Royal Holiday (The Wedding Date #4) by Jasmine Guillory

As you know, I don't like to know a lot about a book before I get started, but I've been down the Guillory road before and I think her writing is completely fine. It's pleasant to read, there's a happily ever after, but the books are bland and a bit forgettable. So, I'm still making my way through a list of romance novels I've been told are necessary to read and Guillory keeps showing up, so I keep reading them and writing the same thing about them.

So it was with this background that I started this book.  Before I read a page of story, here were my immediate impressions.

1) That green on the cover is a very ugly color.

2) I have a hardcover copy from the library and the woman on the cover's dress, hat, and shoes are sparkly and die cut and it's absolutely adorable. This cover sends me into a mix of emotions.

3) In the last paragraph of the acknowledgements (page VIII), the author thanks Margaret H. Willison. If you ever come across someone in a podcast, romance novel, or fantasy subreddit complaining about Willison, it is probably me. I have no idea why she irritates me, but she's like a pebble in my shoe and she somehow manages to be in tons of the media I consume and this thank you made me SUSPICIOUS before I even turned a page.

Royal Holiday is the story of Maddie's mom Vivian.  Maddie is the lead from the third book in this series, but you'll be forgiven if you've forgotten all you know about that book because it immediately fled from your head as soon as you closed the book.  Maddie and Vivian go to England for a work thing for Maddie.  While Maddie's hard at work, Vivian meets the Queen's personal assistant Malcolm and soon there is a wild vacation fling. But it can be more than that?

Interesting characters: I like that this book was told from the perspective of mature characters. People who are older than 25 do have sex still and it's nice to see that portrayed in this novel.

Outside of that, it's really just a Guillory-type character array. These are black people with interesting professions, but we really don't hear very much about that, outside of Vivian being a bit unsettled about a potential promotion. They have a very brief discussion about race, but I think I talk to my husband more about race on an average Monday night dinner. There are passing mentions of family, but outside of Maddie we only really get to meet them fleetingly. So, what I'm saying here is that they are superficially created and kind of boring.

Believable conflict: There's hardly any conflict at all. They dig each other from the start. There's a brief interaction where Malcolm makes travel plans for Vivian without checking with her first, but that literally passes within three pages. There's obviously a big huge problem that they live on different continents, but Guillory has set it up that Malcolm doesn't want to do his job forever, so that seems easily fixed. I think this may actually be the flaw in more mature romance novels - the conflict is low because older people are more experienced and communicate in ways that make sense.

Emotional tension: I guess there's a tiny bit of tension at the end about if they will be together since it started out as a vacation relationship, but it will definitely not put you on the edge of your seat. 

Happily ever after: Oh, sure. They're together and happy. They've sorted out their professional issues and now they will sail off into the sunset. I'm sure they'll be okay.

It's an absolutely FINE book. I don't mean this as an insult to the author - I think she's quite capable and I like seeing representation in romance novels - but her work is just instantly forgettable to me. I'll be generous here and give it a 3/5 stars.