An omnibus of novels by A C Arthur, Cara Colter and Lynne Graham

The royal treatment

1. Once, Ella Gilchrist had the gall to turn down playboy prince Zarif al Rastani’s proposal. Now that she’s returned begging for his help, he’ll give it… on one condition. Ella must agree to a year of marriage, on his arm and in his bed!
2. Dancing with a prince might sound like a dream come true for most girls, but for dance teacher Meredith Whitmore, it’s simply a fabulous career break. Kiernan Chatam is nicknamed Prince Heartbreaker for a reason! But once Meredith uncovers the man behind the royal mask, she’s in for a surprise, as she’s never believed in happy endings – let alone one with a real prince!
3. Princess Samantha DeSaunters’s own romantic dreams have always come second to her devotion to her island realm. Until she impulsively kisses a sexy stranger at a political gala. Now the reticent royal can’t get enough of Garrison Montgomery, the former soldier hired to keep her and the throne safe. But who’ll protect Sam from her desire to turn their mock courtship into the real thing?

I got the book from a charity bin alongside The Italian Next Door – Anna Cleary. And I know now why it was in there. From abusive relationship to abusive relationship to a bit of prostitution sprinkled in. I barely read a bit from the first book and if I wanted to re-do the synopsis I would go like this:

Woman whose family is massively in debt due to the “golden child” decides to become the wife of a man he’s previously rejected so that he could pay off all their bills so they don’t go bankrupt. But she doesn’t like him. And he has a few expectations of morality and decency from her since he’s from Dubai so people there are a bit more traditional when it comes to gender roles. She continuously pisses him off and acts coy whenever he is asking legit questions like – did you have sex with multiple men? and so on. I was puking in my mouth in the first half of the book.

Second book is slightly better – but I had to chuckle when they started saying “I’m a woman and you’re a man” and taking a swig. Holy hell. Bad writing throughout. I totally recommend it though if you want to take it as an example of how “not to write prose”.

Third book was a yawn fest.