Prince Cheating Charming

by Katie Landry

I've loved my husband through every betrayal and humiliating public affair, but now that I'm finally over it, suddenly he doesn't want to let me go!

Lady Delilah Arden falls in love with Prince Alexander Levesque at first sight. The quiet, shy artist can barely believe her luck when the charming, devastatingly handsome Prince singles her out for special attention. She desperately wants to believe he loves her too, but even marriage doesn't totally quell her doubts. Then she catches him cheating, in extremely humiliating fashion. Delilah feels like the laughingstock of the palace, and she tries everything to keep Alexander faithful, but none of it works.

Finally, her confidence growing, she finds a loophole that will give her an easy way out of the marriage. The Prince doesn't even have to agree to it. A simple matter of paperwork and a 30-day waiting period, and she's free.But suddenly, Alexander doesn't want to let her go. He wants Delilah to be his Queen and the playboy is willing to do anything to get her back. Delilah is in a mood for petty revenge… and more than ready to make him suffer…

Author's This novella is set in the modern day and there is on-page cheating between the MMC and multiple OW. There is a lot of steam, groveling, and a HEA.

Genres: Second Chance, Contemporary, Romance, Royalty, Novella, Humor, Marriage

145 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2024

Reviews

[Val ⚓️ Shameless Handmaiden ⚓️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can’t remember how this wound up on my kindle. But I enjoyed it for what it was. Good groveling lol

PS Cheating is explicitly stated in the title and blurb. Don’t read if that’s a no go for you.

[DiDi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quote from MMC “I didn’t want any other woman,” I said harshly. “I don’t want any other woman. I want Delilah and she’s the only woman I will ever want….” Ok so didn’t want don’t want yet for the six months of marriage he got blow jobs or fucked others because they offered. When she first said she was leaving in 30 days he had no intention of stoping the fucking around, he was blaming her for coming into his room and catching him fucking one of the OW. He actually thinks during this conformation that he could not wait to get the condom off and fuck her his wife. He also thinks at this time “I didn’t know if I could have sex again with Julia after this.” Julia being one of the OW. So no intention to stop figured his wife would just put up with it. No concerns how she felt. I wish we knew for sure if it was just these two he fucked or if there were multiple others. How soon after they married did it start. So let’s get this straight this is a romance book? We have a selfish immature MMC who cheats on his love from day 1. He does not even make effort to hide it. The level of disrespect in that alone is mind boggling. He loves her so much that he still wants to fuck all other women. He humiliates her. The most gross scene is when the MFC lets him fuck her without a condom after she catches him fucking another woman and he never even bothers to shower. Explain why she loves him! He is a STI walking dirtbag. Or he should be given how much he fucks other people. She finally decides to leave and wants an annulment and tells him 30 days that’s it. He sets out to get her to stay. Honestly I don’t give a crap on what he did after. Regardless of his background who can profess to love someone and from day 1 fuck others? Cheating is a cowards way out and it happens for various reasons. It’s a topic that is very difficult to have the cheater redeemed. This was short on the mark. If the cheating and blatant disrespect had not been happening from day 1 it would have still been difficult to believe in their HEA. Given the fact that it was from day 1 and no remorse no thought to stop still wanting to fuck others when he supposedly loved and was super attracted to the MFC how do you believe he would never cheat again? This was not one time with a complicated situation where the MMC really digs deep why he did it and works on himself. This is a man child wanting the cake and cookies. He does not want to loose her but I don’t believe for a second he will stay faithful. Also, the sex after OW was just unnecessary and so GROSS. I lost respect for the MFC along with the MMC which I had none for in the first place. I cannot state how gross and disgusting that scene was. You are going fuck him after he just fucked OW no condom. So irresponsible no talk of STI’s even with using condoms there is still high risk from oral and condoms break. It’s very irresponsible of the author to not have some type of discussion on safe sex and STI’s. It should have ended with him getting a nasty STI and her finding a non cheating new man. I will say he did good grovel but it might have been more impactful if we knew his internal thoughts before she caught him. She also should have left him after she caught him the first time.

[Pinky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trigger Warnings:Cheating (physical on-page, MMC cheats with multiple OW), death of parent, body shaming

“I threw away the best thing I’d ever have for a few minutes of pleasure with women I didn’t give a shit about, and watching my wife fall out of love with me was my painful, excruciating penance.”

Now that I am slowly getting back into reading, MEL🌜 recommended I give this a go and I am so glad I did. This book focuses on a serial cheater whose wife has decided she has had enough. When I first heard about this book, I thought there would be no way in hell that I would want the characters to get back together. Realistically, I would never take any cheater back or encourage anyone to. I always go by the phrase once a cheater, always a cheater. But when it comes to fiction, I love grovelling, so I am always curious to see if the cheater will win me over. This book is super short, but it felt like the perfect length for a grovel which surprised me. The writing is a bit immature and the characters act childish, mainly the MMC Alexander. But it was so fun to read, a little angsty, and super addicting. I was surprised to have laughed so many times while reading this, I had so much fun. I still think Alexander is pathetic and the writing could use a little less exclamation marks. But did I enjoy this? Yes. Will I be reading more from this author? Hell yes. Was this book meant to be taken seriously? I don’t think so. I think it was super cool, the characters are part of royalty but it takes place in modern times so we see characters with phones and laptops. The characters use modern, normal, language, it just felt like the author did whatever they wanted and I was HERE FOR IT. All the side characters were so lovable and funny, I can’t wait to read more from this author. Delilah was a delight. At first I felt meh about her but the second she grew a backbone, I loved her. I highly recommend you give this a try if you want something short with grovel.


Delilah married Alexander while she was head over heels in love with him. But she walks in on him cheating twice and realizes that she doesn’t want to be in the marriage anymore. The second Delilah tells Alexander she is going to leave him, he realizes that he fucked up. He will do everything to keep her since he can’t live without her. But no matter his efforts, Delilah will never see him differently, once a cheater, always a cheater.

Now for spoilers


Delilah was invited to the Norjava Palace since King William wanted his son, Prince Alexander, to get married. Alexander was a fuckboy and Delilah was from Gesaint, she was just a Lady and didn’t find herself to be special. While she was there, she saw Libby who is the Housekeeper. She tells Libby that the food is amazing and Libby introduces her to Maurice, the head chef. Maurice gives Delilah a tour of the kitchen when Alexander walks in. Delilah has always found him attractive and is surprised when he calls her in for a dance. He doesn’t want her to leave after that and they go rock climbing. Delilah was good at it but made it seem like she wasn’t since she thought Alexander wouldn’t like it if she were better at it than him. Alexander wants to marry her immediately and they get married. His mother is not a fan of Delilah and is pretty open about it. Delilah doesn’t dress or do her hair the way she wants to since she wants to please Alexander, straightening her hair and wearing uncomfy clothes. Alexander has two workers named Julia and Jewel who both treat Delilah like shit by insulting her looks. Once Alexander’s dad dies, they have a coronation. Alexander is seen leaving with Jewel and Delilah has always been intimidated by her and Julia since they were both gorgeous. Alexander has always had a rule to knock before entering a room. But Delilah was in a hurry to get him and walks into his office to see him fucking Jewel against a wall. She is in tears and runs away to hide in her room. I was shocked when Alexander came into her room and Delilah fucked him after that. Delilah was hesitant to go near him but once she did, she fucked him. She was insecure and hoped that if she did this and wore the things he liked, he wouldn’t have a reason to go to other women. She did research and tried to find ways to keep Alexander’s attention, it was so sad to see. She looked through his phone and found messages from Julia and Jewel asking to fuck. He never answered but she had a feeling he was actively cheating behind her back. Delilah and Alexander both say I love you to each other but she doesn’t believe him anymore. When Delilah fucked him the same night he fucked Jewel, I was like girl what the fuck.


There is an Archbishop named Magnus who gathers people around St. Constance, the group that has their own typa prayers. They focus on feminism and the things wrong with the world. Libby felt bad for Delilah and invited her to join them. Magnus, his partner Robert, Libby, and Maurice all supported Delilah since she discovered Alexander cheating publically, it was all over the news. Alexander acted normal and Delilah continued to fuck him hoping that she would be good enough for him. But when Delilah snuck into his office in lingerie, she heard Libby standing up for her to Alexander. Alexander said that Delilah would be fine and would love him regardless of what he did. Julia offers to fuck Alexander and he tells her to come back tomorrow. Delilah realizes she is done with Alexander and asks Magnus to find a way to get out of the marriage, they have been together for 6 months and she can’t do it anymore. In Norjava, women can’t divorce without the husband’s consent. BUT they can get an annulment if the girl isn’t a virgin before marriage. Delilah was never allowed to sleep in Alexander’s room but she goes there to give him his annulment papers. She opens the door to see him fucking Julia. Delilah is done and tells Julia to stop faking the orgasm since she does the same thing and tells Alexander they are done. She isn’t her quiet, shy self anymore, she tells him off and leaves. Alexander gets off Julia right away and Delilah sees a condom. He falls while tryna run for her and looks pathetic. He tells Julia to get out and tells Delilah that their marriage isn’t over. Delilah is done with him and locks him out of her room. Alexander is used to sleeping with Delilah at night and struggles with insomnia. He thinks that Delilah will be over it in the morning. He expects her to come back to him but Delilah says she will be moving out in 30 days when the annulment will be official.


Alexander doesn’t sleep the whole night and realizes that he can’t live without Delilah. His POV pissed me off at first since he thought that the fucking meant nothing since Delilah loved him and he loved her. His parents were not faithful to each other. But they didn’t love each other like Delilah loved him. He knew it was wrong since he had the “knock before you enter” rule. He says the fucking meant nothing but Delilah says she doesn’t give a shit. Delilah asks how many times he cheated and he says every now and then, so we don’t know the exact amount of times but it was more than the two times he was caught. He thinks that buying Delilah flowers will make a difference but she ripped his card and donated the flowers. When he brings her jewelry, she throws it out or gives it away. Alexander begs her to forgive him and is adamant about her not leaving him. Delilah gives him back their marriage and engagement rings which has Alexander breaking down. He cries a lot but Delilah doesn’t care which I love. Delilah asks him valid questions and Alexander hates that he ruined his perfect marriage for meaningless pleasure. He fucked other women during their marriage since the women were willing and he didn’t see the harm, he was just fucking stupid. During this time, St. Constance the group gives her support and Magnus says that Delilah can paint a mural for him. Alexander continues to ask Delilah what he can do to show that he has changed. He doesn’t want to fuck anyone else, all he wants is Delilah. Delilah tells him that she wasn’t his queen so he could find another woman. She suggests Julia or Jewel or that he can choose random women in a rotation. It was so satisfying seeing Alexander get physically sick, he was vomiting at the thought of Delilah leaving him. He is a spoiled brat and it is the first time he had his ass handed to him.


All the workers show Alexander their disgust openly to him. Delilah used to watch a baking show with Alexander but she watches it on her own. Alexander texts her saying he misses her and wishes they could watch the show but Delilah ignores him. She locks him out every night and doesn’t eat lunch or dinner with him. Anytime Alexander sees her, he savours every moment of her time. He can’t eat without her and is no longer looking like his handsome self, he has dark circles around his eyes and is constantly sick since he is disgusted with himself for hurting Delilah. He starts to join in on her meetings with the others at St. Constance to see Delilah more but is dissed by Magnus while he is there. Alexander asks Delilah what he could do to show her he changed and if she says something sarcastically, he will do it. Delilah mentions how he always put his pleasure first and she never orgasmed with him. He wanted to change that but she didn’t want his crusty ass touching her. He is constantly crying for her, feels like shit, and is begging for her attention, but Delilah won’t have any of it. Since Delilah was publicly humiliated by Alexander, he decided to make a public speech apologizing to Delilah. He doesn’t care that he is humiliating himself since he misses her. He asks if she can forgive him and she says no and it is all over the news. I loved that Delilah thought that this grand gesture wouldn’t make a difference. Julia and Jewel insult Delilah and she stands up for herself. Alexander hears and he is so angry he sends them away. He tells all the workers that if anyone disrespects his queen, he will fire them. He hears his mom disrespecting Delilah and even admitting to hating Delilah that Alexander sent her away. He says he wants no one other than Delilah and he wants to stay married to her. Delilah starts wearing her hair the way she wants and dressing the way she wants and Alexander just finds her more attractive. Alexander starts to help the workers around their home since he notices Delilah is friends with them. The workers try to overwork Alexander on purpose since they all hate him, I fucking loved it.


Alexander is jealous when he sees a worker named Davies helping Delilah out. The thought of her with another man hurts him which makes him understand how she must have felt. She used to look at him with love, but now she looks at him with disgust. He finds a loophole in the law book that when there is an annulment, there needs to be marriage counselling. So Archbishop Magnus is forced to do it for them and disses Alexander the whole time. Alexander is on the ground hugging Delilah’s legs, begging her to tell him what he can do to forgive him. All of Delilah’s friends say that in old traditions, they would throw produce and dunk the person they want to punish. So Alexander ties himself and lets everyone throw stuff at him. Delilah throws things at him and then Alexander has a dunking station set up and tells one of the workers to continue to dunk him. Delilah tells them to stop and when they are worried since Alexander is king and it was his orders, Delilah says she is the queen and to listen. It was so funny how Alexander took every single thing that everyone said seriously and would do it just for the possibility of Delilah forgiving him. He didn’t have any pride, he didn’t care if he would be in pain, he just wanted Delilah. When Delilah sees Alexander at night and he is shirtless, he begs her to touch him. When she does and he is turned on, she leaves him standing there to give him blue balls. Alexander would climb to Delilah’s balcony to leave her gifts. Delilah is sexually frustrated and when she tries to get off, Alexander sees and offers to help. Delilah says that there is no kissing and he is just going to be her sex toy. She makes him crawl to her and once he is done eating her out, he asks to sleep with her. She tells him to sleep on the floor and he happily does. He can only sleep well when he is near her and doesn’t even care if he isn’t given anything. But Delilah feels bad and gives him a blanket.


Delilah thinks about possibly being with another man and can’t see herself being happy. Alexander continues to grovel and plead with Delilah to forgive him. He asks her to go rock climbing and Delilah doesn’t hold back on how good she is at it. Alexander is surprised and impressed, he doesn’t discourage her from being better than him, even asking for advice. Delilah admits she didn’t show him her true self since she was afraid he wouldn’t like her. But he says he loves her for who she is and wants to continue to get to know the true her. Delilah slowly folds since she sees how much effort Alexander is putting in. Alexander is repulsed by the idea of being with another woman now that Delilah has completely fallen out of love with him. But Delilah and all her friends noticed the changes in Alexander and don’t blame her for slowly thinking about forgiving him. She is learning how to do something with Davies and Alexander threatens him to leave his wife alone. When Delilah was sitting down after swimming, he asks to get her off and they end up fucking. Alexander cries when it's over since he thinks he won’t be able to kiss or touch her again. Delilah lets him sleep with her and tells him she will give him another chance. When she was arguing with Alexander she asked if he would shovel shit and she woke up to him not in bed. She had doubts he was with another woman to find him shovelling shit and filming it since he thought she wouldn’t believe him. When she says she will give him another chance, he cries and hugs her, you can feel how happy he is. A year later, they renew their vows, and a year after that, they have a baby boy. This book was so entertaining, the grovel was so satisfying. Seeing Alexander grovel and beg was the best, the beginning was a little rough since I thought Delilah didn’t have a backbone. But once she grew one, she was iconic. All of her friends were amazing and I can’t see Delilah happy with anyone else.


Stay safe folks!

[Jac K · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had potential, but the execution of the “betrayal” was handled devoid of any real emotions that killed any feels for me. Also, the grovel was taken so far overboard that it took it completely off the rails.

The blurb sets this up, Delilah is swept off her feet by Prince Alexander and the two quickly marry and find themselves the king and queen. Soon her fairytale comes crashing down when she finds her husband screwing his beautiful Chief of Staff over his desk.

This sets up the rest of the book which consists of Delilah trying to make her husband happy for a short time by reading blow job books until she’s had enough and tells him to go kick rocks which quickly turns him into a pathetic mess of a man begging for forgiveness.

Sounds ok except …


His cheating was a cultural thing. He loved his wife, the OW meant nothing to him, and he truly and stupidly didn’t think there was anything wrong with it. His parents did it as well as everyone at court, and she sort of reinforces it because after she catches him with the CoS, she almost immediately had sex and told him she loved him when he came to her room and told her it meant nothing which should've been the point where she told him that cheating wasn't part of her culture. (they're from different areas or countries)

Over the weeks that she's "trying to make him happy", she never once said she was upset, told him to stop, stated it was a deal breaker, shared that it caused her pain, or mentioned she wanted him to be faithful. She voiced NOTHING to communicate that his lifestyle was unacceptable.

Now, I would think that not screwing OW would be implied with matrimony, but this is a made-up country with a pretend culture, so I went with it, and lo and behold once she uses her words and tells him sleeping around is a hard limit, he immediately agrees to monogamy. Poof...problem solved.

But no, we have to read an entire book of her being furious because they never communicated, and him begging like a dog when I don't think he intentionally hurt her. I would have MUCH rather preferred that he had cheated on her because he was bitter because his parents forced him to get married, and she grew on him. THAT would warrant him groveling.

Bottom Line- I like grovel but this wasn’t groveling, this was humiliating, and that wasn't fun to read. Alexander was a dud. He cheated but did it in a clueless, unemotional way, so it didn’t even generate betrayal because the dum-dum didn’t know he was doing anything wrong. I liked that he sent his mother and OW away but hated that he became a weak King. Delilah wasn’t super likable, so it was hard for me to be invested in her. I felt no chemistry and no angst. The only real emotion I felt was Alexander’s panic of losing her which got old. I read these types of books for the angst.

Safety- I only remember two scenes on page. One with the CoS and the other with his secretary. Both were having sex, but over within sentences. From his POV we're told they mean nothing and are no more personal than using his hand. And his time with OW usually consists of BJ's and are sporadic.

[Margo · Rating 3 out of 5]

An outrageous cheater sees the light and grovels. He is completely unrepentant at first and the h grows a spine, and fast.

I liked this book a lot but I would’ve liked it more if the scenes with the OW’s weren’t so graphic. Also I felt like the sex scenes in general were more pornographic and less erotic. I guess I would say they were more from the male gaze, or at least that’s how it seemed to me. No insult intended there, but that aspect didn’t work for me. Still, I’m going to be reading her next books because she definitely understands the “outrageous betrayal to perma-grovel” arc.

[Марія Маргуліс · Rating 4 out of 5]

Таке ж смішне та гротескне, як попередня книжка. Мі лайк іт.

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars (and no not for the cheating since I knew he was a cheater going in ) because 1) she didn’t make him get tested after finding out he cheated who knows how many times and 2) because she didn’t make him wear a condom after deciding to be with him again. Thats the least of what he deserved. Oh he was just so gross I was hoping this would end in his death, which sadly it didn’t

[Tabatha Reed · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

If you are considering reading or have read this, you probably signed up for the grovel. Overall, this is pretty entertaining.

This is obviously not a safe read. The hero is a serial cheater and gets caught on page, twice. He is a spoiled prince and doesn't think much of the cheating because it doesn't mean anything to him. Obviously, his wife disagrees. She finds a loophole in their arrangement and uses it to get out of the marriage without any agreement from the king.

You have to suspend your disbelief for a lot of this but it was a fun read. He does grovel for the majority of the book. It was fun to watch him realize she meant business and see him scramble to earn her forgiveness.

He did a decent job of groveling. I wish more of his grovel had been directly focused on how he could prove to her he wouldn't cheat again. He mostly embarrassed himself a lot trying to grovel. I'm glad he was willing to sacrifice his dignity in the name of the grovel though.

[LaBlue]

Finally, I was really enjoying this book and its pacing by this author for once, right up until I started feeling sorry for the MMC. Around the 56% mark you begin to see him acting like a kicked puppy who was finally learning to pee on the wee wee pad and not on the floor. How can you hate on a character that comes off as an ignorant child, who really didn’t know better. I hate when this author turns her MMC’s into such sad saps as the only way for them to change or show remorse. Why would I be interested in a story where the MMC devolves into needy clingy toddler?

FINAL UPDATE

I actually did enjoy this story, especially in comparison to this author’s other works. However, I just didn’t like the degradation of the MMC in order to facilitate his repentance and earn forgiveness. He’s a KING, for craps sake. He can’t be that downtrodden and still be a world leader.

So, while I liked the utter ridiculous fantasy of this story, as it actually works with this author’s unrealistic characters and behaviors, it still isn’t what I want to see for the MMC’s. I absolutely want a comeuppance for poor hurtful choices, but I do not want humiliation and lobotomizing of any characters to achieve it. That’s a hard no for me. I mean seriously, the author had the MMC covered in two different types of animals feces in two separate scenes. Not only is that disgusting, it completely ruins any romance for the character I’m reading a romance story for!

Good luck.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hugely entertaining from the first chapter. Peppered with whimsical moments, quirky details, and droll dialogue.

Summary:
Marrying the King of Norjava feels like a dream come true to plain, unassuming illustrator, Lady Delilah of Gesaint. That is, until she catches her bridegroom in flagrante delicto during their wedding reception.

Despite her public humiliation, Delilah is willing to give King Alexander a second chance. She assumes she’s the problem and bends over backwards to please her husband, including learning countless fancy bj techniques, meanwhile herself unsatisfied in bed and too timid to ask for what she wants. But no matter how many ice cubes she stuffs in her mouth during fellatio, Alexander continues to cheat.

Realizing the King hasn't abandoned his cheating ways, Queen Delilah stops trying to please and impress him and starts chasing her own satisfaction. And I love that for her.

She files for annulment and, in an absolutely delightful scene, delivers Alexander the paperwork mid-floozy-fuck.

Once Alexander realizes how badly he fucked up and that he might actually lose the wife he so clearly adores (as we see from his POV chapters), he immediately regrets his infidelities and launches a mission to win Delilah back. As he strives to convince Delilah to give him a second third chance before the annulment is finalized, the King sinks to increasingly dramatic and pitiful lengths--to readers’ great entertainment.

Delilah:
-Delilah’s self-doubt and introspection make it easy for the reader to empathize with her.
-I wish we’d heard more about the outrageous “tips and tricks to drive him wild” Delilah was studying.
-I lovvvvved when she debased him by telling him he was basically a sex toy and using him. Good for her.

Alexander:
I liked Alex from the moment he said, “You didn’t have to leave the party,” to his wife after he publicly humiliated her by fucking his staff person on their wedding day. Because, clearly, this man is delusional, and nothing beats a delulu mmc.

Alexander is adorable even as a cheater. He’s just so simple. He doesn’t know any better. Total himbo. And he clearly feels strongly for Delilah, even if he has no self-awareness.

Alexander is more than sufficiently repentant and, as a result, easily forgivable (for the reader, at least). However, so much of the book was Alex chastising himself, feeling guilty, or simping over Delilah, it got to be repetitive. Still, I really enjoyed Alexander’s pathetic desperation.

Magnus:
Magnus was my favorite part of the book. Immediately obsessed with him from the moment he pulled a freaking powdered donut out of his pocket. From that point on, I was always ecstatic to see him on page; with fantastically funny lines, his character a great comedic addition and always delivered. If you ask Magnus, he’s the main character.

This Coffee:
“Now I would definitely miss the coffee. Full-bodied, perfectly balanced, with a perfect amount of cinnamon spice cream the kitchen staff made themselves.”
^^I want this. Someone make this happen for me.

Criticisms?
I had never read a cheating romance before, or at least not one where the love interest is the cheater. Having now read one, I can say—I would have liked to see more (detailed) cheating?? I really wanted to be infuriated with the mmc and the fmc to have an absolutely unhinged revenge and burn his life to the ground before the mmc’s redemption arc. With Norjava’s Saint Constance also being the patron saint of vengeance, I was expecting there to be more vengeance. There was minimal vengeance. 80:20 grovel/vengeance ratio.

My main criticisms of Prince Cheating Charming are it’s pacing and disjointed feel. There were times where it felt like a scene was missing or an important bit of dialogue had been left out. I was confused about certain plot points and unsure if I’d read carelessly or if something was actually missing. I kept trying to go back and clarify with no luck.

For example, one point that particularly stood out was King Alexander’s sudden awareness of his responsibility towards his subjects and the way he treats other people. I felt like I missed a conversation—and I legitimately might have, as both characters seem to reference something Delilah said to Alexander about him being selfish and inconsiderate. However, I couldn’t find the conversation despite searching various word combos in Kindle.

In addition, Alex’s brief and abrupt awareness of his responsibility to his subjects didn’t really lead anywhere. It would have been interesting to see more of Alexander’s development as a leader or reshaping his country’s leadership structure and taking a step back, like in Alyssa Cole’s A Prince on Paper (if I remember correctly) tied in with his self-growth in relation to Delilah.

Another pacing/structure element that that impacted my experience reading this book—we really don’t get much pre-marital relationship build-up. Through the characters’ eyes, we later glimpse flashbacks of their early relationship and wedding, but since the flashbacks occur farther in the book, I did not really understand what drew Alexander to Delilah because her praised qualities were so generic. And maybe that’s the point, because Delilah is also initially unsure why Alexander wants her. However, for me, the result was that I was not really invested in the success of their relationship.

Conclusion:
Overall, this was a fun, campy, and charming book, and I can’t wait to read Dirty Rotten Cheating Husband.

[Lana · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars - Loved it!
It was funny with the side characters taking Delilah's side and hating on the hero - their employer.

I wanted to shake the heroine for being with him just after catching him publicly cheating on her on their wedding day. But she grows an incredibly strong backbone and I'm proud of her growth. Not just because she stood her ground until she relented, but because she also came to accept herself - her hair, clothes, mannerisms, painting and rock climbing talents.. she didn't want to hide anymore and I loved that for her.
The hero did well with realizing the errors of his ways. Part of him thought it was acceptable to cheat since that was what his parents did, and he grew up spoiled enough to see getting "serviced" by others as a convenience. Delilah leaving him was a wake up call to his douche-canoe ways.

How badly does he grovel, you ask?
✔️ Continuously buys her flowers and gifts that she gives away/throws out
✔️ Cleans and works in the kitchen every day to prove he cares about his staff
✔️ Shovels shit in the stables
✔️ Makes a press conference admitting his mistakes and how he would do anything to get her back
✔️ Has his employee put him in a wooden stock in front of the town and encourages everyone to throw rotten vegetables at him just because she joked about it as a punishment
✔️ Put in a wooden dunking stool, almost getting himself drowned before she stops it
✔️ Cries and begs on his knees
✔️ Willingly used in a...naughty way - with no relief for himself.
✔️ Kicks out the other women he cheated with who treated Delilah terribly (I mean, she's the Queen, why are they talking back to her at all?), and reassigned them to a crappy posting.

HIs grovel starts from 25% of the book until about 90%

While I loved how much he humiliated himself to win her back, I did want him to take it a step further to prove how he wouldn't cheat again - not just that he'd be broken without her. Maybe a scene where he gets propositioned again and he nips it in the bud?

[Lu Bielefeld]

DNF 60%

[Bev]

WTH was that? DNF @ 56%

[Bibliophile25 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really sure -2.5

Firstly, grammar and spelling are good. The plot is decent, the foundation is there and it’s got good bones. Love a good betrayal and grovel, and there’s plenty of both.
However, it feels kind of immature. I like a good long hard grovel, but Alexander just felt really weak and child like, not at all coming across as a powerful King. He comes across more like a high school kid than a man. Delilah has a complete 180 turn in personality, it was like 2 different women and I’m not sure I liked either of them. It also doesn’t feel like a contemporary romance, but I may have missed that if it’s billed as historical. I thought her friends were rather odd too.
Overall, not sure I like this authors style. I’ll give the second book a try but I won’t read this one again

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would never have thought I would bother trying a book about a cheating husband (unless he got flayed or something lol). But this was recommended by someone I trust, and I fiercely loved it! Firstly, this book is hilarious. Genuinely made me laugh out loud repeatedly! The supporting characters are so fun! Everything Maurice the chef says is gold. Archbishop Magnus is a delight, and he leads the worship of St. Constance, the patron saint of vengeance? Perfection, truly.

If you read for clever, quirky, distinctive writing, this book is for you.

Now we’ll talk about the serious underpinnings, so feel free to skip this part if you only want to think about the fun, because from here we’re talking subtext.

There is a brutal truth at the heart of this book: Women will put up with things we absolutely shouldn’t when we are in love. We will accept a selfish, demanding, thoughtless lover as long as he isn’t overtly cruel. Delilah accepts that her husband doesn’t care about her pleasure, and it doesn’t keep her from caring about his. She internalizes the criticisms from his inner circle and seeks to live up to an ideal image she assumes he would prefer; she folds, spindles, and mutilates her self-image to avoid risking his likely disappointment at discovering who she truly is. Above all, she never asks for anything beyond the effortless bare minimum he deigns to offer her. This is the most relatable relationship status ever, and the part that makes it a fantasy is not that he’s a king.

The fantasy is twofold. Obviously that he is so stricken by her pain and rejection that he will do anything to win her back, but beyond that, there is a fantasy inherent to the cheating trope itself: This relationship has not died of a thousand cuts by the time he notices she’s ready to walk away. The high drama of his humiliating perfidy so early in their marriage arrests the relationship at what might have been its height. She never has time to fall out of love with him; rather, her rage crystallizes her love and sets it aside as irrelevant in the face of his betrayal.

That’s the fantasy. He hurts her in an outrageous and galvanizing fashion before she can grow disgusted by the numerous ways he’s seemingly enjoyed her catering to his selfishness, before she can run out of patience for making herself small to suit his ego. Her righteous anger gives her leave to speak her truth on every subject she’s held back about, and the truth inspires him to do better in meaningful ways.

All the flowers to Katie Landry. This was a wonderful read, beginning to end.

[Jackie · Rating 1 out of 5]

lol yeah it’s as bad as the title sounds.

[Kathleen Lemke (Kathy Page) · Rating 2 out of 5]

My rating: 2 1/2 stars

What I loved: I liked that Delilah(h) stood up for herself and made Alexander(H) grovel (I just think it was too much). I especially liked how Alexander sent the ow and his mother away.

What I didn’t like: I felt like Alexander became a weak king. I get that he wanted to grovel but some of the stuff was just too much. He definitely made himself look like a fool and it ruin the grovel for me.

***Major Spoilers/ Details/Triggers: Cheating. H is the prince from a neighboring country and h comes to visit when invited. h is from a poorer country and is more down to earth. H’s father wants him to marry. When H meets the h, he likes her right away and picks her to marry. After marrying, h starts to feel insecure and ow(s) in the palace along with is mother say rude comments to her. When h goes to look for the H she catches him having sex with ow. h embarrass runs but the H goes after her and basically tells her it’s nothing. h starts to wear sexy lingerie and looks up new sex acts to stop the H from cheating. When she overhears him telling the ow that he will have sex with her later and hears him tell the headmistress that the h loves him and she will never leave him, h decides to find a way out of the marriage. With the help of her friends who work at the palace she finds a loop hole that allows her to annul the marriage in thirty days. h goes to give the papers to the H and catches him having sex with a different ow. h tells him she is done and H realizes he messed up. H begs the h to forgive him and tells her that they didn’t mean anything, that men in his country cheat on their wives and so do the wives. h not having it tells the H she is done with him. H goes about to right his wrong. Announcing publicly that he was an idiot, removing the ow from the palace, having the public throw rotten vegetables at him, begging on his knees….the list goes on. Finally the h decides to give the H another chance. HEA they renew their vows and have a baby boy.

Final thoughts: This was my first book by this author and it was just ok for me. I think the H looked like a fool instead of a man righting his wrong with some of the things he did (not all but some).

[MasterSal]

DNF at 53%

This romance features a cheating husband- which is not something I would read but I was curious. Unfortunately this book was very one note and halfway through the “grovelling” as basically the same thing again and again. Combined with the fact that the romance felt very rushed - more like a prologue than romance. It left me feeling like I didn’t care about the couple or that the “hero” cheated. And in a book if you don’t care about the cheating then it’s time to bail.

[Selena Quattromani · Rating 1 out of 5]

Um… No.

[Aarann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was gross in a lot of ways. First, Alexander cheated on Delilah, repeatedly, with multiple women, and the first time she caught him, comes to see her immediately after she catches him. After a quick, "It's fine, honey," he then proceeds to have sex with her too. So... gross.

Delilah takes him back based on that finicky excuse and internalizes his reasons for cheating, but somehow convinces herself he won't do it again. I'm aware women do this, but it rang as more Because the Plot Said So than because I believed any of the monologuing (part of this could have been alleviated by more page time and less caricatures of antagonists, but I'm not sure her thought processes would have ever convinced me based on his easy, "Eh, bygones," way of waving away the fact that he'd been having sex with another woman earlier that day. So... again, his attitude is gross.

But all that was supposed to be gross. It was supposed to be an impetus for Delilah to get mad. Then she decides to grow a spine and purposely catches him in his room with another woman after she'd overheard them planning an assignation. She says some pretty glorious things along the lines of (paraphrasing here), "It's really stupid to fake an orgasm, he doesn't care if you come anyway," and "Hey, look, I found a way to annul this marriage in spite of your kingdom's antiquated laws." Cool. We're at the grovel portion.

But dear lord, I don't know if I've ever felt so dirty watching a grovel like this. I mean, okay, it starts out fine, but then progresses into sheer repeated self-induced humiliation on Alexander's part. Remember how uncomfortable it was when Robin Thicke was caught cheating on his wife and made getting her back a public spectacle? It was that times about a million. This involved cleaning kitchen floors in a suit and allowing people to throw rotten food at him -- keeping in mind this is supposed to be the King of a whole-ass country.

The author could have alleviated some of this by having a bit more page time dedicated to Delilah and Alexander's happiness prior to her catching him the first time, or something other than a "D'oh! It never occurred to me you might be hurt by this." And while I'm not a big fan of heroines who are lead around by their vaginas, there is a balance between weak-willed FMCs who fall on their backs every time the hero crooks a finger, and showing chemistry between the leads.

By the end of the book, I (and Alexander because the dude decided to clean out stables) wanted a shower. There's groveling and then there's the dehumanization and constant humiliation of an admitted asshat. I get the need to show change and humility on the part of a royal who had everything in his life handed to him, but this... I dunno... after a while, it felt like torture porn. Gross...

[Serial Romance Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well that was a hot mess. Judging by the cover, I wasn’t expecting much. It was quite superficial and unrealistic, but it was entertaining. I was here for the groveling, and it delivered.

[Tmstprc · Rating 1 out of 5]

Starts somewhat entertaining—royalty in a fictional kingdom.

Silly waste of time.

[Tessa]

Ehhh, it's only a novella, but I still ended up DNF 🤷‍♀️

[S Celeste · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me first say I loved this Novella.

Lady Delilah Arden of Gesaint lives in a leaking manor with her uncle and is unexpectedly invited to a party for the Crown Prince who is seeking a wife. She didn’t expect to fall in love at first sight with the handsome crown prince and she most certainly didn’t expect him to propose and marry her. She is sheltered and she puts up with a fair amount of ridicule from the court, but she is confident in her love for him and his for her right up until she catches him in the act of cheating. After the first time she endures and carries on, but after the second time she decides she is leaving. Little does she know that her decision to leave wakes Alexander up and he does not want to let her go.

I wasn’t expecting much at all. I usually hate books that have cheating but this book did a really good job of making the MMC grovel in the most redeeming way. loved it! I loved it so much I read it twice. I look forward to more books from this author, if all cheating/redemption/second change books were written this way with the FMC coming out stronger on the other side I would read them more often. Great book and I’m so happy I discovered it on Booksirens.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Breen · Rating 5 out of 5]

"When you see the word 'cheat' in a book it's always complicated, you just give it a try or let it pass, I'm usually a no-no girl for this tripe, BUT this time there was something that called me and I gave it a try. So proud of myself for trusting my guts!!! Don't wait any second and give it a try, I know it might be a complex trope but I swear the author did a marvelous job. The story was addictive and the emotions so raw and pure that I was happy, sad, mad, exasperated, annoyed, tempted...to me, a story that makes you connect and feel this much, deserves a praise, so easy as that. Alexander definitely messed it up, no excuses, and Delilah had all the right to end everything between them, but all can change in 30 days and being close to lose someone surely change people. I loved the dual POV, understanding the situation with different perspectives was magnificent. Plus, if you are all for the groveling, well this one served you right, bit funny, silly and chaotic lol (you can judge the methods but no the results). A story that I had zero expectations just an open minded that completely amazed me."

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a nice, quick read. I loved how distraught this guy was once he realized his wife was serious about leaving him. I even almost felt bad for him a few times even though he deserved it. She really makes him work for it, and she has a sharp tongue.

The grovel was good. He tried everything, not just begging. Though he also did a lot of that.

The humor in this was also a delightful surprise. When she told him that he's frightening the normal people and that other countries were going to start invading, I laughed out loud.

[Bookomaniac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairytale short-story of a prince of a fictional country marrying an obscure noblewoman, then repeatedly cheating on her. She discovers a loophole in the marriage agreement and pushes for divorce. Only then does he realize the magnitude of his stupidity and the hurt he has caused his beloved wife. His grovel is long and extensive. It's a fantasy cheater-reformation story and works on that level. I love the fact that the wife was willing to walk away from a crown, rather be humiliated by the man she loved.

[Mo ♡]

This was hilarious and a pile of shit. Literally read this for bants 💀, not even kidding. It was full on satirical, felt like some kind of humiliation kink and was just so awful. 🗑🤢
If you want a good laugh and are looking to pass the time, just read this awful book and don't take it seriously cause I know I didn't. 😭🫶

[V]

DNF @ 51%. I’m actually dying laughing at how horrible this book is 😭 it’s so dramatic and stupid. Unfortunately, it’s not even entertaining enough for me to ignore all the glaring issues with it. Cringing like crazy

[jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made me laugh. The side characters were a hoot too.