The Royal We, Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

I have been in love with this book for so many years that it simply feels natural for me to talk about it. My love for this novel is so deep that I can still remember the time that I first saw it at the Grove's Barnes and Nobles in California. Honestly, this book is much more than you think, when I was first reading it, I thought that this would be a simple romance novel, yet as I continued I discovered that this novel talked about so much more, which I will be talking about later on in this review. Also, I have been so obsessed with this novel that I have tried so hard to find similar novels, which have led me to novels like Romancing the Throne by Nadine Jolie Courtney and The Heir and the Spare by Emily Albright, which have only made me realize that this novel is such a precious gem.
The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan tells the story of Rebecca Porter or simply "Bex," who is just starting the school year at Oxford, yes, England, after she decided to take a year abroad from Cornell, where her twin sister, Lacy is still at. On her first day, she meets a rather handsome young man that goes by the name of Nicholas, simply known as Nick or AKA Steve as his friends call him when they are in public. Both bond over a conversation about monarchs with syphilis before Bex realizes that Nick is the future heir of the country. In the place where she is staying, she meets the people that will end up becoming her best friends. There's Cilla, Gaz, Joss, and Clive, who also happen to be Nick's best friends. On the other hand, it is almost inevitable for Bex and Nick to fall in love with each other, I mean, they binge-watch a series together almost every night, yet their love is simply not meant to be because Nick's already dating India and of course, Bex has been snogging Clive, literally Nick's best friend. The group goes through so many adventures and creates so many memories that as the story goes, you will feel like you are part of the group as well. 
I want to start by talking about the characters because I simply loved them so much! I love how Bex is someone that really doesn't care about gossip or royalty because it creates funnier scenes, like the syphilis scene. Although I did hate whenever she was being impulsive. I loved Nick because he portrayed vulnerability in certain scenes, while he was also seen as a prize by girls and simply as a friend by the other main characters. I really liked how the authors really emphasized on Nick's background and lifestyle, even though he was seen as a normal person by the group of friends because they gave us so much more of the character, which made me love him even more! As much as I love Bex and Nick, my favorite characters were Cilla and Gaz because they were SO funny that I cried due to the laughter. I loved Cilla's stories and Gaz' comments. 
On the other hand, I absolutely loved how this is basically royalty. I loved how they truly portray the lifestyles and the people, like Nick's family, including his father and his brother, Freddie, who I also love very much! I adored how the authors touched a lot on the things that you would expect in a royal family, like the pressure and the useless things that people can do for show or drama. 
I truly think that this book has made me become obsessed with the royals as much as they are! (FYI: the authors run a site called Go Fug Yourself, which I am obsessed with now as well). In the beginning, I truly didn't care at all about royals, yet now I am simply fascinated by their lifestyle. 
Also, I believe that Nick, Bex, and Freddie being inspired by William, Kate, and Harry is just a plus!
Something that I was not expecting from this novel was the many topics that it covers. I loved how they really emphasize on family, enemies, dreams, friends, love, jealousy, expectations and the unexpected. Although the novel is really long, you will feel like the novel is so short because of the so many different stories that are included. 
From the first page all the way to the last one, I was hooked, so much that I became obsessed with the audiobook and I still listen to it all the time, although I will admit that I only replay the scenes that I like, like the karaoke scene and the one that they talk about seeing Cats! If you're going to read the novel, be on the lookout for those!
Lastly, I want to congratulate the authors because they did an exceptional job with this novel. They were able to take such a complex world and narrate it in an incredible and not only heart-warming, but inspiring because this novel really made me want to try the unexpected and new things, just like Bex did when she moved to the other side of the world, to be something that her sister wasn't and to find herself in the world. Also, this novel has really made me wish that college is as fun as they describe it here, although I believe that it depends on the friendships that accompany me. 
I truly recommend The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan because it is witty, smart, fun and includes charming characters that will enter your heart from the very first time that they appear on paper! 

5 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua 

Romancing the Throne, Nadine Jolie Courtney

Romancing the Throne by Nadine Joline Courtney

I am OBSESSED with Royal romances. It started a couple of years ago when I read The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan. I just fell in love with the whole concept of falling in love with princes and having friends that have always lived well because of the old money they have always lived surrounded by. But honestly, what I really like is all the drama that always surrounded these characters and these stories. I mean, everything that happened in the story was eventually going to cause drama. After completely falling in love with everyone in The Royal We and obsessing myself with the royal story, I was craving for more. So, I started researching books that were similar. Honestly, I had such a long journey, I read The Heair and the Spare by Emily Albright and that didn´t end well because I liked the story, but I thought that the story was just too similar in a lot of parts to my favorite royal-romance novel, but not really fun like The Royal We.
That´s why when I first knew about Romancing the Throne, I was hesitant to read it. I knew that the story was somewhat going to be different from The Royal We since in this novel two sisters want to date the prince, but there was also another part of me that wasn´t sure about reading that type of novel because I knew that I would feel uncomfortable reading the novel and rooting for a couple knowing that her sister was also in love with the same guy, but honestly, it somehow worked in this novel and I am going to explain how later.
Romancing the Throne by Nadine Joline Courtney tells the story of Charlotte and Libby. Charlotte attends a private school with some of the teenagers that will become the most important people on Earth, including Edward, the prince. On the other hand, Libby attends an all-girl school that is the most competitive academically.
During summer break, Charlotte is invited to a party at India´s, one of Edward´s close friend, house. When Charlotte gets there, she sparks a conversation with Edward and they end up together the whole night and Charlotte goes home thinking that her chance to be Edward´s girlfriend has finally come.
But suddenly, Libby´s school is involved in a scandal, so she decides to transfer into Charlotte´s school in order to be able to get into a university and suddenly, Libby´s life changes completely. She is part of the group of people that will someday become the most influential and now that she is finally living with Charlotte, she is eager to meet Edward, Charlotte´s boyfriend.
Charlotte tries really hard to make Edward and Libby get along since they are the two people that she likes the most, but every time that the two are together, they seem to be getting closer that at some point, everyone in the group starts doubting that the two are only being friends since they are always acting very close to each other and they seem to be enjoying themselves.
Now, Charlotte and Libby seem to be fighting for the prince, while trying to keep the sister code.
So, I did enjoy Romancing the Throne, but it isn´t my favorite novel. There were too many things that I didn´t enjoy, but I found Edward to be super cute that I decided to keep reading.
I want to start by talking about the characters because I believe that this is going to be the longest part of the review.
So, I want to start by talking about Charlotte since she is the main character. I didn´t like her voice AT AT ALL! I found her extremely annoying because she was trying too hard to be something that she wasn´t and I know that if she wasn´t like that, the story would be completely pointless, but this made her look very immature. Also, her reactions made her very immature because she reacted very dramatically to everything!
On the other hand, I actually liked Libby a lot, but her character was rather plain because Charlotte was just too focused on herself that she wasn´t able to tell us how her sister was! But from the little personality that I got to see, I thought she was very nice and I really liked her. Yet, from what Charlotte explained about her sister, Libby was just a walking stereotype because the only thing that described her was that she attended an all-girls school and she only liked to study, so much that she didn´t even have friends. I was annoyed to see how Libby was just described as a stereotype because she wasn´t the main character. Similarly, Charlotte is portrayed as a stereotype as well. She liked to party and have fun with wealthy people and she just liked sports, which makes her the exact opposite of her sister, which makes them compete with each other continuously.
Now, Edward is a completely different story because I found him to be super adorable! The way Edward was portrayed was weird because he seemed to be a very typical YA male character, but at the same time, I found him to be very mature and act differently and entirely like a prince, he reminded me a lot of Nick from The Royal We, but in his youth since Nick is a college student when we meet him.
Similarly, I liked the way the main characters were surrounded by other supporting characters because they helped us understand the type of characters that they were, yet, on the other hand, I believe that the characters that were chosen to be part of the group were a bit similar to the group of friends from The Royal We. Also, I wanted them to have more personality and be actual characters rather than just names that were mentioned throughout the novel. 
I want to take the time to talk about how much I loved Libby and Edward. They were just SO cute! I mean, after immediately falling in love with Edward from the very first scene in which he was introduced, I still didn´t believe that he was the perfect guy for Charlotte because they felt more a fling rather than them actually dating. So, when Libby and Edward were finally together, I actually think that they were good together because they seemed to fit together very well and her story was going to be much more fun because she was new to the school and she was trying to adjust being part of a group of friends and having classes with different people, that´s why I would have liked to have the story narrated from her point of view or at least have the opportunity to know more about her relationship with Libby. So, in my opinion, approaching this novel from Charlotte´s point of view was a bad idea.
Similarly, I didn´t like the way the dialogues were because they made me roll my eyes and I found them very annoying and like I mentioned before, Edward was the only thing from this novel that made me keep reading.
Additionally, I was confused throughout the novel because it wasn´t specified that the story was in England. I mean, they only talked about Sussex Park, but they never said that it was in England, especially because they played hockey and they talked like Americans. 
Overall, I did not enjoy Romancing the Throne as much as I thought I would.

3 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua