{"id":31522,"date":"2024-09-17T09:37:43","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T13:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/?p=31522"},"modified":"2024-09-17T09:37:56","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T13:37:56","slug":"review-the-royals-upstairs-by-karina-halle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2024\/09\/17\/review-the-royals-upstairs-by-karina-halle\/","title":{"rendered":"Review \u2764\ufe0f The Royals Upstairs by Karina Halle"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-31522\" data-postid=\"31522\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-31522 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    \t\t\t<!-- module_row -->\n\t<div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_row themify_builder_row tb_o7mz188 tb_first tf_w tf_clearfix\">\n\t    \t\t\t<div class=\"row_inner col_align_top gutter-narrow tb_col_count_2 tf_box tf_rel\">\n\t\t            <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-1 tb_1kwc188 first\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module image -->\n<div  class=\"module module-image tb_hotu188 rounded drop-shadow customBorderRad_top image-center auto_fullwidth tf_mw\" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div class=\"image-wrap tf_rel tf_mw\">\n\t\t    <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"987\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/the-royals-upstairs-karina-halle.jpg?resize=640%2C987&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"wp-post-image wp-image-31523\" title=\"the-royals-upstairs-karina-halle\" alt=\"the-royals-upstairs-karina-halle\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/the-royals-upstairs-karina-halle.jpg?w=973&amp;ssl=1 973w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/the-royals-upstairs-karina-halle.jpg?resize=195%2C300&amp;ssl=1 195w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/the-royals-upstairs-karina-halle.jpg?resize=664%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 664w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/the-royals-upstairs-karina-halle.jpg?resize=768%2C1184&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/the-royals-upstairs-karina-halle.jpg?resize=400%2C616&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/>\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/image-wrap -->\n    \n    \t<\/div>\n<!-- \/module image --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_uc78188 customBorderRad_bottom repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">James Hunter has made a tactical error. His new role as protection officer to Prince Magnus of Norway was supposed to be an exciting change. Instead he\u2019s marooned on a royal estate in the middle of nowhere charged with chasing after demon children and dodging the machinations of meddling staff. And the crowning jewel in this little drama\u2014the children\u2019s nanny is none other than Laila Bruset. The woman whose heart he broke. The woman who still holds his.<\/span><br \/><br \/><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">When Laila took the job as a nanny for the Norwegian royal children in order to be closer to her ailing grandmother in Oslo, the last thing she expected was to have her life turned upside down\u2014again. But as much as James gets on her nerves, he&#8217;s also getting under her skin, and the tension between them sizzles just as devastatingly as before.<\/span><br \/><br \/><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">As undeniable sparks turn James and Laila\u2019s battle royal into a more serious game of hearts, nanny and bodyguard will have to decide just how much they\u2019re willing to risk for a second chance at love.<\/span><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n                        <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-2 tb_llcm188 last\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_kmwk188  repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16466 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3-hearts-1.jpg?resize=135%2C44&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"135\" height=\"44\" \/><\/p><hr \/><p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong> Sep 10, 2024<br \/><strong>Heat Level:<\/strong> Hot<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong>\u00a0Penguin Group<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong>\u00a0Berkley<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $10.99<\/p><hr \/><blockquote class=\"quotes\"><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>\u201cI learned at a very early age that life will utterly rip the rug out from under you when you least expect it, and hell if it wasn\u2019t raising its ugly head again because holy shit. How is this happening? How the hell am I staring right into the face of the last person on earth I wanted to see? James Hunter. A person whose name I have trained myself to never repeat inside my head is standing right in front of me, a face I thought I\u2019d erased from my imagination. Somehow\u2019s he\u2019s walked right back into my life, like he\u2019s been teleported here.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>James Hunter<\/strong> accepts a new position as the chief protection officer for Prince Magnus and his family. James expects an exciting change of pace from his last position, but Prince Magnus lives a much slower and calmer life than he was expecting. James didn\u2019t anticipate that he would see <strong>Laila<\/strong> again two years after their torrid love affair came to end, but fate has other plans for these two.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I\u2019m going to be completely honest here, but this was rather underwhelming. I found the chemistry between James and Laila to be non-existent. Their conversations were boring, and didn\u2019t really push their relationship forward at all. They added nothing of value and made them seem extremely young and inexperienced. I wish that instead of the flashbacks, the author would have started the story at the very beginning of their relationship so it could have followed a natural progression. I think doing flashbacks didn\u2019t allow the reader to see the growth in either James or Laila, but kept showing me their immaturity and lack of self-awareness.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There were signs of greatness sprinkled throughout, but it got bogged down by my other issues. The spice was extremely well done, and I enjoyed Prince Magnus and his family even though it seemed a little unrealistic that royals would be so relaxed.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">If you\u2019re a fan of authors like <strong>Emma Chase<\/strong> and <strong>Kandi Steiner<\/strong> then I think this would be a good fit for you!<\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_ey6o188 customBorderRad repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4gsXM7B\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a><\/span><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apple.co\/3zbwUbP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">iBooks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/the-royals-upstairs-karina-halle\/1141116022?ean=9780593334225\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">B&amp;N<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/the-royals-upstairs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Kobo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Karina_Halle_The_Royals_Upstairs?id=qN9iEAAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Google Play<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n            \t    <\/div>\n\t    <!-- \/row_inner -->\n\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/module_row -->\n\t<\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>James Hunter has made a tactical error. His new role as protection officer to Prince Magnus of Norway was supposed to be an exciting change. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83,122,128,48],"tags":[146,216,217,254,419],"class_list":["post-31522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-berkley","category-michelle","category-penguin-group","category-reviews","tag-3-stars","tag-contemporary","tag-contemporary-romance","tag-enemies-to-lovers","tag-rom-com"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review \u2764\ufe0f The Royals Upstairs by Karina Halle - Smitten by Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2024\/09\/17\/review-the-royals-upstairs-by-karina-halle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review \u2764\ufe0f The Royals Upstairs by Karina Halle - Smitten by Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"James Hunter has made a tactical error. 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His new role as protection officer to Prince Magnus of Norway was supposed to be an exciting change. Instead he\u2019s marooned on a royal estate in the middle of nowhere charged with chasing after demon children and dodging the machinations of meddling staff. And the crowning jewel in this little drama\u2014the children\u2019s nanny is none other than Laila Bruset. The woman whose heart he broke. The woman who still holds his.<br \/><br \/>When Laila took the job as a nanny for the Norwegian royal children in order to be closer to her ailing grandmother in Oslo, the last thing she expected was to have her life turned upside down\u2014again. But as much as James gets on her nerves, he's also getting under her skin, and the tension between them sizzles just as devastatingly as before.<br \/><br \/>As undeniable sparks turn James and Laila\u2019s battle royal into a more serious game of hearts, nanny and bodyguard will have to decide just how much they\u2019re willing to risk for a second chance at love.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3-hearts-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"135\" height=\"44\" \/><\/p><hr \/><p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong> Sep 10, 2024<br \/><strong>Heat Level:<\/strong> Hot<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong>\u00a0Penguin Group<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong>\u00a0Berkley<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $10.99<\/p><hr \/><blockquote><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>\u201cI learned at a very early age that life will utterly rip the rug out from under you when you least expect it, and hell if it wasn\u2019t raising its ugly head again because holy shit. How is this happening? How the hell am I staring right into the face of the last person on earth I wanted to see? James Hunter. A person whose name I have trained myself to never repeat inside my head is standing right in front of me, a face I thought I\u2019d erased from my imagination. Somehow\u2019s he\u2019s walked right back into my life, like he\u2019s been teleported here.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>James Hunter<\/strong> accepts a new position as the chief protection officer for Prince Magnus and his family. James expects an exciting change of pace from his last position, but Prince Magnus lives a much slower and calmer life than he was expecting. James didn\u2019t anticipate that he would see <strong>Laila<\/strong> again two years after their torrid love affair came to end, but fate has other plans for these two.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I\u2019m going to be completely honest here, but this was rather underwhelming. I found the chemistry between James and Laila to be non-existent. Their conversations were boring, and didn\u2019t really push their relationship forward at all. They added nothing of value and made them seem extremely young and inexperienced. I wish that instead of the flashbacks, the author would have started the story at the very beginning of their relationship so it could have followed a natural progression. I think doing flashbacks didn\u2019t allow the reader to see the growth in either James or Laila, but kept showing me their immaturity and lack of self-awareness.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There were signs of greatness sprinkled throughout, but it got bogged down by my other issues. The spice was extremely well done, and I enjoyed Prince Magnus and his family even though it seemed a little unrealistic that royals would be so relaxed.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">If you\u2019re a fan of authors like <strong>Emma Chase<\/strong> and <strong>Kandi Steiner<\/strong> then I think this would be a good fit for you!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4gsXM7B\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apple.co\/3zbwUbP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iBooks<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/the-royals-upstairs-karina-halle\/1141116022?ean=9780593334225\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">B&amp;N<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/the-royals-upstairs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kobo<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Karina_Halle_The_Royals_Upstairs?id=qN9iEAAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Play<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31522"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31529,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31522\/revisions\/31529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}