For being an America, who does not have a deep history of the monarchy the way they do in Europe, I must admit that I do love me some royal fiction. And it seems like we get waves of good books featuring royal characters, and we seem to be in the middle of a big wave right now. If you need a good book with a handsome prince, or king, or beautiful princess or queen - or all of the above - check out some of these titles.
There are a couple of genres that I lean towards. Fiction about royalty is always one of my faves. So when I saw the title I was excited. I hadn’t heard of Armitage before - this is her first novel. Basic premise: Lexi is in the second year of medical residency in Tasmania when she finds out her father and brother were killed in a skiing accident. As if that isn’t hard enough to deal with, they were second and third in line for the throne of England. Which means Lexi now has to decide if she wants to give up her life and return home to claim her place in the family. I enjoyed this one (so did Reese Witherspoon because she selected it for her book club). There are lots of shades of the real British royals here, but nothing is an exact copy. I didn’t realize the author was Australian until about 3/4s of the way through. Then it made more sense why she was so obviously anti-crown. If you are into the royals in any way, this one is for you.
Yes! When I pick up a book and want to read about royals - this is the type of book that I am looking for. Lauren Morgan worked in the press office at the White House until her coworker boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend and Lauren got pushed out. Luckily, she’s able to land on her feet - at Buckingham Palace. (You know, like one does.) As the Interim Director of Communications, or Comms, it is her job to manage the mess of the royals, especially one particular hot duke. It doesn’t hurt that she’s also got a hot reporter on her radar. I really enjoyed this one. My only complaint is that she kept addressing the duke as “Your Highness.” Um…if he’s a duke, the correct address is “Your Grace.” No idea how I know that. I guess those Bridgerton lessons really paid off. This one has been picked up by Peacock to become a series, so get your reading done now to be ready for when it hits the small screen.
I thought this was gonna be something along the lines of The Princess Diaries. However, it ended up being more like Game of Thrones meets Pitch Perfect with a little Legally Blonde thrown in for fun (what, like it’s hard?). The small country of Ashland - located just east of Nova Scotia and south of Greenland - sent its heirs away 16 years ago for their safety (and their parents were horrible). Now they are back and ready to take their places. This includes attending the world’s most exclusive academy. Who will be successful and take the throne? When I found this one, I had no idea that it was a series, so I didn’t get all the closure I wanted from the first book. That said, I’m really enjoying these characters and because I was a little late to the game, the second one - Royal Liars - is already out. Score! So I don’t have to wait for more story (until I get to the end of the new one. Sigh.) Let the games begin - or continue, I guess.
This is a standalone book, but it is also kind of a spin off of early books by Karina Halle - specifically The Wild Heir. In The Wild Heir, we get the story of Magnus, the Crown Prince of Norway. Here, we revisit Magnus with his family. Laila has been working for them as a nanny for a while. When Magnus hires a new PPO - James Hunter (her ex) - for the kids, Laila has to deal with a relationship she thought was long dead. I really enjoyed Halle’s book, The Royals Next Door, so I was excited about this one as well. Honestly, I think it would have been better if I’dve read The Wild Heir first. You know how I hate not reading books in order. This one has some fun tried and true tropes, so it’s worth the time. Just be sure to read the other Nordic King books first. Who knows? Maybe it will make you want to take up skiing…
Ok. So this one is not specifically about royals (what? I know - wait for it…) but it is about the people who guard them. Maggie lives and works at the Tower of London. She’s a ticket taker and her dad is a retired Beefeater (that’s what the guards are called). Her job is boring and her coworkers are mean, but history-loving Maggie is willing to tough it out to stay in her surroundings. And then she sees the new guard. Under the big hat and red uniform, he’s pretty cute. At least she thinks so. It’s kind of hard to tell when he can’t even crack a smile while on duty. I enjoyed this one. Admittedly, it did stress me out how many times Maggie was late to work. I mean, come on honey - You. Live. There. Other than that, I really enjoyed these characters and having been to the Tower in person, it was fun to revisit that. No official royal sightings here, but this is royal-adjacent, and that counts too. Right?
I enjoy Nora Roberts (and JD Robb). When I saw she had a royals series, I knew it would be perfect for this post. Here’s the catch - I started reading The Playboy Prince - which is the third book in the series. AHHH! The horror! I only got about 50 pages in and I could tell I was missing part of the story, so I went online to check and that landed us where we are. Sigh. The first book in the series is Affaire Royale and while NPL has this in ebook (yay!), I had to put a hold on it (sigh - patience is a virtue). So because I have faith in Ms. Roberts and because I very much enjoyed the 50 pages I have read, I am going to recommend this series, even though I haven’t officially completed it. Get your hold on today and let’s read it together!
Ok friends. Those are my royal reads. Make yourself a cuppa and get comfy. And remember - keep calm and pinky up!
Happy royaling…
:) Amanda
