Striking by Bella Matthews
Release Date: July 17, 2025
Series: Red Lips & White Lies Book #7
Pages: 276
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
An accidental marriage, forbidden, billionaire romance, From USA Today and #1 Amazon Best Selling Author, Bella Matthews.
In my defense, I never planned on marrying my husband.
But after one wild night and one too many cocktails, I wake up tangled in silk sheets, with a diamond ring on my finger, a sinfully sexy prince next to me in bed, and palace guards banging on the door with devastating news.
The king is dead.
And apparently, my accidental husband is next in line for the throne.
Now I'm stuck navigating crowns, cameras, and a man I barely know but somehow can't keep my hands off—all while figuring out what to do with this mistake of a marriage. But Rhys Windsor doesn't look at me like a mistake. He looks at me like I'm his only truth.
They say a little white lie never hurt anyone... but this little lie could destroy a dynasty.
My Review:
For Bellamy Wilder having a calming place to vacation, while also having time to focus on her studying is all she wants before taking the biggest test of her nursing career. Little did she know that her life was about to change forever, the minute a handsome stranger shows up at the villa where she is staying. A storm brings them together and he introduces himself as Rhys Windsor, heir to the throne of Mornea. There is something about Bellamy that Rhys can’t ignore, her aura is magnetic and it’s evident that the two are very much attracted to each other. It’s refreshing to be away from his royal responsibilities back home and Rhys plans to take advantage of that by spending more time with Bellamy and her family.
Soon they realize just how much they have in common after going through life changing experiences in their lives. Inviting her home should have given a chance to show her a very important cause to him, but it’s after a night of too many drinks that they wake up married. Bellamy has worked really hard to get to where she is and she is not about to move to a different country on a whim. But Rhys has other ideas and gives her the chance to make a big difference in millions of lives as his queen. He just needs to convince her to give them a chance before it’s too late.
I throughly enjoyed reading Striking, the characters’ stories were relatable and is able to write about the heavy topic in the book really well. I would double check trigger warmings before reading the book. While the heavy topic in the book takes place, the characters also have to deal with their new reality of being married. Bellamy has to learn to navigate her new life and has to decide if she truly wants to leave everything behind. Rhys thought that he still had time to live his life before becoming king, yet he has to find the strength to figure out how to get his people to accept her while also trying to get Bellamy to see just how perfect they are together. All in all, this story was sweet and the ending was perfect for them. I cannot wait to read the previous books in the series! :)
***I received an advanced copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own.***