Review: Nobody’s Prince Charming by Aimee Nicole Walker

Title: Nobody’s Prince Charming

Series: Road to Blissville: Book Three

Author: Aimee Nicole Walker

Length: 238 Pages

Category: Contemporary

At a Glance: Yes, I recommend this book. I have enjoyed all the Road to Blissville stories and will read every one when they come out. They aren’t heavy, for the most part, just good, romantic reads that leave a smile on your face.

Reviewed By: Carrie

Blurb: Fire and ice. Oil and water. Vodka and decisions. That’s what Darren McCoy and Wren Davison are: two opposites that shouldn’t mix well. Dare believes in fairy tales, true love, and happily ever after. Wren believes in fast cars, freedom, and no-strings sex. What can these two men possibly have in common? A magnetic pull strong enough to obliterate logic and reason.

For more than a year, Dare and Wren have worked together at the Curl Up and Dye Salon. Dare has pursued the mysterious, brooding man, and Wren has resisted his provocative charm. Then one day, something happens that allows the men to see each other in a new light. Wren learns that Dare hides a heavy heart behind his brilliant smile. Dare realizes that beneath Wren’s gruff exterior beats the heart of a prince.

Passions ignite once the men stop fighting their attraction, but will it be enough to overcome their differences? Is Wren the prince that Dare is looking for? Can Dare teach Wren that true love does exist?

Review: The Road to Blissville series is a spinoff from Walker’s Curl Up and Dye series, and Nobody’s Prince Charming brings together two crossover characters who we have all grown to love from Curl Up and Dye. Dare and Wren have been dancing around each other for awhile now. I would say this is a slow-burn novel for that fact, except that all that action took place in other books so I appreciated the fact that these two resolved into a relationship pretty quick in their own story. These are two very different but very feisty men, and this novel is full of Walker’s trademark snarky banter. The chemistry between these two has been obvious from the first and having them come together finally was exceptionally satisfying.

“This has been building up slowly like an amazing orgasm since the first time we locked eyes on one another. Falling in love with you was the ultimate delayed gratification.” – Dare

Dare has been holding down two jobs. It’s running him ragged but if it means that his Grandpa can continue to live with him and not in a nursing home, then everything’s good. His main job at Curl Up and Dye, working as the receptionist, is supplemented by his job at the furniture store, working in his chosen field of design. It’s not optimal right now, but it pays the bills and keeps his grandfather in medications, so that’s all that matters. Dare is a dreamer and a designer, a little feisty and a whole lot romantic. He tends to turn everything in his mind into a fairytale. He’s waiting for his handsome prince to sweep him off his feet and slay all his dragons. Dare is a sweetheart and the poster child for a quintessential, really good guy.

Wren hasn’t had it so easy in life. He’s spent years crafting his untouchable persona. He’s secretly watched Dare for a year now, and even had some one-off steamy encounters in the mixing room at work. But Wren can’t let himself feel for anyone; he feels he has too much baggage and his family aren’t exactly the norm. He’s got an unusual past, and it completely explains why he is the way he is with people. But when he finds out Dare is working two jobs to support his grandfather, he finds himself saying he will rent the apartment over Dare’s garage to try and help Dare out financially. Resisting the pull Dare has becomes too hard to do, and Wren finally gives in and accepts that what he feels for Dare isn’t going away—and he can’t make it go away.

“I went to bed. Instead of taking a shower, I climbed between my sheets still smelling like Dare. I was just as obsessed with his smell as he was mine. Dare smelled like sunshine, hope, and happiness. I wanted—scratch that—I needed it in my life.” – Wren

We get to see more of each man’s individual lives in this story, really delve deep and meet the characters behind the names in earlier stories. I loved that; it rounds out Walker’s characters and make them into believable people not just words on a page. Can it get hokey? Yes. Can it get campy? Yes, but does it make you smile and laugh and leave you in a happy frame of mind? YES! This story paces well and is just a very enjoyable read. The angst mostly has all happened in the past, and the characters are committed to moving forward. It reads as the fairytale Dare would like for it to.

“You and your fairy tales,” I muttered under my breath.

“We all want the fairy tale, Wren. The difference is in the type of fairy tale and the outcome. No two people’s happily ever after is the same. And that’s how it should be.”

This was said to me in a deadpan, serious voice like you’d expect someone to use while discussing the history of the world. My guy took his fairy tales and happily ever after very serious, but I already knew that. “Tell me more,” I told him. – Wren

Yes, I recommend this book. I have enjoyed all the Road to Blissville stories and will read every one when they come out. This book is marked as a standalone, and it is. You can pick it right up and read it without having read any of the preceding books, but dive into Walker’s Blissville series. It’s a great, well written series of books, and her characters are well-defined and make you love them. They aren’t heavy, for the most part, just good, romantic reads that leave a smile on your face. This book in particular is a good one, one of the best as far as I am concerned.

You can buy Nobody’s Prince Charming here:
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