Loyally, Luke is the third novel in the Skymarian series, although the three books (Authentically, Izzy and Positively, Penelope and Loyally, Luke) are billed as standalones. Yes, you could read them solo, but why would you, since they’re all delightful and linked!
Basham invented a small European island kingdom, Skymar, the main setting for all three books, although the Edgewood siblings hail from rural Appalachia in the USA. In this story, Luke, a contractor, agrees to spend a few months in Skymar to update an old castle acting as a current-day orphanage.
While Izzy’s story is almost entirely told in an epistolary style (texts and emails between Izzy, Penelope, Luke, and their older (married) sister, Josephine), the subsequent books have less of this, though the texts still play an important and humorous part of the story.
Readers have grown to love Luke as the common-sense sibling, while his two sisters are totally caught up in romantic novels and movies and are experts in all things Hallmark. They’ve decided it’s Luke’s turn to find love and categorize his every move with the appropriate “beat” in a romance story, even if they have to create their ideal story out of nearly thin air. Even so, the love between the siblings is strong and visible and possibly my favorite part of the story.
Dear Reader,
My name is Luke Edgewood, and there are few things in life that I require. Mainly black coffee. And flannel. And lots of solitude. And my dogs, Chewy and Indie. What I don’t need is romance, so I have no plans to change my thirty-year-old bachelor status anytime soon.
But my youngest sister thinks that by accepting a short-term construction job in the small European country of Skymar, I’m going to follow along in her footsteps and discover my own romantic adventure. Nope. Bah humbug. The End. This time, her rom-com-movie senses are totally wrong.
Or maybe not. Because I’ve met a Grace Kelly look-alike who is annoying . . . until she isn’t. But she is impossible. As in, nothing can happen between us because she is a literal princess. Even though that’s easy to forget when we’re working together to restore a castle-like orphanage in a secluded mountain town and “forced proximity” includes a small closet, a secret one-hundred-year-old journal, and the tactile memory of an off-limits royal in my arms.
Basically, the whole situation has turned into an ooey gooey magical snow globe of romantic tropes complete with cute kids and an actual ball. Now, even my sentences are starting to sound like mush. Ugh. Send high levels of testosterone my way—I’m going to need it.
Loyally,
Luke
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this entire non-series. (Seriously, why aren’t they calling it a series? It’s totally a series!) After reading the first installment, Elizabeth, Narelle, and I interviewed Pepper to chat about Positively, Penelope on StoryChats podcast when it released. I had to know how Luke fared in his visit to Skymar with his sisters egging him on!
It did not disappoint. I may have enjoyed it more than the previous two – I did find the unending text conversation in Izzy hard to follow at first, probably due to my small phone screen. By Luke’s story, more of it takes place in real time, which made it easier to follow, for me, at least. There were just enough sibling text exchanges to keep the previous characters involved and to keep Luke motivated.
Poor Luke, so against romance, so absolutely sure he won’t fall for his sisters’ schemes, that falling in love with an incognito princess was priceless and amusing in many ways.
If you enjoy humor and contemporary royalty romance, you’ll enjoy this tale! But you should read them all. You have just enough time to catch up before Luke releases on May 14! (Affiliate links below)
Authentically, Izzy
Positively, Penelope
Loyally, Luke
I received a NetGalley review copy.