams. That means so much. Most men don’t understand that a woman just wants to be heard and seen. Torin does that, like on an EPIC scale, all while being a respectfully dominant dreamboat 😍 Torin is the best kind of MMC, not only does he listen, but he’s thoughtful, and he wants to make a difference. Holy sh!t does he have some of the best, graphic d!rty t@lk! Wowzers!

Abigail is an actual freaking genius. She may have stage fright because kids büllied her for being intelligent, but I love that Torin just “has her.” Her encourages her and props her up rather than trying to diminish her. She has excellent plans for sustainable food growth for people. Torin is helping her make those plans a reality, all while giving her the confidence she lacks because of what she experienced growing up. Abi may have social anxiety but instead of letting it rule her, she shows her vulnerability. She comes up with creative ideas to interact with people without letting her anxiety take over. So what if she throws up? Torin will be there to help her…even if it does leave her bootless. 😉

Listening to Jason “super sweet in person (I’ve heard) but absolutely wicked behind the mic” Clarke, narrate with a hint of an Irish accent, is sinfully delicious. And I 👏🏼am👏🏼here👏🏼for👏🏼it! SIR. 🥵🫠 I continue to be enthralled with his narration. His voice and his skill are both perfection. That is all.

I legitimately forgot that I wasn’t actually listening to intelligent, shy, sassy Abigail, but that I was listening to Shaina Summerville narrate! That’s how good she was! This is my first audiobook of hers but will definitely not be my last! I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Shaina! She is AMAZING 🩷🩷🩷

Thank you Home Cooked Books for the ALC of what is now one of my favorite books! 😍 This is a dynamite combo of narrators for this book. A new top duo for me!

🪴 “As a prince I’m kind of obligated to return shoes to beautiful, intriguing women when they leave them behind after we dance,” I tell her.
🪴 "No. You’ve said enough tonight. All I want to hear from you is yes, Torin, or my Prince. Or, sir, if you'd like. I'll even allow Your Highness. But yeses and my name or title. That's it."

Excellent duet narration, enjoyable characters…

Erin Nicolle’s first book in the Royals Gone Rogue series presents two very appealing characters via a serviceable story. The driving trope is marriage of convenience (with a time limit), and it is well executed. One aspect I found particularly pleasing was that there is no third act kerfuffle that felt manufactured to create drama - any conflict was organic. And while I felt dropped in the middle of some of the other relationships (some of which will no doubt play out as the series continues), this outing ably fulfills a key duty of a book one— setting up characters that make a reader want to come back for subsequent stories.

Couple number one, Torin and Abigail (Abi), are MCs whose connection makes for a solid jumping off point. He’s a reluctant royal fighting for change, she’s got a passion for indoor farming and sustainability. I was engaged from the first, and despite some hiccups in pacing and a slight imbalance between their sexual connection and emotional intimacy, found them to be a fine match. I love how into Abi’s work Torin is and how supportive, and for the most part that never wavers. He believes in her goals and sees the importance and applicability of it, so he works to use his privilege and position to make it a reality. Abi is equally as supportive of Torin; acting as his cheerleader without letting him off the hook when he needs a reality check. She was adept at re-contextualizing things he needed to understand about his responsibilities without scolding him. They present a true partnership and it’s clear they’ll make a great royal pair.

As much as I admired the MCs, there were aspects of the story that did frustrate. There were some finger-wagging moments regarding Abi’s work, that to me, struck a bit heavy-handed; this did make Abi is a bit pedantic at times. I agree, these are important issues, but there were moments I felt Torin’s frustration, and where I wanted the story to be more about their relationship than her professional passions. And ideally, their relationship outside the bedroom. This was another aspect, where, though I appreciated the hotness of it and Torin’s bossy dirty talk was *chef’s kiss*, the frequency as the story progressed seemed to replace actual relationship development. So, occasionally those scenes felt more like a mechanism rather than intimacy. I guess I wanted as much of them growing as a couple outside the bedroom as in it.

One aspect I have absolutely no frustration with is the narrators and their performances. The duet narration here was fantastic! Jason Clarke putting on an Irish accent was a joy to my ears. And despite my qualms regarding the smexy scenes being a bit a of crutch plot-wise, performance-wise is another story entirely. Holy hotness, Batman! If you’re going to have that volume of scenes, you definitely want Jason Clarke as your narrator! Of course, he’s just as wonderful with the story and character beats beyond the sexy bits. He’s very well cast and has solid chemistry with his con-narrator. Shaina Summerville was a great Abigail. She had a real talent for the scenes where Abigail battled her social anxiety. But Summerville was just as adept at portraying the chemistry and intimacy between the MCs. The duet narration style is truly an asset to the romance genre, and helps to palpably establish the interactions and intimacy between characters. Overall, the performances and production make this an audiobook I highly recommend.

I received an ALC copy of the audiobook via Home Cooked Books and read via KU. All opinions are my own.

Jason Clarke with an Irish accent, Enough said!

Reluctantly Royal By Erin Nicolle, narrated By: Jason Clarke & Shaina Summerville was such a fun audiobook to listen to, and I soaked up every moment of it.
Prince Torin O’Grady has to get married in order to inherit the crown, having his sights set on Abigail Landry, has him working his magic to get her to agree to a fake marriage, something that could help benefit both of them. Abigail is shy and doesn’t like the attention on her, extremely smart (some say nerdy) and has severe social anxiety so when she’s put to the test of giving prince Torin’s town the princess they want, it’s hard for her to put herself out there. I loved the journey this book takes you on with the marriage of convenience, and the prince being smitten over his fake new wife, encouraging her and supporting all the brilliant ideas she has, as well as her reassurance to Torin that he is everything his town needs to be King. Not only was this a positive and encouraging story but, Torin’s filthy mouth gave us that extra bit of spice and passion we wanted and we got a glimpse into Abigails confidence sexy side too. With the fake-ness wearing off, and true feelings rising, the royal tests come to surface and people have to decide if Torin is up for the challenge of King as well as possibly keeping his fake wife for real. Jason Clarke was so fun in this book, his Irish accent was perfection and you could feel the love, desire and true admiration he felt for Abigail, as well as the praise of encouragement in supporting her through his voice. Shaina Summerville is a new to me narrator and her sweet and sensitive voice as Abigail was narrated so well. As the audiobook went on Shaina was able to voice the confidence Abigail was gaining and give her the opportunity to go after what she wanted. She was also a sassy little thing and I loved that part of Abigail’s character.
Overall a fun, flirty, royal, marriage of convenience with undeniable chemistry and a sweet HEA.

Thank You Home Cooked Books for the opportunity to listen and review.