Title: The Charmer In Chaps
Series: The Princes Of Texas #1
Author: Julia London
Date Of Publication: May 7, 2019
Publisher: Jove
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Cimarron County knows the youngest son of the fabled Prince family as a womanizing hell-raiser, but Luca has another side to him. He intends to turn the overworked pasture land his father left him back to its natural beauty. There's just one problem--a woman with sparkling eyes and more fight than a barnyard cat is grandfathered into some acreage on his portion of Three Rivers Ranch.
After years of living in foster homes, Ella has exactly three things to her name: A dog, a pig, and the rundown house she just inherited. Luca may not remember her from high school, but she definitely remembers him. He is as seductive as he was then, but Ella isn't about to fall for his flirting--if only she could stop melting at his touch.
What begins as a game of seduction for Luca quickly turns into something more, but Ella has learned the hard way to trust no one but herself--especially when it comes to her deepest secret. Yet the closer Luca gets to Ella, the more he wants to be the one she leans on. For once, Luca is determined to do something right and give the woman he loves the home she deserves.
Everyone knows how intense a high-school crush can be. When every waking moment is consumed
with the awareness of the crush, when a smile, or a brush of the fingers from the crushee could carry the
crusher for a day. Maybe even a week if you re-examined it ad nauseum with your best friend and
roommate, Stacy, while your foster parents yelled at each other in the living room.
That’s how Ella Kendall had felt about Luca Prince in high school. He’d transferred into Edna
Colley High School in the middle of their junior year, coming from wherever insanely rich kids came
from. He was tall and muscular, dark hair streaked with gold, and hazel eyes that changed from blue to
green to brown. He was so handsome and so exotically perfect that Ella’s hormones had stacked up like
discarded tires and had burned for the next eighteen months. It was a fire that could not be doused.
Not that Luca Prince ever noticed.
Everyone in the town of Three Rivers knew about the Prince family and the famed Three Rivers
Ranch for which the town was named. They’d filmed Hollywood movies there. They’d hosted a summit
between the president of the United States and the president of Mexico about some trade thing. The ranch
was massive in size and supposedly, if you wanted to see it all in one day, you needed a plane.
Ella and Stacy had never seen the ranch except in pictures, because they sure didn’t run in the
popular kids’ circle. But they’d heard about the fabled fortress. It was tucked away behind a big fancy
gate, nestled on the bank of the river at the foot of the hills. Mariah Frame, nee Baker, their only friend in
high school, had seen the ranch, and she’d said it was a like a castle. A Spanish castle. “It’s so big,” she’d
said. “And it has so many horses.” Apparently it also had a pool, tennis courts, cars, and Ella could no
longer remember what all. But she used to imagine that it was just like the castles in all the princess
movies she’d watched as a kid.
Ella, Stacy, and Mariah had called him Prince Luca. He was so dreamy, with those mesmerizing eyes
and wavy hair that brushed his shoulders. He and his twin sister, Princess Hallie, had ruled Colley High.
They were the homecoming queen and king, a stratosphere of popularity so high above Ella that she must
have looked like a speck to them.
Once, Luca had asked Ella for her notes from algebra, and Ella had gotten so tongue-tied that she’d
just shoved them at him. And of course she’d completely lost her mind on the night of the senior dance
when he’d grabbed her hand—without asking, now that she thought about it, but that was a minor
detail—and pulled her onto the dance floor. And then, just like in the movies, after a bit of swaying
around, he’d kissed her.
Out of the blue, with no warning, Prince Luca had kissed her, right in the middle of the dance floor,
beneath the piñatas. Ella had been kissed many times since, but she remembered everything about that
one. His hand had cupped her face; his other had rested on the small of her back. His lips had lingered on
hers for what seemed like forever, soft and tender, like he’d landed there and liked it. He had not kissed
her in the urgent, demanding way that Clint Adams had kissed her their sophomore year. Prince Luca’s
kiss was a proper knee-melting, heart-exploding kiss.
And then, just as suddenly, he’d lifted his head, touched her cheek, and walked off.
My Thoughts
Julia London's first offering in The Princes Of Texas series. Entitled The Charmer In Chaps is a very sweet second chance romance with a Contemporary Western flare. The comedic timing, snark, and with laced interactions between both leading lady, Ella, and her hunky but often clueless.co-star Luca. Spot on and guaranteed to keep the pages turning.
Couple this with a very likable and colorful supporting cast. And the secret that Luca has carried since childhood.
Booom!
There you have it, folks, all the ingredients that.one would need for the perfect heart-melting romantic explosion.
The romance found here is a slow kindle. Filled to the brim with both angst and comedic fits and starts.
But once things get going between these two star-crossed souls. The fire of their love is one that can be seen from space.
The only things that kept this stellar series out of the 5 Star spot?
The many rabbit trails that several plot elements seemed to take.
Though this may have been a nod to coming books. It proved very distracting to the story at hand.
All in all. The story of the poor little rich boy meeting his working-class match is a keeper. And this reviewer can't wait to read more in the series.
About Julia
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