Series:
NordicRoyals (Book 3)
A widowed father of two little girls.
The beautiful nanny he's hired to raise them.
A forbidden romance unlike any other.
When I first applied for the job I thought it would be
like all the others: working as a nanny for an aristocratic family.
Then I got the job and found out how wrong I was.
Now I’m the new nanny for two adorable little girls who
happen to be princesses.
Their father is the widowed King of Denmark.
And my new home? The royal palace in Copenhagen.
Adjusting to my new life isn't easy but the hardest part
hasn’t been the girls who still grieve over the loss of their mother.
It’s their father.
Cold, mysterious and moody, with an icy stare that seems
to penetrate your soul, King Aksel may have hired me to take care of his
daughters but he wants as little to do with me as possible.
Yet the longer I share these palace walls with this man,
the more that I’m drawn to him. His chiseled face and sexual swagger are only
part of the package. It’s in the long, intense glances at the dinner table, the
way we’ll brush up against each other in the halls, the rare glimpses of the
man deep inside, like the sun passing through clouds.
But no matter how I feel about him, we can never be
together.
You think it's bad enough being in love with your boss?
Try falling in love with a king.
Good book told from the alternating points of view of the
two main characters. It is sometimes sweet, sometimes steamy, sometimes funny,
and sometimes heartbreaking. It is also a story of healing and hope. Aurora is
an Aussie woman who has lived in Europe for the past seven years, working as a
nanny for various wealthy families and leaving her painful past behind. When
she leaves her current post because of a handsy employer, her contact at the
placement agency has a new position for her to apply for. All Aurora knows is
that it is for a high-ranking Danish family. She doesn't know until she arrives
in Copenhagen for her interview that she'd be caring for two Danish princesses.
Her first meeting with the girls was sweet and heartbreaking as they quickly
burrowed into her heart.
Widower King Aksel struggles to handle his duties as king
and his life as a single father. He also feels intense guilt over the death of
his wife. The book opens with the events that made him a widower, so the reader
knows why Aksel is the mess he is. First impressions show him as brooding,
intimidating, and rude but devoted to his daughters, Clara and Freja. They have
him wrapped around their tiny fingers.
I enjoyed watching the relationship between Aksel and
Aurora develop. Their first meeting did not go well. Aksel took an immediate
aversion to Aurora, mostly because she stirred up feelings he didn't want. He
spent less than five minutes with her, told her that she was unsuitable for the
job, and that was it. But he was forced to change his tune in a terrific scene
when Clara and Freja let him know that Aurora was their only choice for a
nanny. Nothing he said would change their minds, so he caved. His second
meeting with Aurora wasn't much better. He was dismissive of her qualifications
and ensured she knew she wasn't his choice. I loved seeing Aurora push back and
call him the jerk he was.
Aurora settles in as the nanny, and her relationship with
Clara and Freja is wonderful. There are terrific scenes of them together as
Aurora brings light and laughter back into their lives. Her relationship with
Aksel is still strained, though it doesn't stop her from letting him know when
she thinks he's messing up. Under the antagonism, the sparks of attraction
flare in both. Aurora, of course, knows that nothing is possible between them.
She is the nanny, and he is the king, and that is that. Aksel is still burdened
with guilt over his wife's death and feels undeserving of happiness. It doesn't
help him that he's never experienced the feeling of being loved by anyone.
The relationship between Aurora and Aksel is a slow burn.
They first must get past the antagonism, which happens slowly. Because both are
devoted to doing the best for Clara and Freja, they first connect over issues
involving them. Aurora doesn't hold back giving any of her opinions which often
takes Aksel off guard. It isn't too long before they form a solid friendship.
But each of them is hiding the fact that friendship isn't enough. The girls'
acquisition of a pet is hilarious in their choice and how they got it. It
lightens some darker moments and shows how much Aksel wants to make them happy.
A lost pet moment is the catalyst that breaks through Aksel and Aurora's
resistance to each other. Aksel wants more though he fights hard against his
growing feelings. They disturb him, and he doesn't know how to deal with them.
When Aksel finally decides he wants to see where those feelings can go, he runs
up against his insecurities. There is a painful scene where he pulls a dirty
trick to find out if Aurora feels the same way. It was cruel and unnecessary,
though I understood what made him do it that way. I loved that Aurora called
him out on it.
That confrontation opened up the next stage of their
relationship. The emotions stirred up exploded into a passionate encounter, and
from then on, they could barely keep their hands off each other. They also
spend more time together, with and without the girls, getting to know each other.
I loved the trust that built between them and how they were each able to share
the painful parts of their pasts. The relationship progresses very well, with
them looking toward the future. Then a bombshell drops about Aurora’s past,
catching them all off guard. Aurora is mortified and ready to disappear out of
their lives, but Aksel has different plans. I loved how he dealt with the
publicity, the backlash, and the person responsible. He was every inch the king
but also a father and a man in love. I loved when he told Aurora,
"I've
waited forty years for my heart to have a home," he says softly.
"I've waited for you." The press conference was terrific and redeemed
his earlier jerk status. The follow-up epilogue was fantastic.
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