The Royal We (The Royal We, #1)

by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

"In their first adult novel, authors Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan take on a story of romance and rivalries inspired by today's most talked-about royal couple: Will and Kate. "If I'm Cinderella today, 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 was always the romantic, the one who daydreamed of being a princess. But it's adventure-seeking Bex who goes to Oxford and meets dreamy Nick across the hall - and thus Bex who accidentally finds herself in love with the eventual heir to the British throne. Nick is everything she could have imagined, but Prince Nicholas has unimaginable baggage: grasping friends, a thorny family, hysterical tabloids tracking his every move, and a public that expected its future king to marry a native. On the eve of the most talked-about wedding of the century, Bex reflects on what she's sacrificed for love -- and exactly whose heart she may yet have to break.""--

• ISBN10: 1455557102
• ISBN13: 9781455557103
• Publish Date: 7 April 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Little, Brown & Company
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 464
• Language: English

Reviews

[cornerfolds]

It is common knowledge that I really don't read contemporary fiction. Basically ever. I was surprised at what a long book The Royal We was when I picked up the hard copy at the library a couple weeks ago and ended up putting it back down, deciding it probably wasn't worth my time. I'm not sure what it was about The Royal We that caught my attention and made me actually give it a try, but when I saw an audiobook copy available, I decided listening might give me the chance to hear the story without the effort of actually reading it. I am so glad I gave it a chance!

The Royal We is a love story, but it's so much more than that. This book spans over the course of several years and tells the story of Bex's life and relationships with several friends and family members. Bex is a fantastic, down to earth heroine who I loved getting to know and following over the years. I found her to be fun and spunky and believable, even if I did get the sense that the authors were trying to make her just a little too American at times with constant baseball and beer references. Even though I obviously have no idea what it would be like to become part of a royal family, I was able to easily sympathize with Bex and ended up falling in love with her, despite her issues (and her apparent snorting problem).

Apart from Bex, there is a huge cast of characters, but I never had a hard time keeping them straight and I loved almost all of them. Obviously, Nick is the main love interest, being the prince and all, and I really did enjoy him for the most part, even if I did want to beat him over the head once or twice. But perhaps my favorite character in The Royal We was Freddie, Nick's younger brother. He was hilarious but sweet and it was easy to understand how all the girls fell head over heels for him! One character I really couldn't stand was Lacey, Bex's twin sister. I didn't understand why she seemed to be SO much more immature than Bex, despite the fact that they were the exact same age. She irritated me almost from her introduction, but maybe that was the point. There is no way I can talk about all the characters in this book. Just know that they were all fantastic!

The plot of this book was surprisingly good. I really didn't know what to expect going in. You probably know that I read a lot of YA fiction, so I'm very used to the romantic love triangles found within the YA genre. It was actually very refreshing to read a book about a relationship that felt genuine and totally believable. It wasn't all sunshine and butterflies and there wasn't a ridiculous amount of completely ridiculous drama (although there was some drama, don't worry). I know a lot of people have complained and warned me that this was basically the story of Prince William and Kate Middleton, but with an American. Lucky for me, I know absolutely nothing about their relationship other than they keep having babies, and I was able to enjoy just about every minute of this story!

The one thing I didn't love about this book was the way it was split up. There are five parts, but it begins at the end, so there is no real mystery about whether or not Bex and Nick will ultimately end up together. Each part essentially ended at a different milestone in their relationship. Because of the narrative style, there were a few times it did seem to drag when I would have really preferred to speed things along. This wasn't a major sticking point though.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Royal We, which is way more than I thought I'd end up saying about it! Maybe this is because I don't pay attention to news or magazines and have no idea what's going on with the English royal family. Maybe the royal parts of it were enough fantasy to make me overlook my disdain for contemporary fiction. In any case, I thought this was a really great story and I would definitely recommend it to fans of contemporary romance (and even those who aren't)!

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

[Sam@WLABB]

I really loved this book! This is a great rom-com, with lots of heartfelt bits. The ups and the downs of Bex and Nick's relationship was surrounded by lots of humor. I spent a lot of this book with a wistful smile on my face, but I will admit, I shed some tears for Bex. A great read!

[Linda]

*I received a free ARC of The Royal We from Grand Central Publishing via Netgalley in exchange of an honest and unbiased review*

Cute story, but the blurred lines between real and fictional royals made it less enjoyable to me... even the timelines were pretty close.

This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews

[girlinthepages]

Do you like reading about royalty? Do you like witty, edgy, sometimes bordering on scandalous humor? Are you completely and unapologetically fascinated by the idea of a commoner and a monarch, an average person and a celebrity? If so, The Royal We is the perfect transcontinental novel for you, and you should be ordering it ASAP whether it's delivered to you by USPS or Royal Mail.

I was drawn to this novel immediately because 1. I am a sucker for all things royal and 2. I heard it's influenced by William & Kate's ten year courtship. Loving Kate Middleton as much as I do (she's the epitome of class) I stalked my local Barnes & Noble for weeks until I finally found it (it kept selling out before I could get my hands on it!) It's a bit of a tome at over 400 pages and small font, but I was up for the experience, eager to take a break from my normal YA reading in favor of some adult (or new adult? I honestly think it could fall under both genres...) fiction.

The novel spans nearly an entire decade, beginning with Rebecca (Bex) Porter, an American college student who heads to England for a year of studying abroad, only to find out she is in the same dorm as Nick, the heir to the British throne. After their "meet cute" in which Bex has no idea who he is and proceeds to treat him like anyone else with her brash humor, Bex starts to slowly realize what it means to become friends (and more) with the monarchy: constant security, little to no privacy, unrelenting paparazzi, and family secrets buried deep enough to leave wicked emotional scars that appear close to the surface.

The novel is broken up into several parts with a dates for each, creating a timeline of the ebb and flow of Bex and Nick's courtship. While this book did take longer than normal for me to read (a couple of weeks), I found that I liked taking a break after each part to digest what had happened and revisit the drama a few weeks later, as I could become over-saturated at times with some of the characters less than smart decisions. Yet part of the appeal of this book is that it is so raw and open about the dark and dirty parts of the characters lives, masquerading no shame or insecurity. While refreshing in its full disclosure, it did sometimes make me want to shake some sense into some of the characters (I did get a little tired of reading about everyone partying all of the time. I mean, I was seriously concerned about the state of the characters' livers). This candid portrayal of Bex, Nick, and so many of the others in their close circle made me feel not only connected to them, but as though they were my friends too. I wanted Gaz to throw me over the top elaborate parties, Bea to give me real talk when I needed it, and Cilla to give me her unwavering support. I really felt like I spent ten years with these people, and I'm still thinking about them, eager to know what happens in the next phase of their lives (please, please, please let there be a sequel!)

The authors (famous bloggers The Fug Girls) also manage to write the characters who ignite such rage and disgust in you, it's truly impressive. From brown-nosers who just want in with Nick because he's royal to old friends who can't shake a sense of expectation and entitlement from Bex once she's slated to be the next queen, I was really riled up by the betrayals and plot twists. They also did a fabulous job at portraying the messy family dynamics of Royalty with a capital R. There's multi-generational layers of family secrets, disdain, and neglect that manifest in small passive-aggressive ways that build a truly impressive foundation of dysfunction. Nick's parents haven't appeared together in years, Freddie's chronically thought of as "the spare to the heir," Queen Eleanor is a master manipulator, and the Queen Mum is possibly the best and most hilariously unfiltered character in the book. I felt such compassion for how Bex was strung along by this family for years, fighting for her place despite discrimination for everything she stands for: her country, her interests, and her behavior.

One of the best things about this story is it's a great portrayal of how romances work, and sometimes don't work, as people grow and change. Getting to see how Bex and Nick changed as people over such a long time span was fascinating, especially being privy to their deepest mistakes and pettiest selves, but also to the unexpectedly tender and vulnerable moments as well. Their relationship is messy and complicated to say the least, but so, so real, which I wasn't expecting it to be considering it's about an American girl and the future English King. Taking such a fantastical relationship dynamic and giving it such authenticity is a truly impressive feat that Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan pull off masterfully.

Overall: This book is pure fun, and an irresistible look into how the dynamics of the British monarchy and a commoner could possibly function. It's shameless in it's portrayal of characters' truest selves, and hilariously jabs fun at certain pop culture aspects (Devour!). It was almost perfect for me, aside from it being the tiniest bit slow in a few places (and some of the characters more questionable decisions), but all in all the length was comfortable for the vast time frame it was covering. It was also enticing to read about real locations (Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, etc.) as the settings, especially since I visited London last year and saw so many of these famous spots. The most compelling thing about this novel is the opportunity to read about such an impossibly possible romance, with extraordinary circumstances giving way to very real relationship dynamics. I'm officially obsessed with Cocks' and Morgan's writing, and can only hope that perhaps a sequel will materialize in the near future, because I have become so irrevocably invested in Bex and Nick's future (and like real life, where their story left off was not neat and tidy). Consider me converted; I'm ready to go back to London ASAP.

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This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages

[Katie King]

Purchasing this book was what I like to call a "hit and run" but without the legal implications. Basically I was just walking through Barnes & Noble, saw the cover, skimmed the blurb, and purchased it without much thought. Sometimes that doesn't pay off *cough cough* Revival *cough cough*, but this time it did! I really enjoyed this one!

If you aren't interesting in royals, fan fiction about real people, or Kate Middleton, you will not enjoy this. Good thing I like all three! I wouldn't consider myself "obsessed" but I am interested in the Duchess' life. I mean, how many people can say that they went from a nobody to marrying a prince? Okay, exactly. She got what every little girl has always dreamed about. She gives all those girls hope that someday they really CAN be a princess. Anyways, this is unabashed fan fiction about Kate and William's entire relationship, except I would say it is largely based on fact. The only parts that are fiction are things we the general public wouldn't know about (like the first time they had sex). There's really nothing else to say about it. It's fun, it's easy, and it kinda makes you feel like you know them personally (except you don't).

Granted, I've read and enjoyed Heather Cocks' and Jessica Morgan's books before, but I really didn't even notice they had written it until after the fact. I know they run a pretty popular blog, but I've never checked it out. Maybe it's time to do so!

Tarte

[Cocktails and Books]

I really, really, really enjoyed this one. I loved the friendship and romance between Nick and Bex. How fantastically complicated it was and how hard it was for Bex. I probably would have given this a 5 star review had it not been for the ending, which felt like I ran into a wall While there was closure and the Royal We got their HEA, it felt like there needed to be more to the ending. What happened the next day? Did Nick and Freddie mend their relationship? What about Clive? Did he get what was coming to him? Too many questions that left me feeling unsettle with an otherwise fabulous book that I really did love.