Reviews

Paper Princess by Erin Watt

reneesbookshelves's review against another edition

1.0

Paper Princess is the attempt and failure of writing a young adult (YA) romance. The collaboration between the two well-established new adult (NA) authors Jen Frederick, author of the Woodlands series and Elle Kennedy, author of the Off-Campus series. Under the synonym of Erin Watt, both produced a complete mess that reads as if the authors threw together the tropes of every NA and YA book they could find and combined them in this supposed teen romance.
(Read the whole review on my blog:
https://reneesbookishadventures.wordpress.com/2018/01/10/review-for-paper-princess-by-erin-watt/)

akookieforyou's review against another edition

1.0

I think this experience taught me that covers and descriptions can be deceiving. This was nothing like what I had expected at all; I thought this was a retelling of sorts of Cinderella, with a beautiful, sweeping romance... man was I wrong. There's not even any actually royalty in this story, their last name is literally just Royal, how lame and cheesy is that? Anyways, onto all the things I hated about this.

The romance is just laughably bad. The "leading man" is complete and utter trash, which is funny considering how often he calls Ella (our MC) a slut, whore, sex worker, and the aforementioned, trash (doesn't he just sound like the best already?). He's a just a meat-headed bully who has serious mother issues. I really don't understand why Ella is supposed to like this douche-bag. Literally every man in this book is a dumpster human though, not to mention that they're all hoes too.

Spoiler

And Ella is actually surprised when that asshole cheats on her and doesn't even apologize.

Ella isn't a whole lot better though. She's constantly doing stupid, nonsensical things throughout the whole book. And the ending of the book just felt completely out of character for her, she's a survivor, so I don't think she would be that stupid

Spoiler

she just leaves behind everything, including her car, to runaway with 1700 dollars all because of a guy??? I feel like no. She would've at least have waited to get some more money before doing that.

.

I have nothing against New Adult/Erotic/Smut or whatever you would call this, or authors of those types of stories. That would be pretty hypocritical given how much I love to read romance novels. Just because I didn't enjoy this doesn't mean other people won't.

betwixt_the_pages's review against another edition

4.0

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.

Rating: 4/5 Penguins
Quick Reasons: WOW these boys are spoiled; actually most of the characters in this book start out that way; REED, REED WHAT THE HELL DID YOU EVEN?!?!?!; THAT EEEEEENDING!; seriously, listening to this on audiobook was SUPER STEAMY

HEY LOOK, it's a book I read just for the fun of it and not for any specific review requirement or obligation! (Because apparently July is the month for me to sit back a bit and pick up the slack on my HUMONGOUS BACKLOG of books I buy on whims and then never actually read...)

And let me just say, listening to this on audiobook? BEST. IDEA. EVER. The narrator (hats off to Angela Goethals!) brought SO MUCH to this read that I don't think I'd have caught otherwise. I was enthralled from the very first. Her characterizations leapt out of the speakers, I could imagine everything that was happening...and a few of the more subtle nuances (character voices, for instance, or specific reactions) were more fully captured and "shown." AND THE STEAMEH SCENES! Oh, my penguins, those scenes--I cannot even begin to explain how much hotter they became in the midst of hearing, instead of seeing, the words. There's something...more realistic? more believable? about steamy scenes being read aloud than I sometimes feel just reading the words, and Angela Goethals did a brilliant job bringing those scenes to life.

But another lesson I learned from my mom is that your body can like things that your head hates. Your head just has to be the one in charge.

I was taken aback a little by how spoiled these characters seem. Don't get me wrong--I understand they were born with the world at their feet and all, but some of them REALLY seem far fetched in their...reactions to? interactions with?...the rest of the world. These boys, especially, go to so many lengths to torture and torment Ella, and for what exactly? A small taste of fun? A tiny bit of vengeance? I for sure wasn't expecting to find such loathsome boys on the other side of these pages--though they do, in the end, make up for a lot of their beginnings, so I guess character growth wins out again? (BUT THAT ENDING....AND REED.... WHY, BOOK, WHYYYYY?!)

I had a TON of fun listening to this via audiobook--Angela Goethals really brought her A-game to the table and brought these characters, and this story, to life for me. And the steamy scenes--SO much steamier while listening to them being read, than they are while reading them yourself! I'd recommend this to lovers of romance, erotica (I mean this sort of is?), and surprising (but entertaining!) reads. Welcome to the Royal family, Penguins; will you sink, or learn to swim?

issianne's review against another edition

1.0

I don’t believe this book should have as good of a rating as it does. This book was disgustingly misogynistic with toxic ideals of a relationship like sexual coercion and taunting. It seems like a young girl’s fantasy of living with all boys, but they’re just cruel and perverted.

juliadiazdelnozal's review against another edition

3.0

No es la mejor trama del mundo pero está lleno de mamarracheo de niños ricos y es adictivo que flipas. ¿Me ha gustado? Meh. ¿Estoy yendo a por el segundo libro? Efectivamente. ¿Hotel? Trivago.

covetedbooks's review against another edition

5.0

This book was a slow burn, enemies to lovers romance, and I was here for it — besides the sexual harassment Ella faces in this book, which was gross. I love how tough Ella was, and she was a kick-ass protagonist. The cliffhanger was phenomenal, and I just bought the next two books and I’m so excited.

miriam_02's review against another edition

fast-paced

0.5

lenaoknihach's review against another edition

4.0

Za knihu v rámci #spoluprace mockrát děkuji @albatrosmedia ✨

Většina čtenářů o této sérii básní a i po letech ji stále doporučuje. A teď, když už se konečně znovu objevila v knihkupectvích, jsem musela zjistit, co na ní všichni mají.

Ella Harperová se snaží přežít. Přes den studuje, po večerech si vydělává na živobytí. Z chudoby ji vytrhne Callum Royal. Přivede ji do světa luxusu a bohatství a také za jeho pěti syny.

Mé náctileté já by si z toho sedlo na zadek a okamžitě bych běžela pro pokračování. A řeknu vám upřímně, že mé dnešní já na tom není jinak.

Jasně, není to bůhvíjak originální. Při čtení jsem si nejednou vzpomněla na Hranici nevinnosti, Moji vinu, a když si odmyslíte pár detailů, najdete plno dalších podobných knížek.

Jenže já Papírovou princeznu dala za pár hodin (fakt jsem nevěřila tomu, že to tak uteklo), hlavní hrdinka mi byla sympatická a bratři Royalové (jeden přitažlivější než druhý) si mě také, i když ne úplně všichni, získali.

Pokud se k vám kdysi série nedostala, dejte ji šanci nyní. Vychází znovu a já si rozhodně nenechám ujít příležitost si všechny díly pořídit domů.

julsyx's review against another edition

1.0

No entiendo las calificaciones tan altas de este libro. Parece que he vuelto a los inicios de Wattpad. Está repleto, y repito, REPLETO de clichés súper malos que deberían de haberse dejado de escribir desde el 2014, la relación es extremadamente tóxica y horrenda. La protagonista, que me ha costado horrores leer porque es subnormal, no tiene nada de dignidad ni de amor propio, lo único que hace es pensar en el chico más gilipollas de la historia que la trata mal desde el principio y buscarlo continuamente incluso cuando hasta él mismo la rechaza porque le va a hacer daño. Además de que cuando el chico decía algo, ella lo aceptaba sin rechistar y lo decía bien claro, como si estuviera orgullosa de ser una patética sumisa dependiente de este hombre. Porque repito, es súper dependiente. No paraba de preguntar donde estaba Reed, qué estaba haciendo Reed, si su amiga le ofrecía ir a una discoteca ella se preguntaba qué haría Reed esa tarde y si le parecería bien.
EW.
Hacía muchísimo tiempo que no me encontraba con un libro tan malo, y mira que he leído libros malos. Seguiré la trilogía por el simple hecho de que no abandono las cosas y necesito entender por qué la gente está cegada por semejante vergüenza de historia.
Y por dios, hablemos de las situaciones ridículas y el drama exagerado. Es que... el final de este libro... es tan patético que me dieron ganas de reír, me quedé como... ¿debería importarme lo que acaba de pasar?
Siento muy dentro de mí que el segundo libro me va a gustar aún menos porque en ocasiones esto se parece a After, solo que Ella es menos buenecita que Tessa, pero las dos me dan el mismo asco al ver como posicionan a la mujer.

melodyyuniverse's review against another edition

3.0

First read: 2020 | two stars
Second read: 2023 | Three stars
I can see some potential, i'm going to continue this series to get to know everyone better and so the story can continues.