The Playboy Prince and the Nanny

Alward launches a duet with this glamorous but shallow tale of two thinly characterized lovers from opposite sides of the modern class divide. Rosalie is a highly trained nanny to the upper crust, but she’s never before had literal royalty as a client. When Diego, prince of a fictional European country, hires her to care for the children of his brother, crown prince Raoul, more than her living circumstances change. Adjusting to live under the paparazzi’s eye is hard, but she’s more stumped by the attempt to reconcile Diego’s playboy reputation and behavior with the caring, hard-working man she’s coming to know. For his part, Diego briefly struggles with a superficial and easily forgotten respect for the intrinsic power imbalance between staff and royalty. The story is suffused with Downton Abbey’s romantic notions about class and family ties but lacking its quirks and gentle humor. Readers taken with glamorous settings are likely to enjoy this novel, but beyond the fancy trappings there’s not much to recommend. Agent: Karen Solem, Spencerhill Associates. (Aug.)