Book Review: The Royal We

From Goodreads: "I might be Cinderella today, but I dread who they'll think I am tomorrow. I guess it depends on what I do next." 

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.

Spanning nearly a decade, The Royal We is a richly imagined, emotionally compelling novel that examines, with warmth and wit, what truly happens after your prince has come. 

My Thoughts: So first things first, I'm a royalty/royal-history nerd. Always have been, way before Kate sashayed down that infamous runway. I've read numerous books and tons of articles about various royals and periods of royal history, I even took a British history class in college because my royal love leads easily into a love for England and all things British. I woke up crazy early to watch Diana's funeral and praised the world for DVR as I recorded Will and Kate's wedding. All this to say that it's not surprising that I read this book, though I wasn't entirely sure how it would go when I started it.

I needn't have worried; this book is fantastic. It is obviously inspired by Will and Kate but there are enough differences and areas where this story branches off that it easily kept me entertained. Actually, that's an understatement. I adored this book. I could not put it down, and when I did manage to set it down (darn work) I was thinking about Bex and Nick and all the other characters. The authors paint such vivid settings and have such detailed, interesting characters that everything just comes to life. I finished this a week ago and honestly these characters are still in my head. That's a great sign. I seriously recommend this.