I baked a pecan pie last weekend and nearly set a timer for the length of a chapter. The kitchen smelled like butter and caramel while I read. My kettle hissed, my sourdough bubbled, and I kept saying, “Just one more page.” Instead, I finished a long evening with Coronation: A Royally Forbidden Romance tucked under my mug. It felt indulgent and perfectly cozy. That calm kitchen moment is how I like a royal romance to land — warm, a little wicked, and impossible to ignore.
Plot Summary
Coronation: A Royally Forbidden Romance by Cleo White follows a modern royal-and-commoner story that leans into power, secrecy, and desire. The central characters are a crown-adjacent royal and a protagonist from outside the palace walls whose paths collide in high-stakes public and private moments. The setting moves between gilded official spaces and quieter, more intimate scenes where rules bend and feelings grow. Conflict centers on duty versus heart, public expectation versus private truth, and the moral cost of a relationship that cannot be openly declared. The book is presented as the first in the "Royally Forbidden" arc and runs long enough to develop slow-burn tension alongside explicit romance.
Why I Love This Book
I love how the story balances the spectacle of royal life with small, human moments. The characters are messy in believable ways. Their flaws feel earned. The pacing kept me turning pages late into the night. I appreciated when the book let quiet scenes breathe. The emotional beats hit me without feeling staged. The steamy moments are woven into character growth, not just heat for heat’s sake.
Who Will Like This Book
If you enjoy contemporary romance with royals, forbidden relationships, and high-steam scenes, you’ll likely enjoy Coronation: A Royally Forbidden Romance. Fans of enemies-to-lovers, secret-romance, or public-figure/private-love stories will find the emotional tension satisfying. If you prefer quiet, purely wholesome romance, this might be too spicy. I personally read a lot of romance and I found the blend of scandal, obligation, and intimacy quite compelling.
⚠️ Trigger warning: explicit sexual content, captivity/forced-situation elements implied in some reader reports, emotional manipulation, grief, and morally gray decisions.
Tagged As
royal romance, contemporary romance, forbidden romance, secret relationship, enemies-to-lovers, public figure/private lover, high spice, slow burn, angst, emotional romance, Cleo White, Royally Forbidden (series), indie/HEA possible
Steam Level
This book is explicit and high-heat. Scenes are detailed and frequent. The steam is a core draw and often tied to power dynamics and emotional stakes. If you like cutting-to-the-heart passion that furthers character arcs, this delivers. Romance databases and early reader reports list this as top-tier spice.
