Review: Royals (Royals #1) by Rachel Hawkins

Royals
(Royals #1)
by Rachel Hawkins

May 1, 2018

256 pages

Goodreads     Indigo

Goodreads Summary:
Meet Daisy Winters. She’s an offbeat sixteen-year-old Floridian with mermaid-red hair; a part time job at a bootleg Walmart, and a perfect older sister who’s nearly engaged to the Crown Prince of Scotland. Daisy has no desire to live in the spotlight, but relentless tabloid attention forces her to join Ellie at the relative seclusion of the castle across the pond.

While the dashing young Miles has been appointed to teach Daisy the ropes of being regal, the prince’s roguish younger brother kicks up scandal wherever he goes, and tries his best to take Daisy along for the ride. The crown–and the intriguing Miles–might be trying to make Daisy into a lady . . . but Daisy may just rewrite the royal rulebook to suit herself.

Review

This book had impeccable timing. I can't tell you the level of excitement I had when it landed in my hands. I had wanted to read something fun and fresh and oh did Royals deliver all that and even more.

I've previously read four of Ms. Rachel Hawkins's books so I'm familiar with her writing style. I was so pleased to see her signature humour in Royals. I don't think any author makes me grin and grimace as much as she does. The story was a hoot of a good time I have to share one of my favourite conversations from the book:

I stare at him. "Okay, what?"

"What?" he replies, but his eyes slide away from mine.

"Don't what my what," I tell him, crossing one foot in front of the other. "I what-ed first, and you know what I was what-ing about." (ARC, p. 155).

I love it! Never mind that it's absolutely a ridiculous thing to say aloud but it's honestly something you'd expect to hear in today's world. The sentence actually makes perfect sense too- once you get over the amusement~ Look forward to more dialogues like this from the book!

It's hard to sum up the amount of fun I had while reading Royals. I can tell you there's drama, outrage and hilarity. From secret underground parties to staged tender moments to a scandalous discovery at the ball there was no shortage of spectacles to guffaw at.

Considering her disinterest in the royal way of life Daisy handled the unwanted attention and the uncalled for hostilities quite well. She was bold and conquered everything thrown at her. Even if she held some resentment towards her sister it was nice to see Daisy do her best in defending Ellie. The girls have quirky but supportive parents.

Though I was eagerly anticipating a romance I didn't give it much thought since I knew the main characters are young so any relationship(s) probably wouldn't be too serious. I adored the little love story between Daisy and her love interest. They seemed like an unlikely pair which made their development even more swoony <3 There was also a bit of unrequited and misplaced feelings It was completely absurd but just the kind of drama one would imagine happening within the royal circle.

While the ending wasn't my favourite I cut it some slacks due to the book's series nature. Will the next one be a sequel or a companion novel? Whatever it may be, I'm more than game to shoot some more clay pigeons!!!

 

*I received an Advance Reading Copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and not affected in any way. All quotes were taken from the ARC I received.