Royal Cocktail: A Man of the Month Bonus Book

J. Kenner

Jul 2021 · Man of the Month Book 13 · Martini & Olive

About this ebook

Sparks fly between a playboy prince and an idealistic lawyer, but when the demands of the throne call, can they get a fairy tale ending? 

Prince Leopold of Avelle-am-see is destined to rule his small European country. But he doesn’t want to. His entire life, Leopold has rebelled against the inevitable, gaining a reputation in Europe as a bad boy royal with a chip on his shoulder.

Skye Porter jams on researching complex legal issues, but with her lifelong speech impairment, she’s happy to pass the briefs off to another lawyer to argue. Just the idea of being in the spotlight makes her cringe. Two years ago, she dodged a bullet when her intense college fling with charismatic Leo ended when the bastard ghosted her. At the time, she’d had no idea he was a prince, or she never would have fallen so hard.

Now Leo is back, and the chemistry between them sparks just as hot. With his promise of secrecy, Skye surrenders to one more wild night. But when the press finds them together, Skye is tossed into a nightmare of tabloid photos, graphic memes, and a life in the public eye. 

Can a reluctant royal and the girl next door find their happily ever after? 

Ratings and reviews

If you read the Man of the Month series, than there are a lot of secondary and tertiary characters in this book you’ll recognize. The beginning of the book starts with jumping between two years ago and present time. While not super steamy, there is chemistry, and the banter between characters was great. The story itself is good, but there are some situations, things said that never came full circle. Hannah says something to Leo about his leaving, but nothing in the story ever even remotely supports those comments. If it hadn’t been for situations like this I would have rated the book higher.

3.75 stars—ROYAL COCKTAIL by J. Kenner is a stand alone, contemporary, adult, romance story line set in the author’s Man of the Month world. This is Prince Leopold of Avelle-am-see, and attorney Skye Porter’s story line. ROYAL COCKTAIL can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary. Told from third person perspective, using present day and memories from the past ROYAL COCKTAIL follows the forbidden relationship between Prince Leopold ‘Leo’ of Avelle-am-see, and attorney Skye Porter. Three years earlier university students Skye and Leo met at the Austin bar ‘The Fix on Sixth’ and fell madly in love but weeks later, following their first night together, Leo ghosted our heroine, and in the aftermath Skye would watch from afar as the man that she loved and never knew was royalty, spent the next two years dating and manwhoring his way through Europe. Fast forward to present day wherein Leo would return to American, searching out the woman that had stolen his heart, hiring Skye’s law firm in an effort to ‘change’ up the royal laws in his small kingdom of Avelle-am-see. What ensues is the rekindling romance and relationship between Leo and Skye, and the potential fall-out as Leo is called home one final time. ROYAL COCKTAIL is a story of secrets and lies; a forbidden romance between a commoner and royalty, a prince who must follows the dictates of the country he rules. In an effort to protect the woman he loves, a woman who struggles with an accident induced speech impairment, Leo walks alway but in doing so, destroys not only our heroine, but the man himself. We are introduced to Skye’s friends Hannah and Bart; her father Tarlton Porter;as well Leo’s friend and security guard Jurgen. Several characters from the Man of the Month series make cameo appearances for cohesion and back story. The fast paced premise is engaging and entertaining; the romance struggles in the face of secrets and abandonment; the $ex scenes are limited but passionate; the characters are energetic, hurt, and determined.

"I can't drag you into the spotlight on this. That would be like forcing you to live your worst nightmare." "No, you're wrong. You're my sweetest dream, Leo. That erases all the nightmares." I liked this story. It was a sweet second-chance story, and who doesn't love a sexy prince -especially one who has to grovel, right? I'm not so sure I would have given Leo a second change like Skye did, though. I mean, really? With today's technology, he couldn't have reached out to her about why he left? But, that's what fictional romance is all about right? It makes the second chance that much harder to get, and that much sweeter when obtained. I would recommend this book to anyone!

About the author

J. Kenner (aka Julie Kenner) is the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal, and #1 International bestselling author of over seventy novels, novellas and short stories in a variety of genres.

 

Though known primarily for her award-winning and international bestselling erotic romances, JK has been writing full time for over a decade in a variety of genres including paranormal and contemporary romance, “chicklit” suspense, urban fantasy, and paranormal mommy lit.

 

JK has been praised by Publishers Weekly as an author with a “flair for dialogue and eccentric characterizations” and by RT Bookclub for having “cornered the market on sinfully attractive, dominant antiheroes and the women who swoon for them.” JK has been a finalist for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award six times, and a winner twice, taking home the RITA trophy for her 2014 novel, Claim Me, and her 2017 novel, Wicked Dirty.

 

Before diving into writing full time, JK worked as an attorney in Texas and California where she practiced primarily civil, entertainment, and First Amendment law. She currently lives in Central Texas, with her husband, two daughters, and two rather spastic cats.

 

Visit her website at www.jkenner.com to learn more and to connect with JK through social media!