Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Hidden Royals series. Elise is an exiled French princess being housed by the royal family and being redirected and managed after asking too many questions about a possible sighting of her lost younger brother. The royal family has hired Killian, the second son of an earl and all-around fixer, to distract Elise from her goals and to keep her from being nosy. While Elise and Killian start off at odds, they are instantly attracted to each other and want to know more about the other person’s background. Elise has her own issues of loneliness and despair, while Killian has also suffered from ostracism due to his mother’s background. It was so interesting to find out more about Killian’s backstory, especially in meeting his family at the estate where he grew up. And just like Elise, we start to fall in love with Killian in seeing his kindness towards his nephew. With all the mysteries to unravel, this book will keep the pages turning. The structure reminds me a lot of Michaels’ other work, A Duchess a Day, with a noblewoman falling in love a fixer/huntsman type of fellow who she recruits to assist with her own goals, which is also a wonderful book.

The first in the Hidden Royals series, Say Yes to the Princess follows Princess Regine Elise Adelaide d’Orleans, a member of French royalty exiled in England, and Killian Crewes, an English royal fixer charged with seducing and distracting the Princess. Elise has been living in England since the revolution in France when her father was killed ten years ago. She and her siblings escaped before they were killed too. But the siblings were split up, and Elise hasn’t seen them since they fled France. That is until she is sure she sees her brother and convinces Killian to help her find him.

Killian is the royal fixer, and though it is against his better judgment, he agrees to help Elise find her brother. He is so taken by the lonely and beautiful princess, and the more he gets to know Elise, the harder and deeper he falls for her. Elise also quickly falls for Killian, though their romance is slow building since both hide their feelings.

I loved Elise and Killian! They both have interesting backstories, and their individual journeys are as great as their love story. Elise fascinated me. She’s had such tragedy in her life, but she is strong and smart and a survivor. Killian is a survivor too, and though he’s done a lot of unsavory things, he’s a good man with honorable goals. Elise and Killian have a lot in common, though they have led very different lives. I think they connect on such a deep level, and they understand each other in ways that others don’t. I love how Killian is so tough and in control but is totally undone by Elise. He is so honorable and soft-hearted beneath his tough exterior, and he’s such a softie for his princess. Elise shares his feelings and finds a comfort and safety with Killian that she’s never felt before. I loved their chemistry and their unconventional love story.

I also really liked the political intrigue involving the French and British thrones. It was suspenseful and entertaining, and it was interesting to see how all of the deceit, lies, manipulation, and underhanded dealings affected the main characters. The side characters were great too, especially Killian and Elise’s closest confidantes. Love them! Hopefully, we’ll see more of them in future books!

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books for providing me a copy of the novel. All thoughts are my own.

Charis Michaels writes funny romantic historical romances with great characters! I love the fairy tale twists she uses in her stories. Say yes to the Princess doesn't disappoint! Thank you to net galley and the author for allowing me to read and review. Can t wait to continue to read more by this author.

Killian and Elise love story was a slow build. First they weren’t truly friendly then they fell in love. The premise of the story was a good one. I did struggle with how fast the fell in love. Overall. I enjoyed it.

Princess Regine Elise Adelaide d’Orleans is an obscure French royal, living in exile with the English Court in the aftermath of the revolution. Mr. Killian Crewes serves as the “Royal Fixer” in St. James’s Palace. He is hired to seduce and distract the princess from causing trouble, but she is the one that ends up bewitching him.

This is the first book in the Hidden Royals series. After just watching the Queen Charlotte show, I was excited to jump into the time period of this novel. This book is a little tricky to review because I was expecting one thing from the blurb, but the story did not progress at all as I expected.

Elise is living a very lonely life under lock and key, but feels a spark of hope when she spots a man who she believes is her brother. All the children were separated and smuggled out of France, and Elise doesn't know what has become of her siblings. When she starts asking questions, she put off by advisors and cut off from the Queen...and Killian is hired to keep her busy, by any means necessary. I believed the story was going to focus more on the search for the missing brother and a battle of wills between Elise and Killian, but it actually became a slow burn with the characters learning to open up to each other and share their past trauma. I did liked parts of the book, but sadly it wasn't really what I wanted at the time, (3.5 stars)

Tropes: Royalty, Class Difference, Forced Proximity, Protector-ish, Road Trip

Steam: 1

* I received an ARC and this is my honest review.

Regine d’Orleans, princess in exile in England, searches for her lost brother—and falls for Mr. Killian Crewes, the “Royal Fixer” in St. James’s Palace, a scoundrel overcoming his past sent to thwart her attempts by seducing her.

Slow beginning, too much exposition, insta-love, little closure, and a distracting number of italicized words. I couldn’t get invested in their relationship, Killian’s family issues, or the missing brother.

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

I’ve really been adoring the recently published Charis Michaels’ books I’ve been reading lately. Pretty low angst, good pacing (a lot of times with that I-shouldn’t-but-I-really-want-to), & yummy steam.

The FMC of Say Yes to the Princess is an actual French Princess, Elise, who’s been living in England for close to a decade after her father was executed during the French Revolution.

Believing that she’s spotted the brother she’s been separated from since they were exiled, she decides to do everything she can to find him again. But the British royals don’t like this & they get Royal Fixer Killian Crewes, who is also the second son of an Earl, to seduce her.

The political situation in this one is interesting, as is the place of both leads within it. Elise & Killian are part of the royalty but they’re also limited & controlled & managed by the Royals.

Her royal heritage adds some heat to the romance because boy does Killian love her orders .

The feelings come fast for the MMC but everything’s complicated by that dreaded thing called duty & obligation—of course until our leads chase that HEA ;) .

4⭐️. Out 07/11.

Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.

[ID: Jess, a white woman wearing a white floral dress & pink chucks, stands in a buttercup field & holds the ebook.]

To say the least, I was charmed. To say the most, this book is exactly what I needed. It was soft but compelling and had two incredibly lovable main characters. If you give me a book where it’s literally the hero’s job to call the heroine <I>Princess</I> and “as you wish” her...yeah I’m sold.

Sometimes you just gotta lick the neck of a really hot guy. Especially when he’s the human equivalent of a security blanket. Who’d have thought that calming someone down from a panic attack could be. so. EROTIC???? He was SO soft for her, while still staying very very hard. Killian Crewes the duality of man that you ARE.

I was a little wary of the premise since he was hired too seduce her, but never fear because Killian is literally a cinnamon roll of a man. He was in PAIN hanging onto that restraint because he didn’t want to mislead or seduce her in any type of slightly nefarious way. Which was annoying to both parties involved because the attraction was instantly delicious. I, however, had a marvelous time. I always love when a heroine is in awe that the hero is just a really, really good person.

I really just loved everything about this book. Elise was strong and clever, Killian was large and in charge, and their chemistry was off the charts. Her exile was very interesting, and I really felt the tension emanating from the Crown and was so worried for them. I was like how are they going to make it??? Made it they did and truly dramatic eleventh hour way. And the epilogue??? Perfection.

Charis Michaels is quickly becoming a favorite of mine and I’ll continue to read anything she writes. Her books are so much fun. Legitimately this one was WEIRD in the best way. That scene when Killian carried Elise out of the ball and just held her while she licked him (???) will never leave my brain. If you like Lenora Bell, Tessa Dare, and/or Eloisa James, I think you’d really enjoy Say Yes to the Princess!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 🌶️🌶️/5


Thanks so much to the publisher for an eARC via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I read about half of this book and couldn't pain myself anymore. Elise falls in love with Killian after knowing him a solid 24 hours. I can't deal with insta-love like that. She literally knows nothing about him, especially that he's working against her. Except he isn't because he is in love with her after meeting her the first time. I hope she found her brother, but considering she's supposed to be a French princess I couldn't conceive of any ending that would make any logical sense. The intimacy scenes are lackluster to me. One of the biggest groans was the amount of typos though.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me this ARC.

This is my first read by Charis Michaels and I’m both impressed by how good this was and impressed that someone finally wrote a royalty romance that I enjoyed. This is actually pretty low angst. Even the culmination of the third act is due to exterior forces! Killian and Elise were very sweet together and their chemistry was realistic (and h o t, if I do say so). Killian is tasked as the “royal fixer” to keep Elise from digging into the whereabouts of her younger brother, a fellow exiled French royal. We’ve got carriage alone time, “oops we’re rained in together”, and some GREAT scenes of these two getting to know each other that feels real, authentic and very sweet. I really rooted for these two and I enjoyed how well they communicated with each other. There’s no hemming and hawing with these two. They don’t leave things to fester and that was exactly what I needed in a romance right now!
I will say, I did find the reason Killian needed to “manage” Elise a bit shaky and I wish the random plotline with Killian’s sister-in-law was explained more (I also….hope she doesn’t get a back because good grief, what an obnoxious human). I just didn’t really get how the sister in law was relevant in a series about royal, exiled siblings. It just felt really bizarre.

Overall, this was fun, a little bananas, very sweet, pretty steamy, and slightly unbelievable. I had a 10/10 time. Really a 3.5 star but I’m rounding up because I really loved the MCs and I thought Charis did a fantastic job integrating French post-revolution royalty in a way that felt true to life and still fantastical enough to believe they could get a happy ending with a non-royal.

This was such a fun historical romance. I really enjoyed everything about it including the romance and the characters. The two main characters were pretty unique as well.

Librarian review: I would not recommend this book in reader's advisory. I would not recommend this book for acquisition.

Reader review: I'd be lying if I said I wasn't extremely disappointed in this book. I've enjoyed Charis Michaels's books before, and had pretty high expectations, but even if I hadn't this story still feels like a swing and a miss to me.

Some of my critiques are more minute, but others are fairly large--including the first, which is a spoiler, so skip if you are planning to read.

First, I was frustrated by the lack of closure at the end of the story. We have no idea what their life is supposed to look like once they return to England and that felt like a big error. Her brother isn't found, but suddenly her mom hands Killian a stack of notes to help when they go back. Since the plot hinged entirely on her search for her brother, to not actually have any conclusion to that storyline made me feel like I read all of that for nothing. Additionally, there are absolutely NO ANSWERS to the mystery surrounding Pearl, Peter, and Bartholomew. What happened to make Peter do a complete 180? Why did Pearl wait a month? Why didn't anyone know? I was fully expecting the entire time to find out Pearl's evidence of marriage and paternity were falsely arranged by the royal family to keep Killian in his post as a fixer. Instead, nothing was resolved and it felt like the author just put together a mysterious plot point only to throw it away and say, "syke!"

Second, there was a lot of dialogue and long-winded scenes that made many parts of the story more confusing than they needed to be, often taking a lot of words to say almost nothing.

Third, Pearl's character makes no sense. They talked a lot about her, and the description was all over the place and difficult to try and piece together, and then she appears for a few scenes and disappears again without the reader getting a solid handle on her and her motivations.

Fourth, there were so many random words italicized unnecessarily and ellipses demonstrating pauses in speech that...were unnatural. It distracted me so badly.

Fifth, it felt like the couple didn't know each other. They spent maybe a bit of time together, but even then it didn't feel like they had enough off of which to base a romance.

Killian and Princess Elise are adorable, especially as Killian works very hard not to seduce Elise. Even within the court intrigues, Elise and Killian eventually hatch a plot to use those intrigues in their favor – smart of them. But, before that occurs, these two have to find their way past their troubles and worries to set aside their pride and admit their love for each other.

This is a fun journey of which we are invited to enjoy. It is a great start to a new Hidden Royals series. Charis Michaels takes a few liberties with history, but writes such an entertaining romance that you will not care. I am, definitely, looking forward to more.

"How dare you...come here...save my thankless life...and then offer me what I want most in the world? How dare you"

Honestly how dare this book be so good and cute?!? I loved both Killian and Elise and thought the progression of their relationship was done really well. Elise is a strong character who is not easily "managed" despite that being Killian's charge. The sparks fly quickly and burn hot...literally in some cases as there's a scene where Elise saves Killian from a fire!

This is the first of a new series and I'm really excited to see where it goes! This was my first Charis Michaels but I can assure you it will not be the last. This book was ultimately pretty low angst - though I love both low and high angst, I think this fit the story so well.

Thanks to Netgalley and Avon for the eARC in exchange for a review. Say Yes to the Princess publishes on July 11th!

Genre: historical romance
London, 1803

Killian Crewes, second son of an earl, is known as the Royal Fixer. When the Royal Family needs something fixed, swept under the rug, or otherwise dealt with, Killian handles it… for a price. When one of the Royal Dukes comes to him with his next assignment, Killian is wary but thinks it won’t be much of a hardship to seduce Her Serene Highness, Princess Regine Elise Adelaide d’Orleans. Exiled from France after the Revolution and cloistered in the palace with the English royal family, Elise has been living in a fog of depression, until the day she sees a man she believes to be her younger brother. Now, bent on leaving the palace in search of him, Elise sees Killian as a means to help her search.

Anything with royals takes on a different tone from the standard regency aristocracy, with duty and intrigue with higher stakes wrapped around the characters. Instead of inventing a small country in Europe, Charis Michaels goes bold and makes her Princess Elise from a branch of the French royal family. I loved this as it gives the novel more depth.

Elise carries both an air of haughtiness appropriate to royalty, but also the fear and sorrow of someone who spent time in prison and watched her father’s execution. And as a courtier always on the outside looking in, grappling for footing in society, Killian is cold and determined when it comes to his job as Fixer, but has an incredibly soft heart underneath.

Picking up a new Charis Michaels book is an utter delight. She has a way of writing sweet and sexy and charming that I love to devour, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of reading this. Plus, there is not one, but TWO carriage scenes as she turns up the heat on this one!

Thank you to Avon and Netgalley for an eARC for review. Say Yes to the Princess is out 7/11/23, and is the first book in a new series!

“It was silly and fanciful and useless, but she felt a little like a princess in his presence.”

This tense adventure is also such a sweet love story, I cannot wait for the rest of the trilogy.

From the first sentence of this book I knew I was in trouble. It opens with our MMC, Killian’s, POV. He is hilarious, he is broody, and at heart he is so sweet. By far he is my favorite part of this awesome book!
Our FMC, Elise, struggles with PTSD and is coming out of a life in the shadows. Her trauma is compelling and her panic attacks ring very true. Even with all of that going on she is still a compassionate, thoughtful woman.
The writing is full of beautiful similes. The story is so complex and interesting. It’s unique in historical romance, in my opinion. I think a lot of that comes from the fact that the details were taken from true historical figures. That made the trauma, heartbreak, yearning, and struggle feel very real. There were a couple scenes that made me tear up, which is unusual for me!
It was just an excellent book. Now I can’t wait for the next two!

Star Rating: 4.5/5
Tropes: Class differences, stranded together, forced proximity
CW: Death, toxic relationships, violence, panic attacks, mental health, confinement, war, classism, bullying

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

I totally loved this first entry into the author's new Hidden Royals series, featuring both a very appealing heroine and hero and hinting at more promising characters in the future. Princess Elise has French royal origins but is more or less merely existing and trapped by her sanctuary with the British royal family. Killian is an earl's second son working as a sort of fixer for whatever the British royal family needs. Their mutual attraction hits pretty quickly when she becomes his assignment, with neither fully understanding why the British royals want her occupied and out of sight. Soon they are falling in love and working together to discover clues concerning the whereabouts of her lost siblings. I cannot wait for the next book!

Right away I knew this book was going to like this book. A historical romance with an exiled princess who needs looking after by a man tasked with seducing her? Sign me up!

I loved Elise’s determination to find her brother. She has a goal and the fact that no one will help her does not deter her. Killian has no idea what to expect when he meets her for the first time. He is blown away by her beauty, her willfulness and even stubbornness. He doesn’t want to hurt her he wants to help her and that’s just what she needs.

The plot of the novel helps them breakdown walls they’ve built around each other and their love helps them complete the impossible. Those are my favorite stories.

Thank you Avon, Harper Voyage, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Big thanks to Avon Publishing for an ARC of this book. This review is being given honestly and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Overall 4.5/5 stars rounded up to 5 but rating may change with some time

CWs: childhood bullying (past but referenced and memories on page), anxiety (MC has panic attack and triggered by a crowd, mentions of another character with anxiety who also experiences panic attacks), death of a parent (three parents are deceased, all past but mention of execution on page as it was witnessed by MC)

I REALLY enjoyed this book! I’ve read only one other Charis Michaels book before and it was a good time but this definitely trumps it. Say Yes to the Princess is the start of a new trilogy featuring runaway royals from the French monarchy who were secreted away to live in exile in England. Book one focuses on the oldest of the three siblings, Elise who after ten years of docile living in the English Court believes she has spotted her brother who was assumed to be dead. Here enter Killian, the royal fixer, who is meant to do whatever to distract Elise from looking for her brother.

I really liked how the author weaved the history aspect into the romance (obviously this is only loosely based on real historical people and events) but it added a VERY nice touch and helped keep me intrigued. Like I picked this up as soon as I got approval because not only was the synopsis interesting but once I started I could not stop. Right away I was really loving both characters, especially Elise. I was honestly a little scared due to the ‘deception’ aspect of their relationship because those types of ploys always make me a bit wary BUT the author did such a good job with this. Like right away Killian (after saying yes to the assignment) was pretty much like yea not doing that (lie and seduce her) and he was smitten form their first meeting. Elise was kind of surprising only because there was so much depth to her character and background which was a lot of fun.

I think their romance had great build up even though it was fast, like it was really seamless and you don’t really think about how long they’ve known each other and whatnot. I also loved how low angst this book turned out to be because there were quite a few ways Charis could have ramped up the angst and tension of this book but she didn’t and I appreciate that because the book was amazing without it. I will mention that she definitely included the plots/issues that would have led to higher tension/angst the author just handled them so well without a lot of conflict which is what I love to see. I will say Charis had me at the end, like I thought there was gonna be a third act breakup/‘I’m breaking up with you for your own good/I’m not good enough’ BUT THERE WASN’T, she resolved it so quickly and rationally and it was beautiful.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and the romance, like this was just so much fun and so light hearted. I will say this isn’t a slow burn because it was basically love at first sight for both of them but again, the author’s writing and pacing pulled it together seamlessly. I am absolutely intrigued by the background plot and look forward to the next book in the series (wish I could have it rn actually). Would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a low angst romance featuring strangers to lovers, love at first sight, and royal romance/class-difference.