An undercover cop. A mobster’s daughter. The best love stories start with a lie in this funny, emotional, suspenseful rom-com by New York Times bestselling author Max Monroe.
Valentina Cordone doesn’t need a prince—she’s got a thriving bagel-and-book shop in Nashville, game nights with her quirky crew, and a perfectly good life. But when her attractive new neighbor shows up with effortless charm and an award-winning smile, she starts to reconsider.
Detective Shane Maddox went undercover to surveil a mob boss’s daughter. What he didn’t expect? That she’d be a lovable ray of sunshine, nothing like the crime princess he imagined. He planned to get close but walk away untouched. Instead, he’s falling hard…and realizing she’s in more danger than she knows.
Torn between duty and desire, Shane keeps his identity secret while protecting Valentina from her family’s criminal empire. As the truth explodes, he must prove his love is real while keeping her alive—no small feat when she won’t take his calls.
Even though the prince is a liar, he can’t risk losing his princess.
Sometimes fairy tales don’t start with once upon a time. They start with once upon a lie.
Review
This book is set in the same world as the Call Me Any Time Book so I already knew it would be highly entertaining and its Max Monroe, I always enjoy the banter and feels in there books and this one was no exception.
Shane (who worked with Detective Dunn in CMAT) is tasked with going undercover, his target, Valentina Cordone, bagel shop owner and also happens to be a mob boss’s daughter. The second they meet, sparks are a flying! The connection felt instant but not in a insta love kind of way and it was so lovely.
The banter between Shane and Teeny was top tier and I loved how they just feel naturally into a friendship that become more. The secret of Shane being undercover also added an extra layer of tension. Plus there is a whole HOA element, whose president is just so pedantic but it was so funny as well.
Special mention to Alfred who was Teeny’s elderly friend (I go major Alfred from the holiday vibes from, IYKYK) he was such a sweetheart and learning about him and the love he had for his wife was so heartwarming.
Overall another fantastic read from Max Monroe and I’m really hoping we get a third book in this series, I think I got a vibe from whose book this could be so manifesting that pretty hard!
My Rating: 4/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟
About the Author
Many moons ago, a dynamic duo of romance authors teamed up under the pseudonym Max Monroe, and, well, the rest is history…
Max Monroe is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of nearly fifty contemporary romance titles. Favorite writing partners and long time friends, Max and Monroe strive to live and write all the fun, sexy swoon so often missing from their social media newsfeed. Sarcastic by nature, their two writing souls feel like they’ve found their other half. This is their most favorite adventure thus far.
*I received an ARC of this book from Publisher/Author in exchange for an honest, voluntary review
