Christmas Prince: The Christmas Angel Book 7, R.J. Scott

A mysterious auction lot brings together two unlikely men.  Both make a memorable first impression inspiring Prince Raphael to create an opportunity for a second.  When interest grows into caring and slowly becomes something deeper it'll take courage for Raphael to admit he wants more and an openness from Marc to convince him that love is worth the change.

Marc was rather rigid in the beginning and while he was different in the end, I didn't really see that process.  The Marc we got right in the beginning and the one we got near the end seemed like different men and yet I really enjoyed them both.  The one we got in the middle, however, didn't bridge the gap; instead, he felt like he was stuck in the in-between and didn't know how to get from one point to the other.  Overall, he caught my attention in the beginning, bored me in the middle, and caught my heart in the end.

Raphael, on the other hand, was a bit more textbook in terms of the playboy royal who's confused by his deeper, different feelings for Marc.  I actually disliked him quite a bit in the beginning because of his predictable attitude and manipulations.  I would have liked a bit more of the friendship he shared with Victor to round him out a bit more.  What wasn't really present in the story was his ultimate "coming around" moment and what we got was through Marc's perspective when Raphael finally confessed to what he wanted for them.  It was a rather anti-climactic moment, actually.

The story felt longer than it was mainly because there was quite a bit of back and forth that didn't seem to be progressing the romance or the exhibit Marc was brought to coordinate.  There was an excess of minutiae and yet most of the progress felt glossed over.  I also felt like the main conflict couldn't really be decided upon.  Was it the complete honesty and transparency of the monarchy's history?  Was it the disparity between Marc and Raphael's social standing?  Was it the meddling and jealous curator from the British Museum?  Was it their individual insecurities?  By the end most of those issues were all touched on but only a little.  I can't say that I wanted a big conflict, a big misunderstanding, or even a separation prior to their confessions, but it did feel overly simplistic despite all the intimated frustrations from the beginning of the story.

By the end of this review it probably sounds like I didn't like this book and that couldn't be farther from the truth.  Despite both men's failings and the general feeling of ennui while reading, there were some magical and insightful moments as well as a very sweet ending that made up for all the feels we lacked in the very long middle.  I enjoyed where Marc and Raphael ended up, I would have liked to see more emotional tension and introspection to give it depth and the emotional punch it needed.

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