{A Resplendent Royals Review} Royally Benevolent by Maude Winters

Royally Benevolent by Maude Winters
Series: Resplendent Royals #4
on February 14th, 2025
Genres: Fiction, Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Pages: 345
Buy on Amazon, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australia, Storygraph, BookBub
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After an unexpected accident, two hearts collide—will love take shape or shatter under pressure?

When Princess Odette's bike collides with a distracted driver, it shakes up her life in more ways than one. A handsome stranger jumps in to catch her beloved dog at the scene. By the time they part, she has a crush on the American hero who rose to the occasion.

Wyatt Worthington is out grabbing a cup of coffee when he spots a cyclist in trouble. He doesn't know the girl on the bike is a princess and she doesn't know he's actually a benevolent billionaire.

As their paths continue to cross, their friendship grows. Wyatt isn't too bothered by Odette's status and Odette doesn't treat Wyatt differently because of his. They dig in to improve safety for the citizens of her beloved city, but is that all it is?

Sparks fly as they find common ground in their love of service and shared history of loss. Wyatt is a widower with a young son and Odette lost both her parents in childhood. With their past and mental health struggles keep them apart?

Will they overcome the odds and let love grow, or will history hold them back?

I received Royally Benevolent for free. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Also in this series: Royally Drawn, Yachts and Yuletide

The fourth story in the Winters’ Resplendent Royals series is just as amazing as the first three. This novel focuses on Princess Odette and American billionaire, Wyatt Worthington. While these two might not seem like they would work on paper, from their very first adrenaline fueled meet-cute, it is obvious that these two were a match made in heaven.

This story brings Odette and Wyatt and their passion for cyclist and pedestrian safety while on the roads. Odette takes over the patronage of Vision 360 and Wyatt is on the board of what I understood of the city planning. Odette and Wyatt start off forming a friendship while they plan to get the board’s approval to reconfigure or add additional protections to several of the city’s most dangerous intersections. Believe me, Winters makes it extremely interesting to read about. Odette is a cyclist who was hit by a car while biking which she had her dog with her. It was that intersection that she wanted to change first. While the plans to recharge the city’s safety, Odette and Wyatt become closer.

One big theme of this novel is mental health. Both Odette and Wyatt have met tragedies and hardships in their lives. Odette is hesitant to enter into a new relationship after the spiral she went through after the end of a toxic relationship. Wyatt is hesitant because he lost his wife three years earlier, he has a four-year-old son he needs to put first, and the fact that he is thirteen years older than Odette. Wyatt had his own bout with depression when he lost his wife, worked hard for several years through therapy, and continues to manage his symptoms with medication. Odette’s recovery was rocky at the best of times but with a combination of family support, mental health professionals, and medications she was able to stabilize her daily life. Winters told the pair’s mental health journeys with respect and knowledge. She did her due diligence with her research and brought a realness to the characters that pulled me in.

As for all the secondary characters, we have Odette’s three sisters, her brother-in-law, Rick, Wyatt’s son, Theo, Wyatt’s mother and sister, and Odette’s adorable dog, Grieg. Every scene with Theo and Grieg was amazing. Odette’s instant connection with Theo tugged hard on my heartstrings. While it was not explicitly said, Grieg seemed like a service animal for Odette. He works hard to help her in some situations when she suffers panic attacks and when she needs an extra dose of love. One relationship I loved seeing on the page was Odette’s relationship with Rick. He was such a good source of support and gave Odette some amazing advice. With both of her parents gone, Rick filled a void and did it well.

I thought this was to be the last story in this series, but I was excited to see at the end of this book that Winters has two more books in this series to be released in 2025. I can’t wait for more!

If you haven’t read this series, check out Royally Rebellious, Royally Rivalled, Royally Drawn, and the companion novella, Yachts and Yuletide, that Winters wrote with her husband, L Darby.