Lila needs to pay her soul-crushing debt. Pierre needs a wife. Maybe they can help each other.
Once she finishes these renovations, Lila can finally sell her money pit and get back on her feet. But on box store wages, that’ll take decades. Then her friend Pierre proposes the perfect solution: he needs a green card. If Lila marries him, he'll pay for the job.
One problem: who is going to believe the gorgeous, brilliant investment banker fell for little Lila? Everyone, if they have any say. Not even their closest friends can suspect the truth. Lila fakes the walk of shame, feigns shock at Pierre's staged public proposal, and plans their wedding with a single-minded determination rivaled only by her Yorkie begging for treats.
Their fake relationship is so perfect, Lila starts to wish it was real. Then Pierre's brother drops a bombshell: they are royalty, princes to a tiny island nation, and Lila isn't princess material. Now, instead of studs and sandpaper, Lila finds herself worrying about titles and tiaras. Will she get her happily ever after, or will Lila's prince decide she's not so charming after all? (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon)
A Royal Farce was a little bit like the movie Green Card, sprinkled with a little bit of Coming to America, added with a lot of Heffernan’s witty dialogue and charm!
Lila had a tiny bit of a crush on Pierre when she first noticed him in her apartment building, but never thought anything could ever come from it. He’d been dating a model at the time, which sets the stage for the type of women she felt he would go for. Namely, not someone like her. But friendship-wise, they connect in so many ways, so how could she say no when he proposes marriage in order to keep him in the country?
From the get go, I wondered what would happen over time for Lila and Pierre. It’s hard to hold back on the feelings you might have for someone, and even harder when you don’t think the feelings will ever be reciprocated. And in so many moments, she waits to hear some sort of recognition of that, yet over and over, it never happens. I appreciated the struggle we get to see within Lila; she wants to help her friend, yet at the same time, she’s trying to preserve her heart.
The bombshell comes at a great moment in the story, when Lila discovers that Pierre hasn’t been who he said he is, preferring to keep her in the dark. And Pierre’s brother Henri is a piece of work! I’m not sure why, but I have a sneaking suspicion that he could be in the second installment in the Retail to Riches series. No matter who we’ll get to discover next-- I’ll definitely read it! Heffernan has a way with the back-and-forth banter that I love to read between characters, and what I really like is when the protagonist discovers new things about themselves that really creates the character evolution I hold so dear to my heart. Maybe she'll let herself fall for Pierre, or maybe she won't. But ultimately, it will be on her terms. This really was a sweet, funny, five-star experience!
Thanks to Laura Heffernan for the book in exchange for an honest review.
More by Laura Heffernan:
No comments:
Post a Comment