seriously romantic: royal affair by marquita valentine

the sinclair siblings have lived in exile and hidden away from public scrutiny most of their lives, but all that changed when brooks walker published the truth about their identities. suddenly their private lives have become public curiosities. and following the rules of their small island with diplomatic ties to the united kingdom becomes more pressing. as the second in line for the throne, charlotte sinclair has always been good at following the rules. her duty to her twin sister, imogen, the future queen of their country, has always been clear to her. but sometimes she wishes she had something that was just hers.

her obsession with brooks walker is maybe just one of those things. and when he approaches her at a charity event and goads her into leaving with him she can't help but feel a thrill. even though she knows it is a dangerous thing to trust brooks, even after they've shaken hands on having an affair, a royal affair. with rules about what is on and off the record. and how they are not going to get attached. as far as charlotte is concerned, brooks is the villian of the story. he's the one who has attacked her family and pushed them into a public scrutiny that they were not ready for. and there are secrets he hasn't uncovered, secrets that only she and imogen know.

and brooks has a million reasons to keep digging. but the reasons he wants to know charlotte and uncover her secrets has nothing to do with his online reporting and everything to do with how he feels about charlotte. he likes her. he likes everything about her. she's intrigued him from the start, and while he's always been keen on exposing the truth, he isn't interested in hurting the people he loves unduly. being with charlotte brings him back into his family fold, reconnects him with his own twin brother and his parents.

but also, the way he feels when he is around her is something he's never felt before. being with her, loving her, making love with her, it's better than anything he ever imagined. so when the truth lands in his lap and he has to make a choice between revealing the truth about charlotte or revealing the truth about his feelings, there is only one choice he can make.

in royal scandal there was so much happening between colin and della that we didn't get to see as much of the sibling relationships. also, i think that since colin was their de facto parent and guardian we weren't privy to the sibling relationships between theo and imogen and charlotte, but we do get that here. we also get to see brooks relationships with his brothers. and the fact that we do get to spend more time with their families, adds a depth to both charlotte and brooks and lets us know their real character in a way that never happened for colin and della. even though things with charlotte and brooks begins almost on a lark, their relationship is more emotionally satisfying and sweeter.

**royal affair will publish on april 18, 2017. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/random house publishing group (loveswept) in exchange for my honest review.