Nana Malone | Lager & Lefse Book Blog

Before we go any further, if you HAVEN’T read Cheeky Royal…STOP! Cheeky King picks up right where Cheeky Royal ends, so you will need to read that one before this one.

In Cheeky King, we are now back in the Winston Isles where Sebastian is preparing for his coronation. There is one slight issue. He can’t seem to get past his time with Penny. He is hyper aware of his feelings for her, but also is having trouble acknowledging and addressing the fact that she deceived him.

Penny is also back home in the Isles, but her life is different from Sebastian’s. While he knows what is in store for his future, Penny is lost. She has always felt like she hasn’t fit in with the royal guard, but this has been her family’s calling for generations. She is torn between serving her country, even though she may not be happy or becoming an artist. What she does know is that it is torture having to see Sebastian on a semi-regular basis. Sebastian and Penny know that they could never happen, due to some archaic royal laws. However, Sebastian is king. He could change that, couldn’t he?

While there is suffering going on, there is also a good amount of mystery involved with many twist and turns. It may appear as our two lovebirds have more to worry about than their burgeoning and floundering love life. There is a grander ‘chess game’ scheme going on that makes it impertinent that this mystery gets solved quickly.

I enjoyed this book duet. Penny and Sebastian had insane chemistry that was palpable through the pages. It was well written and fast paced.

4 ‘Cheeky’ stars

There is a small prequel to Cheeky Royal named Cheeky Prince. It gives the reader a slight insight into Sebastian and Penny’s backgrounds.

The real story begins in Cheeky Royal where Prince Sebastian has left his island and has been gone for about six months. As a special request from the king, Penny is tasked to try and find Sebastian and bring him home. Hilarity and adventure ensues.

I enjoyed the main characters. Penny is a ‘Calamity Jane’ type girl, where what can go wrong, usually will. Then there is Prince Sebastian. He is a beast unto himself. As progression to the throne goes, he is the next in line, but his real passion lies elsewhere. Unfortunately, he has been told by his father (the King) that when he takes the throne, it would be impossible to continue to pursue his true passion of photography. This is unacceptable to Sebastian and has his own plan in the making to get out of being king.

Besides Sebastian and Penny, there are few secondary characters that also bring this story to light. Penny’s best friend, Ariel, brings a lot of fun to the storyline, while pushing Penny out of her comfort zone. Sebastian’s cousin though, is an a-hole and not a good brooding a-hole that we love to read about. I loved some of the tension between the security team that works with Sebastian and Ariel. Do I see fireworks on the horizon for the best friend?

Cheeky Royal is a sweet, fun and easy read with no major plot twists, but there are episodes of mystery and intrigue. This does end on a cliffhanger to be continued in Cheeky King. Now hold your horses before you think, ‘a cliffhanger, aww man.’ Cheeky King is expected to be released the end of April, so we don’t have long to wait.