When Petunia (Pet) is injured at a royal event saving the princess’ consort, her life changes overnight. Suddenly she’s working as a PA for Johnny, the well-meaning but accident-prone royal consort. Matthias is Jonny’s protection officer and helps Pet as they try to guide Johnny through social events with limited mishaps. To quash a newspaper rumor accusing Johnny of infidelity, Pet and Matthias agree to a fake dating scheme. But what happens when the relationship starts to feel real?

Lucy Parker is one of my favorite authors!! Codename Charming is without a doubt one of my top reads of the year. I loved Battle Royal and yet somehow I love Codename Charming even more! Pet and Matthias have an outstanding dynamic and so many excellent tropes. They’ve got a height difference, grump/sunshine, protective bodyguard, fake dating, and witty banter. I love the deep connection that Pet and Matthias have. They’ve both gone through challenges in life that would’ve made it understandable for them to be closed off or shut down and instead they always connect and work together. They are both such sweet and caring characters; I felt so invested in them and loved the progression of their romance.

I really enjoyed the cameos from Battle Royal, especially the glimpses of Dominic and Sylvie. The royal palace is filled with memorable side characters who provide hilarious commentary on Pet and Matthias’ relationship and step in to help as needed. Codename Charming is such a delightful treat of a book. Lucy Parker has created a world that I can’t get enough of! I hope to see more stories from it in the future. This would be the perfect read for readers who love royals, fake dating, grump/sunshine vibes, and a seriously sweet romance.

Thank you so much to Lucy Parker, Avon, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review

For publisher: My review will be posted on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc

I feel like I’ve been waiting for this book since forever! After finishing Battle Royal and seeing that Pet and Matthias would have a book, I’ve been counting the days to read this. It was everything I wanted!

So, Battle Royal was my first book by Lucy Parker and while I loved it, I struggled with the writing. I was expecting the same in this book so I was ready for it, but I have to say the writing in this book feels so much lighter. I’m so glad this was the case because I was able to enjoy Pet and Matthias more. Fake dating was so fun in here! I love it when the fake part isn’t very fake because both of them are tremendously attracted to each other but haven’t said it yet. Matthias was the epitome of protectiveness, but Pet was very close to him, always ready to fight anyone who dared to make him feel ugly or not valid. My favorite part of their relationship was how deeply they cared about each other even before getting together.

This book has a lot of side plots, just like the first one. I enjoyed seeing Johnny and Rosie so much, and Pet’s journey to figure out her roots. Matthias’s past was heartbreaking and made me love him even more, and I would have liked to see him reuniting with his best friend’s family after all. And you’ll also see Dominic and Sylvie! I missed them so much!

This book was totally worth the wait.

Rating: 4/5
Steam level: Open door, 1-2 scenes, medium level of detail

ARC provided by Avon and NetGalley. Opinions are my own!

A fun take on the fake dating trope and a perfect summer read. I enjoyed this more than Battle Royal but I did have the same issues with this one - namely that these books are longer than they need to be and that dulls the momentum a bit.

I loved Lucy Parker's Battle Royal and was so happy to see that side character Pet De Vere was getting her own story. Pet is the personal assistant to Johnny Marchmont, the ridiculously accident prone royal husband from Battle Royal. Johnny has a knack for causing all kinds of mayhem wherever he goes, including at least one time that he knocked Pet off a stage and directly onto the head of Matthias, one of his bodyguards. Pet and Matthias are a perfect sunshine/grump pair, and she makes it her mission to become his friend. When a really terrible, misogynistic paparazzo with an axe to grind catches an image of Johnny and Pet just after one of Johnny's accidents and publishes it as evidence of an affair, his PR team comes up with something to change the narrative - a fake romance between Pet and Matthias, who have been captured in enough compromising situations (thanks to Johnny's various accidents) to have a small but loyal community of shippers online. This is a romance, so what happens isn't a huge shock, but one thing I really loved about this book is that Matthias is presented as not at all conventionally attractive - he thinks of himself as ugly and several accidents involving his face have left him battered and scarred. But Pet thinks he's lovely and I found her fierce defense of his looks against any detractors (including Matthias himself) to be completely adorable. There were some parts of this story that seemed a bit more surface-level than what I remember from the first book (Pet's search for her birth father, for instance, didn't feel completely developed to me), but I loved Pet and Matthias so much that I was still in it from beginning to end.

Thank you to Avon Publications and Net Galley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Codename Charming! Codename Charming is the follow up book to Battle Royal, but it can be read as a standalone. I definitely read reading Battle Royal though because that is a wonderful book!

What is the book about?
Petunia De Vere is still trying to find her place in the world especially in her career. She thrives as a personal assistant, but wants to make sure she’s seen competent and capable in her role. Her boss, the clumsy, whimsical and charming, Johnny Marchmont doesn’t make that simple. Due to one to many falls and accidents, the royal press is determined these incidents must indicate a scandal of an affair between Pet and Johnny. In order to squash the rumors and keep the press hounds at bay, a fake relationship, i.e., Codename Charming, between Pet, and Johnny’s Personal Protection Officer, Matthias, is formed. But what happens when a fake relationship creates real feelings? Both Pet and Matthias must work through the personal walls they have built if Codename Charming is going to be a success.

My review:
I couldn’t wait to dive back into the world of Palace Insiders, and this book didn’t disappoint. Pet is such a bubbly character, and you cannot help but smile and root for her along the way. And if Pet is the sunshine then Matthias is the grump to go along with it. He wasn’t as much of a grump but sort of a broody recluse body guard, yes please. Also, the man kept scissors and paper in his pocket for her, STOP. My heart broke for Matthias at times because I felt like he took the weight of the world on his shoulders, and I just wanted to give him a hug and tell him everything would be okay. I loved getting glimpse of Dominic and Sylvie’s lives post Battle Royal and how their relationship was progressing as well!

If you like ___________, then this is the book for you!

- Grumpy Sunshine
- Bodyguard Romance
- Fake Dating

This was cute! It took me a bit to get into the premise since I didn't read the previous books, but the great thing about romance series is you don't have to. I loved the quietly protective Mattias, but wish there had been less build-up to his backstory - lots of long, detailed dreams of his previous life and the ghosts that haunt him that just pulled me out of the main story.

This is everything I’ve come to expect from Lucy Parker, meaning it’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a romance. The pining! Mutual pining! Angst, grief, found family, and a truly foul mouthed murder parrot - Codename Charming has it all! Some truly funny moments, some spice, and the romance was so smooth and easy.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

Everything Lucy Parker writes has this kind of effervescence that just pulls me into the story immediately. She’s deeply skilled at giving the characters rich inner lives that makes it all the more enriching and fulfilling to root for their HEA. I absolutely loved this, from beginning to end.

As a personal assistant to Johnny Marchmont, husband of a British Royal princess, Petunia De Vere has a very challenging job since her boss is quite a colorful fellow who puts her in many an awkward situation. The fishbowl life of living and working in the palace has thrown Pet in the spotlight after the tabloid press, one nasty character in particular, accuses Pet of being Johnny’s secret lover. Johnny’s head of security, Matthias Vaughan spends his days and nights protecting his boss who seems to take slapstick to a whole new level. While Pet and Matthias are at times at odds on what is appropriate downtime behavior for their mutual boss, they both want the best for him and his wife, Princess Rosie.

Pet brings joy and fun to her life and those around her. If Matthias, a mountain of man and a very highly trained palace guard, was anymore stoic, he could be a marble statue. Life in the palace and on protection detail is a constantly moving and challenging circus. Pet believes Matthias takes a dim view of her and her management style. When the paparazzi’s’ frenzy of her supposed affair with Johnny hits red alert levels, Pet and Matthias are asked put on a fake relationship show to throw the tabloid press of the focus on Johnny.

Matthias is all about responsibility while Pet cares deeply about her job so they make the best of the situation until fiction becomes fact; their relationship grows into more than duty to King (Princess) and country. They find out how invasive it is when anyone can film them no matter how private their moments should be. It is not all fun and games as Pet and Matthias both have some emotional baggage to deal with regarding family issues and for Matthias, a work-related tragedy that haunts him still. Pet has a mystery to solve concerning her background that may be connected to the palace.

I very much enjoy Ms. Parker’s writing style including her comedic timing, witty banter, and heartfelt romances. With all the interest in the inner lives of the current players in the royal family show, it is thought-provoking to imagine what things look like from inside of the zoo with a royal couple who is genuinely in love, dotty relatives, hovering staff, and a very demanding schedule for all involved. This book is the second in the Palace Insiders series and can be read as a standalone; however, Pet and her family are introduced in the first book, BATTLE ROYAL which adds quite a bit to the story.

I’ve been so excited for Pet and Matthias’ story since reading the last few chapters of Battle Royal (book one in this series), and their journey together didn’t disappoint. I liked that their backgrounds were similar yet distinctly unique—it made for a lot of sweet connections and moments of understanding. I always enjoy feline secondary characters, and it was lovely to see Lucy Parker continue that little tradition in Codename Charming. There are a few lingering characters whose stories I would definitely be interested in reading, so I hope Parker continues with this royal-adjacent series! 4.5/5 stars

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I absolutely LOVED Battle Royale, and was so excited to get my hands on Codename Charming. While this was super cute and a fun read, I didn't love it like the first one! Still really adorable though!

Oh man I really enjoyed this book although it did take me a minute to get into it since I didn’t remember these characters from the previous book and it had been about a year since I have read it. Battle Royal the first book which featured chocolatier/baker Dominic De Vere and Sylvia Fairchild with the same royals in both books and staff. Petunia de Vere who is Dominic’s baby sister is the main character in this novel with her fake dating royal bodyguard Matthias. Pet is the pa of the Johnny the husband of Princess Rose who is a nervous mess that gets her in to sticky situations and the press is speculating that they are having an affair so the solution to that is for Pet to start fake dating Matthias who she has always been attracted to but who thinks doesn’t like her. But oh man does he like her so much but doesn’t think he is worthy of her. So cute story and there was some mystery with Pet trying to figure out who her bio dad is but It was mostly fake dating to stop the press speculation as well as some royal matchmaking.

Thanks to Avon/Harper Voyager and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

Matthias. Sigh. Give me a moment while I add him to the top of all of lists of favorite heroes. He is just perfection so anything else that is a positive about this book is just icing on the cake. And there is lots of icing.

I love Lucy Parker and have really been looking forward to this book. Matthias and Pet are both lovely characters with such a forceful connection. Loved watching their fake dating open them up to each other and that alone would have made for a strong book. There was a little too much else going on around them which I often wanted to tune out of like distracting background noise. That said the scene with the parrot had me snickering out loud in a public place.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I adored this book! I hadn't read the first book in the series so I put this on pause until I finished that one. So glad I did! Her characters are lovely --human, emotional, complicated, funny. This one nails the tropes in the best way possible!

This book is aptly titled because it is so charming. This book has characters that we met in the last book Battle Royal. Pet is a PA for the lovable yet always getting into odd situations Johnny. We first met Johnny and Rosie when they got married in the last book. They are very lovely Royals, but sometimes calamities do occur. Matthias is the loyal yet grumpy bodyguard for Johnny.

When another misadventure occurs and thr Poparazzi decide that Pet must be having an affair with Johnny everyone gets together and decides that Pet and Matthias should pretend to have a relationship. You can see from the start that there are things that they both have in common, such as their childhood’s or not the best. it’s really fun to see how Matheus and Pet start start out with a friendship that slowly turns to feelings. As always, the banter is amazing and there are shenanigans that always occur. There is even a parrot, who somehow becomes involved in the storyline.

This is definitely a romcom with likable characters and wonderful side characters who just lend to the entertainment of the book. It’s a book that once you start who will ignore everything until the end.

Bit of a mixed bag, this one. I'm very fond of Lucy Parker's writing and generally think she's a cut above many of the rest of her genre, but this series just isn't really working for me. The chemistry between her characters is palpable and the plot is reasonably fun, but there is just so much going on at all times, and the tension can be very uneven. It also features two of my least favorite things in a romance: dual pov and side characters who are all inexplicably extremely invested in the love lives of the two leads. These are just my personal bugbears; I know that this book will hit the spot for many other readers.

Oh my good golly, Lucy Parker has provided: fake dating, pining, grumpy bodyguard x sunshine assistant, and so much more! Everyone say: thank you, Lucy.

This is a much-anticipated sequel and it is finally here! Pet and Matthias had a bit of a 'will they, won't they' going on in the first book, and I, for one, am thrilled that they did.

Lucy Parker has the incredible ability to marry the real and the romcom in a way that makes her books feel tangible and grounded: this book deals with trauma in a grounded and realistic way, and these two learn to love their flaws as they fall in love with each other. But, there is also a heist involving some parrots. It's all about balance.
This book is hilarious, heartfelt, and so so Lucy.

I love Lucy Parker and will read everything she writes. I loved reading this next book in the Palace Insider series and it was fun to see what our familiar characters are up to.

Pet is a PA to the newest royal Johnny, married to the princess. She's good at her job and knows when her charges need to let loose. Matthias is the head of security and stops her change in plans at every turn. Pet wants to be friends with everyone but Matthias is impenetrable.

The media is focused on Pet and her employer's relationship so the PR team proposes a fake relationship between Pet and Matthias. The fake relationship turns into more and we learn why Matthias is reserved and stuck up about the rules.

This was a super cute book and I absolutely adored the witch-fest scenes. The two were adorable together. Grumpy/sunshine with a bit of "I've always been fond of you but kept myself away" just tugs at your heart. This can be read as a standalone but is so much better after getting to know all the characters from the first book.

Gotta love a bodyguard and assistant romance!! This story was so freaking great!! I have never read a romance like this before, Lucy Parker really did her thing with this book. So romantic and fun!

I won a giveaway copy of Battle Royal in 2021, and I loved it. Loved it! Couldn't wait for the sequel. And it was just as good as I was hoping. It had several of my favorite tropes - fake dating/real feels and grumpy vs sunshine - and it worked them to perfection.

Like Battle Royal and a lot of other romance novels, there is a lot of serious backstory - what happened to Padraig and who Pet's father is - within the story to round out the sweetness.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the eARC.