Published: April 7th, 2015
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Genre: Contemporary Royal Romance
# of pages: 558 (Mass Market Paperback)
My rating: 5 stars
Acquired this book: Won on Instagram
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Buy: Amazon Canada || Amazon US || Indigo
American Rebecca Porter was never one for fairy tales. Her twin sister, Lacey, has always been the romantic who fantasized about glamour and royalty, fame and fortune. Yet it's Bex who seeks adventure at Oxford and finds herself living down the hall from Prince Nicholas, Great Britain's future king. And when Bex can't resist falling for Nick, the person behind the prince, it propels her into a world she did not expect to inhabit, under a spotlight she is not prepared to face.
Dating Nick immerses Bex in ritzy society, dazzling ski trips, and dinners at Kensington Palace with him and his charming, troublesome brother, Freddie. But the relationship also comes with unimaginable baggage: hysterical tabloids, Nick's sparkling and far more suitable ex-girlfriends, and a royal family whose private life is much thornier and more tragic than anyone on the outside knows. The pressures are almost too much to bear, as Bex struggles to reconcile the man she loves with the monarch he's fated to become.
Which is how she gets into trouble.
Now, on the eve of the wedding of the century, Bex is faced with whether everything she's sacrificed for love-her career, her home, her family, maybe even herself-will have been for nothing.
The Royal We has been on my radar since 2015. I kept saying I would read it, but I always put it off, and after all these years I have to admit the hype had me nervous to finally start. The hype was justified, though, and I loved this book for so many reasons.
I’ve been a ‘royal watcher’ since I was a child. Like many, I adored Princess Diana, and I mourned with the world when she died. I’m halfway between Princes William and Harry age-wise, and having lost a parent myself just a few years before, watching them publicly grieve made me feel a strong connection to them. I paid slightly less attention to them as I grew up, but Will and Kate’s engagement rekindled my interest. The fact The Royal We is basically Will and Kate fanfiction was a huge draw for me, and it didn’t disappoint.
My favourite part of the book was the beginning, when Bex and Nick were in Oxford, largely in their own little world, separate from the duties and responsibilities of Nick’s usual life as a prince who would one day be king. I enjoyed watching them become friends and then watching as their friendship blossomed into something more. This part of the book was the most relatable - watching them fall in love, watching Bex make new friends, adjust to life in England, miss her family back home, and basically have a normal college experience except for the fact she was friends with a prince.
I did thoroughly enjoy the royal aspect of the book too. You could feel Bex’s frustration and pain at not being able to go public with Nick while still having to deal with the press. I loved her friendship with Nick’s brother Freddie (the ginger-haired spare who was known for being a partying playboy...hmm, I wonder who he was based on?), and I appreciated the complexities of her relationship with her twin sister, Lacey. One of the things that really stuck with me is just how pervasive the media is. I don’t think I ever quite grasped the lengths people will go to for a story or a photo of a member of the royal family (or any celebrity). I’ve always been aware of the gossip - I make a point to scan the ludicrous headlines of the tabloids in the grocery store waiting line, just for giggles - but I try not to believe anything unless it comes from an official source. Many people don’t feel the same way, though, and will treat any and every crumb of gossip as fact, even if it’s wildly false. This book really makes you think about how things can be twisted and turned for the sake of a headline, how relationships can be damaged or ruined, and the strain it puts on the people who aren’t able to step outside their door without having it turned into a story.
Royal romances can be hit or miss for me, but this one knocked it out of the park. It’s laugh-out-loud funny, romantic, and it pulls at your heartstrings. Part of me regrets waiting so long to read it, while the other part of me is grateful I let the hype monster keep me away for so long because it meant I got to start the sequel, The Heir Affair, immediately and spend more time with these characters who came to mean so much to me.
Have you read The Royal We? Do you like royal romances? Have a favourite?
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~Marie