Title: One Night Heir
Series: N/A
Author: Lucy Monroe
Genre: Romance
Blurb: Only a royal wedding…
Bitter life lessons have taught Crown Prince Maksim Yurkovich that duty must come before desire. His country needs an heir, so when he discovers his lover can’t have children, he must sever their ties. Only Maks can’t resist spending one last night in her bed.
…can avert this royal scandal!
Now he faces the biggest diplomatic crisis of his life. Against all odds, Gillian Harris has become pregnant. Maks’s royal reserve masks the heart of a fierce Cossack warrior-one who is not above using their mutual passion to convince a hurt, wary Gillian that she must be his queen!
Thoughts: Maksim has vowed to himself to never fall in love – however, he is attracted to and admires the lovely Gillian – and is even prepared to offer her marriage. Until his plan is foiled when her health screening comes back stating that she has a very low chance or being able to conceive and carry a baby to term. But their wires become crossed – Gillian opens the results, but due to a phone call has failed to read them! She is fully expecting Maks to make their relationship permanent. When he breaks up with her instead, she is heartbroken. And stunned when she finds herself pregnant! Can Maks then convince her to give him another chance?
The story is a bit overdone – even for Harlequin. I have read so many variations of this type of book, and this book falls right into those standards. That is not necessarily a bad thing. If you’re a fan of Harlequin romances this is right up your alley – especially if you love the storylines involving royalty. Monroe is one of those authors that can crank out a good romance novel with a flick of her fingers, and I have enjoyed many a novel by her over the years.
I really enjoyed Gillian’s character – she didn’t follow meekly along with Maks and his plans or ideals. Even to the point of being ready to have him hauled out by security! She was firm in her beliefs, passionate when it came to doing was best for her baby, yet not spiteful or vindictive. In fact, for me she acted more in the lines with royalty than Maks did – at least when it came to grace of character.
Maks was a bit harder to take – he had this very ‘proper’, arrogant way of talking that just grated on my nerves at many points throughout the book. The fact that he was willing to just toss Gillian aside when he found out about her fertility issues kind of made me angry. I could understand that he needed heirs to the throne and he wanted a female who could have them (didn’t like it, but plausible). What really made me angry was the fact that he was totally willing to disregard going through fertility treatments for her so they could be together because he didn’t want to risk having ‘multiples’. If he cared for her the way he said, he would have been willing to do that in order to be with her! He agreed to later on however, when talking about future children – once he already found out that she was pregnant! He always seemed like he was doing her ‘favors’ by conceding certain points to her. I just really thought he had an awfully high opinion of himself. While I understand he was a Prince, I thought a bit more humility to his character would have made him more likeable. He definitely could have used a little more groveling in the book! He wasn’t horrible, but he wasn’t one of my favorite male characters.
All in all, if you really love the ‘royalty’ spin on romance stories, you’ll like this book. Monroe’s skillful writing, and Gillian’s character alone make it worth the read!
Rate: B-
