No Prince Charming

Angel Payne · Victoria Blue

Nov 2017 · Secrets of Stone Series Book 1 · Waterhouse Press

About this ebook

"I was truly captivated with the relationship and how it grew in the best, and yet flawed way." ~White Hot Reads

Once upon a time, a girl attended a big party at the palace, met a prince, and they fell in love…

My name is Claire Montgomery, and I’m no princess. I’m a fighter. I’ve worked hard to earn my place with one of the largest public relations companies in the country, and I’m on the verge of one of the most important victories of my career. We’ve been called to Stone Global Corporation to clean up the family’s filthiest laundry, and I’m on my game. I’m ready. But am I ready for Killian Stone?

They say it’s never too late to live happily ever after…

I’m Killian Stone. They call me the Enigma of the Magnificent Mile. Elite tycoons want into my bank account, and their wives and daughters want into my pants. They’ll do anything for a piece of the enigma―until a crack in our castle is too large to ignore. I’m thrilled. This scandalous fissure distracts everyone’s attention from the bigger secret I’m hiding. But when Claire Montgomery walks through my door, I’m captivated. For the first time in my life, I long to shed the enigma. To share…my secret.

Ratings and reviews

4 Star Review of No Prince Charming (Secrets Of Stone #1) by Angel Payne & Victoria Blue The first book in the Secrets of Stone series and it is off to a good start. If this series is not on your TBR list then I suggest that you add it. This was a fast paced book, full of secrets; a fun and quirky take on Cinderella. From the start I was entranced by Killian Stone and I was excited to see who the woman who would capture and hold his attention would be; Claire Montgomery did not disappoint. Claire is a member of a PR team that has been called in to clean up the image of Stone Global Corporation. She has her own secrets, ones that she is determined will not be exposed. Claire finds herself attracted to Killian and when you throw in the fact that Killian is enthralled with Claire, complications are sure to arise. Killian too has his secrets which he is bound and determined to keep, but all is not as it seems, despite the confident persona that Killian shows the world. No Prince Charming is smoking hot and certainly delivers on the sizzle.Told in dual POV’s it will spark your interest and keep you entertained. Both Ms.Payne and Ms. Blue obviously work well together as it was impossible to determine who wrote what. I received this book in exchange for an honest review from the publisher through Netgalley.

This modern day Cinderella story drove me a bit crazy and not in a good way. The story starts slow and for much of the first half, a bit boring. In all honesty, the only character I actually liked in this one was Killian. He's all alpha male and when he sees something he wants, he goes after it, which is exactly what he did here with Claire. Yes, he wanted her, but that only implies lust, not love. He's rich enough to dazzle her with various ways of getting her attention, and they do generate plenty of steam. I realize that this is supposed to be and erotic twist on the fairytale, but when that takes over the book, it starts to become repetitive and a lot of steam doesn't show love - lust, yes, but nor love. The push and pull between our main characters happened so much that it quickly became expected. He would chase, she'd get caught, they'd get all hot and steamy, then she'd pull away again, and again, and again. These two do have some secrets, and there's a lot of angsty buildup to what I felt like was a letdown. The secrets just weren't big enough for all that angst. Finally, we have Claire, who I kept hoping would show some backbone. Instead, she's more doormat than anything else, and I really just wanted Killian to move on and find someone with some sass to compliment his all alpha self. On that note, the authors did a brilliant job with his character. Too bad the rest were such a disappointment. The conclusion here is open-ended, but considering my experience with this one, I won't be continuing this series.

Highly entertaining, emotionally thrilling, sweetly sexy romantic journey for two people looking for anything but forever right now. Life has its own schedule to keep however. Claire Montgomery is a sweet, sassy and quirky modern day Cinderella with a kick ass carrier and independent streak a mile wide. Killian Stone is a strong, sexy, alpha male and a not so charming (more like demanding) prince charming. Their instant attraction and explosive chemistry is forbidden and so hard to resist. Can't wait to read more of this series.

About the author

Angel Payne

USA Today bestselling romance author Angel Payne has written for four publishing houses, and is also independently published. She loves to focus on high heat romance with emotional twists. She has numerous book series to her credit, including the Honor Bound series, the Suited for Sin series, the Cimarron Saga, the Temptation Court series, and the Secrets of Stone series (with Victoria Blue).

Angel is thrilled to be an author for the bestselling Misadventures series, and looks forward to the launch of the Bolt Saga, featuring her superhero Reece Richards, launching in Summer 2018. Angel lives in Southern California with her soul mate husband and beautiful cosplaying daughter. As an “anime family”, they enjoy attending pop culture cons together.

Victoria Blue

International bestselling author, Victoria Blue lives in her own portion of the galaxy known as Southern California. There, she finds the love and life sustaining power of one amazing sun, two unique and awe inspiring planets and four indifferent, yet comforting moons. Life is fantastic and challenging and everyday brings new adventures to be discovered. She looks forward to seeing what’s next!