Red, White & Royal Blue meets Boyfriend Material in this fluffy, sweet slow-burn MM romance between Britain’s first openly gay Prime Minister and the klutzy, adorkable and clueless American who unexpectedly becomes heir to the British throne.

Callum is a sweet, but rather clumsy and clueless, supposedly straight guy who’s trying to figure his life out after having dropped out of university to work for an insurance call center. His dating life is a bit of a disaster as well, and he’s still mourning his mom. Said mom, who had a brief marriage with the fourth British prince, but who left Britain after the divorce with her son to do everything in her power to keep Callum away from the watchful eye of the British press. Being the eleventh in the succession order, it’s not like he’ll ever play any big role in the British monarchy anyway. Not until his misbehaving relatives are charged with a criminal offense and Callum suddenly leaps from obscurity to the new Prince of Wales and heir to the British throne.
 
Oliver Hartwell is the divorced Prime Minister who takes pity on the clumsy and awkward prince who is so clearly out of his element. But soon the innocent support messages evolve into so much more and become the highlight of Oliver’s day, together with feelings for the prince that may no longer be of the purely platonic kind…
 
Soon they both realize that they might have something more than friendship going on, and Callum that he’s not as straight as he thought he was… which might explain his previous unsuccessful dating life.
 
Jax Calder is one of my favorite authors (I absolutely love her books The Other Brother and Attractive Forces) a lot because of her relatable, lovable and wonderful characters who always are as far away from stereotype cliches as you can come. And just like in her other books, I immediately rooted for Oliver, who had so much depth and raw emotions. I could truly feel his pain after having being betrayed by his ex-husband, his loneliness, his childhood trauma and feeling of being rejected by his addicted mother. I loved the parts of the story that were told from his POV and how they let us see how his feelings for Callum develop. It was so wholesome.
 
But, surprisingly for a Jax Calder book, the other characters fell a bit flat for me. The Queen felt very vague and more of a projection than a character that added to the story, and I never fully rooted for Callum. I can’t really explain why, but there was something about his clumsiness yet smartness and knowledge of everything that made him feel artificial and more of a construct than a real person. I also would have liked to have more focus on his bisexual awakening, which is usually one of my favorite tropes. But here it felt rushed and sadly not explored to its full potential. It was like Callum just accepted it without even mulling it over. I would have loved to see him dissect it all more and at least be a bit nervous about being with a man for the first time.
 
So even though I truly wished for Oliver to be happy and get to be with his love, I found it a bit hard to be fully invested in his Callum’s romance.
 
There were also some parts of the story that were just too unbelievable or silly. I won’t go into details, but there was a murder plot that just felt off and the whole part of Callum not being recognized as part of the royal family by anyone before he moved up the succession order felt a bit too far-fetched.
 
But all in all, a sweet, cute and fluffy romcom, with a lot of hilarious moments, fun facts and an amazing gay Prime Minister to root for.

Thank you to BookSirens for the free ARC of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

Rating:
3.5 stars rounding up to 4

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Author info:
Jax Calder

Jax Calder does it again! I was a bit nervous starting Attractive Forces, since Jax Calder’s book The Other Brother is one of my all time favorite YA m/m romances, but luckily this book met and exceeded all of my high expectations! I absolutely loved this adorable, slow-burn nerd/jock friends-to-lovers romance!

The two main characters of this story are teenagers Jake and Logan. Jake Stenton is the smart new kid, who’s moved to a new town to start over with his mother and younger brother, trying to escape the scandal caused by his father. Logan Madison is the captain of the rugby team and the most popular guy in school, who is hiding who he truly is from everyone. Being gay is just not an option when you’re the star rugby player and the son of a homophobic Presbyterian minister. But when Jake is assigned as Logan’s chemistry tutor, the feelings that develop between them might be too powerful to control…

I rooted so much for both Jake and Logan from the very first moment and my heart ached for them in their struggles. They were both such wonderful characters, with depth and as far from any stereotype cliches you can come. Yes, Logan was a star rugby player, but he was certainly not the typical jock. And yes, Jake was a chemistry nerd, but he was also so fun and easygoing. And the banter between them and the fun chemistry jokes, as well as their mutual respect for each other, was amazing.

I love Jax Calder’s writing style and how she captures the suppressed feelings and longings between the characters. The slow burn romance was so well executed and so heart-warming! I especially loved the way she made us readers come along on Jake’s and Logan’s journey to finding themselves, understanding their sexuality and coming to a decision what’s really worth living for. It was so accurate how Jake thought he was just a late bloomer when in fact he’s on the asexual spectrum and only starts to have feelings for Logan after they become close friends.

All in all, Attractive Forces was such an adorable, gripping and heart-warming m/m romance with all the feels and amazing character growth. I read it in one sitting as it was completely unputdownable until the very end!

Thank you to BookSirens for the free ARC of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

Rating:
5 stars

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Author info:
Jax Calder

I absolutely LOVED this book! It was such an emotional, completely addictive and swooning rivals-to-friends-to-lovers story with amazing character growth! And some truly amazing chemistry between the main characters... I read this book in one sitting, completely hooked from the very first page!

The two main characters of this story are Ryan and Cody, two seventeen boys who are bound by some very dysfunctional and toxic family ties, but have never been close. On the contrary, as the family’s trouble kid, Ryan has always been compared to the perfect Cody and never met his standards… Ryan is something of a carefree happy-go-lucky surfer guy, who doesn’t worry about the future but more about the next party or about pulling pranks on his sisters. He’s also out and proud as bisexual. Cody on the other hand is the perfect on paper son, who is a high achieving musician, talented tennis player and extremely well behaved. But he also struggles with a lot of issues, such as anxiety and being secretly gay, as Ryan will get to find out after a summer when circumstances collide, and the two boys end up spending time together at Cody’s family’s beach house.

In case the family ties seem confusing, I want to make it really clear that there is nothing tabu about Ryan and Cody getting feelings for each other. They are not in any way related by blood and have not grown up together, even though they share the same half-sisters since Ryan’s Mom and Cody’s Dad were previously married and had two daughters together, before they spit up in a very nasty divorce. After that they both remarried and had a son each (Ryan and Cody) in their second marriages. So nothing inappropriate or tabu, but complicated to say the least… especially since Ryan’s Mom and Cody’s Dad absolutely hate each other and uses their daughters (Ryan’s and Cody’s sisters) as ammunition in their own private war.

I absolutely loved Jax Calder’s writing style and the amazing rivalry and love/hate-dynamic between Ryan and Cody. I loved their banter and the humor, and not to mention the burning chemistry… Both of the characters immediately stole my heart in their own separate ways. The toxic family drama, the slow-burn and their emotional rollercoaster when realizing their feelings for each other and the consequences all felt very real and realistic. My heart ached for the struggle Ryan and Cody had to go through. Jax Calder did an amazing job capturing the complicated family dynamics between the two families and how much damage a conflict between parents can cause their children. A detail that I truly could relate too which made Cody even more real and authentic was his disgust for raisins. I feel the same way too, and it made me root for him even more.

All in all, The Other Brother was an absolutely amazing book! It was a truly adorable and emotional slow-burn enemies-to-lovers Romeo and Juliet kind of romance with all the feels and character growth. I read it in one sitting, it was so addictive and I rooted so much for all characters that I just couldn’t bear to put it down until the very end! I can’t recommend it enough!
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Thank you to Xpresso Book Tours and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC for this wonderful book! All opinions are my own and I am leaving my honest review voluntarily.

Rating:
5 stars

Get your own copy:
Amazon
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Author info:
Jax Calder