Series Review: The Royals

This series was… quite a ride. I don’t know what possessed me to start reading book one back when I had a strict vacation TBR I was hoping to stick to, but it just grabbed me. I finished it within 24 hours because I just couldn’t stop. I knew I had to jump into the next book right after and hope I could wait until the end of October for book three.

Paper Princess by Erin Watt
Series: The Royals #1
Genres: New Adult
Published by Everafter Romance on April 4th 2016
Format: eBook (370 pages) • Source: Purchased
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From strip clubs and truck stops to southern coast mansions and prep schools, one girl tries to stay true to herself.

These Royals will ruin you…

Ella Harper is a survivor—a pragmatic optimist. She’s spent her whole life moving from town to town with her flighty mother, struggling to make ends meet and believing that someday she’ll climb out of the gutter. After her mother’s death, Ella is truly alone.

Until Callum Royal appears, plucking Ella out of poverty and tossing her into his posh mansion among his five sons who all hate her. Each Royal boy is more magnetic than the last, but none as captivating as Reed Royal, the boy who is determined to send her back to the slums she came from.

Reed doesn’t want her. He says she doesn’t belong with the Royals.

He might be right.

Wealth. Excess. Deception. It’s like nothing Ella has ever experienced, and if she’s going to survive her time in the Royal palace, she’ll need to learn to issue her own Royal decrees.

Ella is a stripper trying to make her way once her mom died, when she’s suddenly scooped up by rich guy Callum Royal. She learns that her father was his business partner and recently passed away, so she will now be living with Callum, attending an elite prep school, and inheriting five “brothers” who want nothing to do with her. Of course, they’re all super hot. Of course, they’re all terrible assholes. And, of course, she falls for one or two.

The beginning of the book started out more ridiculous than I could have imagined, but it was fairly easy to settle into the story once I got used to things. I loved watching Ella learn about her new preppy and rich world. Some of my favorite book crack stories involve rich people and/or prep/boarding school, so I knew this book would be a-okay in some ways at least.

Throughout the story, Ella grows closer to Reed and the other brothers (luckily in different ways). They’re all certainly problematic assholes but they grow on you by the end. I didn’t see a lot of character development; it’s more like they become less guarded and open up to her in their own ways. Easton is my favorite of the brothers for sure. He’s like a puppy that’s sort of an asshole.

I could go on about how problematic a lot of things are in this book, but I’m not going to. This book is not perfect by any means, but it’s sure as hell entertaining and addicting. A few crazy events happen but the ending was insanity. I knew I needed to start book two in the same day.

Broken Prince by Erin Watt
Series: The Royals #2
Genres: New Adult
Published by Everafter Romance on July 25th 2016
Format: eBook (370 pages) • Source: Purchased
Goodreads • Amazon • Barnes & Noble

These Royals will ruin you…

From wharf fights and school brawls to crumbling lives inside glittery mansions, one guy tries to save himself.

Reed Royal has it all—looks, status, money. The girls at his elite prep school line up to date him, the guys want to be him, but Reed never gave a damn about anyone but his family until Ella Harper walked into his life.

What started off as burning resentment and the need to make his father’s new ward suffer turned into something else entirely—keep Ella close. Keep Ella safe. But when one foolish mistake drives her out of Reed’s arms and brings chaos to the Royal household, Reed’s entire world begins to fall apart around him.

Ella doesn’t want him anymore. She says they’ll only destroy each other.

She might be right.

Secrets. Betrayal. Enemies. It’s like nothing Reed has ever dealt with before, and if he’s going to win back his princess, he’ll need to prove himself Royally worthy.

This was so terrible. What an unrealistic, dramatic, absurd, trainwreck meets soap opera. What even? I don’t know why I’m doing this to myself but here I am.

The first one had a LOT of flaws but was super addicting like book crack is known to be. I looked past a lot of problematic plot points. For some reason, in the second, they were worse and/or more obvious to me. I just can’t even fathom how people love books like this. I know New Adult (even though this is technically YA, as they’re still in high school??) can be known for its high drama tendencies; that’s my least favorite kind of NA.

There was one small, unimportant scene in this book that honestly ruined things for me more than any of the majorly terrible things that happened. An Asian character was introduced at one point for two seconds and “rumor has it, he has a small dick.” Right, fun stereotype right there!!! That was enough to make me want to just stop reading the book completely because I don’t fuck with that kind of stuff. Not one bit.

I couldn’t stand the instalove and increased drama of this one. The ending had a couple of shocking parts but I TOTALLY saw one of them coming from a mile away. I hate to say it, but I’m eagerly waiting the release of the third book…

Twisted Palace by Erin Watt
Series: The Royals #3
Genres: New Adult
Published by Everafter Romance on October 17th 2016
Format: eBook (370 pages) • Source: Purchased
Goodreads • Amazon • Barnes & Noble

These Royals will ruin you…

From mortal enemies to unexpected allies, two teenagers try to protect everything that matters most.

Ella Harper has met every challenge that life has thrown her way. She’s tough, resilient, and willing to do whatever it takes to defend the people she loves, but the challenge of a long-lost father and a boyfriend whose life is on the line might be too much for even Ella to overcome.

Reed Royal has a quick temper and even faster fists. But his tendency to meet every obstacle with violence has finally caught up with him. If he wants to save himself and the girl he loves, he’ll need to rise above his tortured past and tarnished reputation.

No one believes Ella can survive the Royals. Everyone is sure Reed will destroy them all.
They may be right.

With everything and everyone conspiring to keep them apart, Ella and Reed must find a way to beat the law, save their families, and unravel all the secrets in their Twisted Palace.

I don’t even know where to begin. The other books were bad but this book was B A D. I can’t really think of a redeeming quality except for the fact that I wanted to finish it? The series took a serious turn after the end of the last book. (Spoiler ahead if you didn’t read the second book – View Spoiler »Brooke was murdered and it was pinned on Reed « Hide Spoiler) I just thought this was a pretty ridiculous plotline for this series and this book just draaaagged that out until the end of time.

I really didn’t ship Ella and Reed anymore. I just thought they were so annoying. I still don’t like how poorly they treated her back when she got there and Reed was just a dick overall. I hated how possessive they were over each other. I don’t mind a little natural jealousy, but some things just annoy the shit out of me if it’s mixed with lack of trust. I rolled my eyes during almost every supercharged-with-love reaction they had.

I DESPISED *CHARACTER* SO MUCH. Don’t read the rest of this paragraph if you don’t want a spoiler based on the ending of the previous book…….. Steve is alive and annoying as hell. He was terrible to Ella and I wanted to throw my Kindle away 90% of the book. Like, seriously, I can’t even fathom living in a situation like that with someone so terrible. I feel like every character got worse in this one and the characters I DID like before were in the story less. Val was more stupid and Easton was barely involved for some reason.

The whole story was repetitive and just not good at all. I’m bummed that I wasted my time with this. The ending was super convenient and there were too many plot holes.

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