I knew going into this book I would fall for Luke after getting a peek at his character in the first two books in this series, but I didn't' realize I would fall for him this hard. What a fantastic hero!
This story was charming. It felt like a warm summer day or a sweet hug. The characters were all so genuine and I absolutely loved how the story itself was written with a full cast, featuring dual POV and some delightful texts and messages between other characters. The audiobook version was delightful to listen to as it featured a full cast production and each narrator did so well with their individual characters, it brought it to life, I could have been watching a Hallmark movie listening to this story.
Speaking of Hallmark, this story cracked me up with all the funny references to Hallmark movies and their common plots and tropes. I loved the way the author wove that into the plot itself. It just added to the overall charm. The royal falling for a commoner and overcoming obstacles, including hidden identity, was so sweet.
Back to Luke and my new found crush on him as a fictional character, I loved so much how he SAW Ellie for who she truly was and the way he made even her smallest dreams come true. He's practically perfect. I enjoyed their moments together so much.
If you're in the mood for a cute, feel-good novel, make sure to pick this book up.
I listened to an advance listening copy of this novel from Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Fiction Audio on Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I recommend this book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson Fiction via Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I thought the audiobook was AMAZING! I loved the detail to have various cast members!

This is my first time reading a Christian fiction novel, so to see how the Pepper Basham included these themes into the narrative, specifically how God's presence in Luke's life influences his thoughts and decisions, was fascinating! While the mentions of Him were frequent, at least to someone that doesn't identify with any particular religion like myself, they never felt out of place or forced.

Luke was kinda-sorta giving toxic masculinity, which, given the character's traits and beliefs, made sense? The constant references to "manly" movies were a bit cringe.

Skymar seems like such a charming place to live with just the right amount of small-town feel, it was a perfect setting! Because of that, I couldn't help feeling a twinge of sadness when Ellie decided to move to the US, but ultimately, if she's happy, I'm happy!

The family dynamic between Luke and his sisters was a highlight to read, I adored they teased their brother, but made sure to remind him of his worth and supported his decisions.
Ellie's contact and friend, Maeve, however... REALLY got on my nerves, especially with her repeated jokes about taking Luke for herself.

I would have loved to delve deeper into their histories instead of the glimpses we did get. Luke's emotional growth throughout the book is evident, and it's heartwarming to see him fall in love.
Despite this being the third book in the Skymar series, it was my first introduction! I plan on reading the other two now when I can.
This novel has a great balance of romance, faith, and love - give it a try!

Loyally, Luke is a sweet Christian romance. I really enjoyed reading this novel! Luke is working on a renovation project when he meets Ella. Just as their romance begins, he finds out her secret: she’s a princess! The plot was great as well as the romance. I loved the characters. The only criticism I have is that there could have been more faith content. Highly recommend this book and will definitely be reading more by this author. I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in trade for my honest opinion. My thoughts are my own.

YouTube Review: 05/08/24
YouTube Handle: KeenCat

I have enjoyed this fun series and Loyally, Luke was a great addition to it. Luke is such a likable, good guy, not to mention swoon-worthy flannel loving carpenter. He is in Skymar to do some remodel work. As the only boy in a family of three sisters, two biological and one a cousin raised by his parents, Luke knows more about girl movies than a fellow should. To compensate, he watches plenty of action flicks, like Rambo, Mission Impossible, and others. This is a lighthearted and humorous story with laugh out loud moments and with many sweet and romantic ones as Luke works on an orphanage with and develops a friendship with Ellie, a real princess. There is an attraction but how can a country boy from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina have more with a real princess? Sweet romance with a foundation of faith. I recommend for those who love romance in an impossible situation.

I wanted to note before anyone states this is a Christian Publishing Agent which means this book has Christian themes. There is a lack of physical intimacy described which is refreshing. I enjoyed the lack of Smut in this book as I find it overwhelming in a majority of books. The things I did not like were the multiple voices for every POV. It became too much, and the voices tended to be high pitched more than usual. This is a sweet book and while cheesy it was well done. I do think this is one of the rare times I would prefer to physically read the book over listening. The audio was though not as bad as others in the past. Another issue I did not like was the man having a strong stereotypical macho attitude. It really promotes unhealthy aspects but it was only pieces here and there. Overall, I do find it sweet and refreshing and would recommend the book to book clubs. I would rate it a solid 3 on audio and 3.5 on the book.

My heart is full is full to bursting with bibliophile rapture! I. Can’t. Even….

My brain is scrambled and my tummy hurts from laughing so hard and my knees are still buckling in preparation for a swoon every time I stand. Because Luke is the hero of my heart. The best of all book boyfriends.

I’ve anticipated this book since first meeting Luke in ‘Authentically Izzy’ to the point I was almost nervous to read it because my expectations were so high. Happy to report that Pepper Basham did not disappoint and neither did the stellar cast of performers who narrated the audio book. Seven narrators!!! Christopher Ashman, K.C. Sheridan, Kathleen McInerney, Natalie Duke, Gary Furlong, Caitlin Davies and Mhairi Morrison. They all did a brilliant job of bringing these characters to life and I think avid audio ‘readers’ will be thrilled with their listening experience. I sure was!

So…if you’ve been following this series, ‘Loyally Luke’ delivers exactly what you’d expect…times a billion! So much fun! The meet-cute! Snicker. Cue the banter that doesn’t let up the whole read through. And let me tell you, I was already in love with grumpy Luke, but flirty Luke about did me in. My fainting couch needs new springs!

One thing I found interesting is that the author mixed up the format in this third book where the emails and messages are interspersed with ‘live action’ scenes. If you’ve read one of the other books in this series, this will make sense (I hope) but if you haven’t, I’ve likely totally confused you. Explanation: The first two books are written in epistolary format for the first half and then switching to a combination of emails/texts and ‘in the moment’ POVs for the rest of the story. In this one, there’s definitely less emails and texting and the book starts on in real time with Luke just off the plane as he arrives in Skymar. I enjoy both styles, but I know some people aren’t a fan of epistolary novels so this strikes a happy medium.

We still get enough Izzy and Penelope (and even Josephine) input (Luke’s sisters/cousin) through their correspondence, which kept me grinning, because they go all Disney Princess on him in a big way much to his consternation. There are so many wonderfully clever movie references which become quite hysterical because it’s Luke realizing he’s caught in the snare of one of his sisters’ romcoms. He kept needing to watch Rambo to centre himself. Bwahahaha! But there is no getting away from all those romantic tropes!

And his princess’s story? Heartbreaking and inspiring. The paparazzi — Gah! We occasionally get the point of view of a gossip columnist which set me off every time. (And scary to contemplate, but Pepper Basham would make an excellent tabloid reporter!)

Gah — there’s so much more to gush over but this review is way too long. You just need to read this book — the whole series, really — and then we can form a Luke fan club and gush to our hearts content.

My thanks to Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Fiction Audio and Net Galley for providing me with an audio edition of this book.

This is the third book in the Skymar series. Luke was featured in the first two and whole this is a standalone story, it is best enjoyed having read the others. You really come to understand the family relationship and Luke's personality in those books before getting to his story.

I will begin by mentioning that I listened to this book, as I did the others. I really thought the narrators, especially the male narrator, made the story in the other books. His accents were perfection. This audiobook is a bit different than the others. They each had a male and a female narrator. This one has a FULL CAST! This is the first book I have listened to with a full cast reading it. I loved it so much! I received an advanced audio copy from Netgalley, and Zondervan Fiction Audio and Thomas Nelson. I specifically didn't request an advanced ebook because I knew I wanted to listen to this. That being said, I would have liked to follow along in the ebook some just to see how the print version compared to cast's reading, especially the text messages.

This book does not contain as many emails or text messages as the previous 2 books, and the only negative feeling about the audio I had was the reading of all of the descriptions of the emails especially. I would like to see if this one was written like the others and just read differently because of the different characters or not. But either way, I loved listening to the book!

And I loved the story! It had tongue in cheek nods to romance tropes and Hallmark movies. It was fabulously written. I laughed so many times. And Luke is just the sweetest big lug of a guy there is!

While I did receive the complimentary audio, I am happily and voluntarily leaving my honest review.

DNF at 21% - I enjoyed the grumpy x grumpy, enemies to lovers and forced proximity tropes, but I just couldn’t get into the story and the characters. What mostly kept me listening was the love of all the accents and the good narration.

Grumpy exterior/cinnamon roll interior American Luke bumps into a Grace Kelly look-alike who just so happens to be a princess of Skymar. He is going to renovate an orphanage and they start to get close. Told by multiple narrators with letters, texts, and gossip rags. I had read some reviews that the letters that opened each chapter was distracting and confusing, but the narrators had very different voices, and I think that helped to keep the characters straight in my head.

The banter was sweet. I didn't realize that it was a Christian fiction until about halfway in, which I typically do not go for, but it was cute overall. I loved that Luke was hesitant to think that he could be the leading man in a HEA tale.

I didn't read the first two in this series. but this was a nice standalone. Thanks to Netgalley for this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5, cute Royal/commoner romance where he doesn’t know who she is until he’s already head over heels for her

Thank you Netgalley for the audio ARC

With a mishmash of The Princess Diaries 2 and the story of The Prodigal Son, Loyally Luke does not disappoint! We meet Luke, a contractor from North Carolina, heading to the country of Skamar to help restore a gorgeous building that serves as an orphanage. At the airport coffee shop, Luke notices a gorgeous, Grace Kelly look a like and accidentally spills his coffee on her! I would classify it as a meet cute without the cute and plenty of annoyance. Later, when Luke travels to the orphanage to see what work needs to be done, he finds out that the Grace Kelly look alike, named Ellie, is his boss! Not only is she his boss but the reader learns that she is also the princess of Skymar and Luke has no idea. Working together, Luke and Ellie learn that they actually like each other. Ellie tries to resist her deeper feelings by telling herself that she is royal and Luke would hate being a royal. Luke attempts to remind himself of his aversion to love by watching “manly” movies but when it turns out Ellie loves action movies, he realizes he’s fighting a losing battle. What follows next is a softening of hearts, friendship, a little more than friendship and an adorable cast of children and local townsfolk.

I loved how Ellie was working on herself after leaving rehab and a past of mistakes. She was so focused on becoming a better person after the paparazzi dragged her name through the mud for years. It was so satisfying to watch her relationship with her father and how he loved her no matter what. I also loved watching Luke’s relationship with his sisters and how they teased him about his life being a “Hallmark Movie.” There was a sprinkling of faith and prayer and God throughout the story but it fit the story well and wasn’t forced. Overall it was a very sweet romance.

I received an ARC of the audio and the narrators were great. I will say that it was confusing, especially at the beginning, because each chapter starts with a text conversation. Sometimes it’s between Luke and his sister and other times it’s between Ellie and her friend. Until I got used to the different narrators, I wasn’t sure who the text conversation involved so I missed a few chapters of text content.

Thank you to HarperCollins Christian Publishing for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of Loyally Luke by Pepper Basham. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed the narrators for this audiobook. It was easy to follow and understand which character was speaking when even though there were multiple voices included.

I didn’t enjoy this very much.

The main 2 narrators were fine but the sister & the MMC’s friend who was watching his dog? I wasn’t vibing with their voices. Kind of dreaded those chapters.

As for the book itself, it felt like we started off trying to shove every trope out there into one book while also acknowledging every single trope (omg it’s a meet cute! This ain’t no enemies to lovers! Etc etc) which felt too on the nose for me. And the whole coffee incident felt like it was blown TOTALLY out of proportion and ended up being the basis for the “enemies to lovers”?

I did like the MMC as a person, he seemed sweet and true, but that got covered up with the rest of the plot.

Man, I really wanted to like this book. I very much enjoyed Authentically Izzy, but this one - okay. I don't remember ALL the God talk in Izzy's book. Maybe that's just a part of who Luke is, or whatever, but it was distracting. Also, it's fine for him to have a movie preference, like I thought the Rambo commentary was fun, but when he's ALL the time making "me macho man who likes macho movies and boy stuff only" references, it was annoying and exhausting. He also mentioned Ellie smelling like oranges CONSTANTLY. And one time it was "orange flowers" which, no. Listening, I think there were too many POVs and the cast was just too large. I did really enjoy the Scottish brogue though. I feel like something is broken in me bc there are SO MANY 5 star ratings and I was just not there.

This book was sickeningly cute. A literal perfect Hallmark film, but slightly better. At first glance, Luke had me. I love a grumpy blue collar man, it’s a canonical fact about me at this point, & fit the bill. The classic tale of our “undercover” princess Ellie (aka the man doesn’t keep up with world pop culture so doesn’t know her) who just wants to be seen as herself, & the good, down to earth guy who actually sees her. It had me gasping & having a really great time at so many parts.

The Christian elements of this were subtle enough that I don’t think anyone outside of the Church would have a huge issue following, but the parts that did get me were just the overstating of hypermasculine interests on Luke’s part. I GET THAT THAT WAS HIS CHARACTER. BUT. It just got a little old of him glamorizing her cause she liked Star Wars, & Indiana Jones, & Mission Impossible & didn’t know what a Hallmark movie was. Sir, most women love those movies. I just was getting annoyed at that constantly being a thing, but whatever.

Overall, really sweet book. Any Christian girlie would probably like this as a soft, fluffy, quick read. The writing itself was really good, & had me giggling & kicking my feet at certain spots. Their relationship was adorable & the whole dynamic of him working on the orphanage & getting to know & help the kids was SOFT. Gonna be a joy to a lot of Christian romance girlies!!

Thanks to NetGalley & HarperCollins Christian Publishing for the ARC!

What a cute rom com with a very happy ending! I didn’t realize this was part of a series when I requested it, but I was able to easily read it as a stand-alone. The characters are funny, quirky, and loveable. It is so nice to have good clean chick lit to read!
Thankyou NetGalley and Harper Collins Christian Publishing for my audio advanced copy.

As someone who loves loves, and cute romance book covers, I was really excited to review this one when I received it as an audio book! I will start us off by saying - If you like cheese, this one is for you! Personally, it was a little flowery and cheesy for me.

I think if I had read it, I might feel differently, but there were SO many voices in this audiobook, I think it threw me off a bit. The southern accents felt a little too forced, and the southern accents of the female characters were honestly a little annoying. Our MMC wasn't too bad, I think if it had been as forced as the others, I would have had to DNF it or switch to the book when it came out. Story was good, entertaining, and if you like flowery fluffy and cheesy you should go for it, and probably check out Pepper's other works! The writing is solid, the plot is cute, and I love kids in a good story to world build.


Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me an advanced listener copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was very excited for this book since I adore romcom audiobooks but unfortunately it fell flat for me. I did not know going in that It was a Christian romance and closed door which I don’t mind per se but was a bit blindsided. Also, the MANY voices of the voice actors got overwhelming for me especially since one of the sisters had a very high pitched voice. However, I did think the film references were fun and did add comedic relief at the right places.

LUKE. I loved Izzy and adored Penelope, but LUKE. LUKE WAS PERFECT. The way this was written with as many romcom tropes and cliches in it, while Luke constantly talks about hating romcoms and hallmark movies is PERFECTION. I absolutely loved it. It had just the right amount of snark, sass, and swoon. The audio was also great! As someone who listened to the first two as well, I could tell the voices for Izzy and Penelope were different, but I still loved them! And Luke’s narration was spot on.

Loved!

Audio read. I’m so sorry but this was a DNF for me. It just wasn’t my taste in a book. I could not connect with the characters and the narration, while I liked that it was “full cast” of voices was just too over the top.