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the_kara_kara's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
rikerandom's review against another edition
4.0
Diese und weitere Rezensionen findet ihr auf meinem Blog Anima Libri - Buchseele
Rezensionsexemplar, zur Verfügung gestellt vom Verlag im Austausch für eine ehrliche Rezension ♥
So… „A Royal Romance“ by Jenny Frame is a somewhat strange novel. It’s not bad, it’s quite entertaining, but it’s also just somewhat strange – and that was an impression I couldn’t shake throughout the entire book.
The story of George and Bea, which the author tells in her novel, takes place in a future version of Great Britain – about 40 years from now. That’s nothing that is easily noticable throughout the novel, it’s mostly details like the everyday use of technology (voice controled PCs, tablets and TVs, cars driving on autopilot and some such, nothing new, just more prominant than today) and some medical possibilities, especially with regard to reproductive techniques.
I think, my biggest problem with this story was George, who, at the end of the day, could have just been a real George instead of a Georgina. Sure, that would have lessend the potential conflict, but since George’s homosexuality is not that much of a reason for conflict throughout the plot – it’s part of one of two conflicts -, that wouldn’t have changed much – surprising, consindering that she is supposed to be the first lesbian queen of GB. Bea’s family/working class background is the real conflict thingy here – something I just couldn’t really understand.
Additionally to that, there are some pacing issues. In my opinion Jenny Frame just hasn’t really figured out the whole pacing stuff yet and while there are some parts where the story borders on boringly slow, there are also ones where everything just happens too fast. That also resulted in some problems I had with following the characters‘ development – the time jumps that happen here and there just confounded me.
But nevertheless, all in all „A Royal Romance“ by Jenny Frame is a somewhat sweet story, not very deep, not something with a very dense plot, but quite entertaining and easy to read and thus something to read for some nice reading hours. My real wish for this novel would have been George to be more feminine because the way she is you could have just switched her for a guy without losing that much of the storyline.
Diese und weitere Rezensionen findet ihr auf meinem Blog Anima Libri - Buchseele
Okay… „A Royal Romance“ von Jenny Frame ist ein wirklich irgendwie etwas stranges Buch. Es ist nicht schlecht, es ist ganz unterhaltsam, aber es ist halt einfach irgendwie strange – und dieser Eindruck hat sich das gesamte Buch über gehalten.
Die Geschichte von George und Bea, die die Autorin in ihrem Roman erzählt, spielt in Großbritannien und in der Zukunft – etwa 40 Jahre. Das fällt so beim Lesen nicht weiter auf, es sind lediglich ein paar Details in der alltäglichen Nutzung von Technik (Sprachgesteuerte PCs, Tablets und Fernseher, selbstfahrende Autos, nichts, was es nicht schon gibt, nur dass es in der Geschichte nicht mehr die Ausnahme sondern die Regel ist) und die medizinischen Möglichkeiten, z.B. in der Fortpflanzungsmedizin.
Ich denke, mein größtes Problem mit der Geschichte war, dass George im Grunde genommen wirklich ein George statt einer Georgina hätte sein können. Sicherlich, das hätte das eine oder andere an Konflikt aus der Geschichte genommen, allerdings ist Georges Homosexualität sowieso nur Teil von einem von zwei Konflikten und stößt, dafür, dass sie die erste lesbische Königin Großbritanniens ist, auf relativ wenig Kritik. Der eindeutig größere Kritikpunkt sind Beas familiärer Hintergrund und ihre Arbeiterklasseabstammung.
Dazu kommt, dass Jenny Frame meiner Meinung nach die Sache mit dem Tempo noch nicht so ganz drauf hat, denn an einigen Stellen geht alles einfach etwas zu schnell, während die Geschichte an anderen Stellen ein wenig zieht. Das ist schade, denn es stört einfach beim Lesen. Das hat teilweise auch einfach zur Folge, dass ich die Entwicklungen der Charaktere nicht immer so richtig nachvollziehen konnte, weil mich die Zeitsprünge, die es zwischendrin auch noch nicht, ebenfalls etwas gestört haben.
Trotzdem, „A Royal Romance“ von Jenny Frame ist eine irgendwie süße Geschichte, ziemlich seicht, nicht unbedingt mit einem dichten Plot gesegnet, aber ganz unterhaltsam und schnell zu lesen, sodass man ein paar ganz nette Lesestunden geboten bekommt. Ich hätte mir aber vor allem gewünscht, dass George irgendwie weiblicher gewesen wäre, denn so hätte man sie ohne große Verluste gegen einen Mann austauschen können.
Rezensionsexemplar, zur Verfügung gestellt vom Verlag im Austausch für eine ehrliche Rezension ♥
So… „A Royal Romance“ by Jenny Frame is a somewhat strange novel. It’s not bad, it’s quite entertaining, but it’s also just somewhat strange – and that was an impression I couldn’t shake throughout the entire book.
The story of George and Bea, which the author tells in her novel, takes place in a future version of Great Britain – about 40 years from now. That’s nothing that is easily noticable throughout the novel, it’s mostly details like the everyday use of technology (voice controled PCs, tablets and TVs, cars driving on autopilot and some such, nothing new, just more prominant than today) and some medical possibilities, especially with regard to reproductive techniques.
I think, my biggest problem with this story was George, who, at the end of the day, could have just been a real George instead of a Georgina. Sure, that would have lessend the potential conflict, but since George’s homosexuality is not that much of a reason for conflict throughout the plot – it’s part of one of two conflicts -, that wouldn’t have changed much – surprising, consindering that she is supposed to be the first lesbian queen of GB. Bea’s family/working class background is the real conflict thingy here – something I just couldn’t really understand.
Additionally to that, there are some pacing issues. In my opinion Jenny Frame just hasn’t really figured out the whole pacing stuff yet and while there are some parts where the story borders on boringly slow, there are also ones where everything just happens too fast. That also resulted in some problems I had with following the characters‘ development – the time jumps that happen here and there just confounded me.
But nevertheless, all in all „A Royal Romance“ by Jenny Frame is a somewhat sweet story, not very deep, not something with a very dense plot, but quite entertaining and easy to read and thus something to read for some nice reading hours. My real wish for this novel would have been George to be more feminine because the way she is you could have just switched her for a guy without losing that much of the storyline.
Diese und weitere Rezensionen findet ihr auf meinem Blog Anima Libri - Buchseele
Okay… „A Royal Romance“ von Jenny Frame ist ein wirklich irgendwie etwas stranges Buch. Es ist nicht schlecht, es ist ganz unterhaltsam, aber es ist halt einfach irgendwie strange – und dieser Eindruck hat sich das gesamte Buch über gehalten.
Die Geschichte von George und Bea, die die Autorin in ihrem Roman erzählt, spielt in Großbritannien und in der Zukunft – etwa 40 Jahre. Das fällt so beim Lesen nicht weiter auf, es sind lediglich ein paar Details in der alltäglichen Nutzung von Technik (Sprachgesteuerte PCs, Tablets und Fernseher, selbstfahrende Autos, nichts, was es nicht schon gibt, nur dass es in der Geschichte nicht mehr die Ausnahme sondern die Regel ist) und die medizinischen Möglichkeiten, z.B. in der Fortpflanzungsmedizin.
Ich denke, mein größtes Problem mit der Geschichte war, dass George im Grunde genommen wirklich ein George statt einer Georgina hätte sein können. Sicherlich, das hätte das eine oder andere an Konflikt aus der Geschichte genommen, allerdings ist Georges Homosexualität sowieso nur Teil von einem von zwei Konflikten und stößt, dafür, dass sie die erste lesbische Königin Großbritanniens ist, auf relativ wenig Kritik. Der eindeutig größere Kritikpunkt sind Beas familiärer Hintergrund und ihre Arbeiterklasseabstammung.
Dazu kommt, dass Jenny Frame meiner Meinung nach die Sache mit dem Tempo noch nicht so ganz drauf hat, denn an einigen Stellen geht alles einfach etwas zu schnell, während die Geschichte an anderen Stellen ein wenig zieht. Das ist schade, denn es stört einfach beim Lesen. Das hat teilweise auch einfach zur Folge, dass ich die Entwicklungen der Charaktere nicht immer so richtig nachvollziehen konnte, weil mich die Zeitsprünge, die es zwischendrin auch noch nicht, ebenfalls etwas gestört haben.
Trotzdem, „A Royal Romance“ von Jenny Frame ist eine irgendwie süße Geschichte, ziemlich seicht, nicht unbedingt mit einem dichten Plot gesegnet, aber ganz unterhaltsam und schnell zu lesen, sodass man ein paar ganz nette Lesestunden geboten bekommt. Ich hätte mir aber vor allem gewünscht, dass George irgendwie weiblicher gewesen wäre, denn so hätte man sie ohne große Verluste gegen einen Mann austauschen können.
hammer0761's review against another edition
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
napkins's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted to like this a lot more than I did, but there was just so much that kept it from being great.
The story does so much telling and not showing. Exposition is extremely clunky and threw me out of the story a number of times - there's an entire scene where George narrates an event to her diary (which we never see again) where she explains what happened in the past few months and her emotions about it. It's the exposition equivalent to the "character looking in the mirror" appearance trick, and it felt that clumsy.
To that extent, both George and Bea spend a lot of time telling other people how selfless, hard-working, and great the other party is, but aside from a few glimpses in George's case, we don't see this in action a lot.
The story also suffers a severe case of trying to introduce elements to bring tensions and then doing absolutely nothing with them or just letting them fade away after a halfhearted attempt. The "romantic rival" gets all of one actual interaction with George on-page and one referenced, and the narrative, in its attempt to set up George and Bea as true-love soulmates, never presents her as a serious threat in anyone's eyes. The Prime Minister is also oddly set up as a possible source of tension and then becomes a staunch ally and never causing dissent, making the reader question why the hell the narrative tried to introduce her as a possible antagonist. The only antagonist the narrative follows through on is equally impotent and feels thrown in, as no characters take him seriously; his actions are paid lip-service worry, but there's no actual concern brought through.
Which just leaves the romance. Both George and Bea are believable in their roles as steadfast, dutiful monarch and a republican with a bit of a chip on her shoulder, but after a while, it becomes clear that that's all their personalities are. Their romance is set up and treated to be super fairy-tale romance-esque, which is fine, but it just further makes it feel very cardboard and bland. It also doesn't help that when they finally get together, two out of three sex scenes (all of which are quite short and euphemistic) involve a strap-on that is made of a substance that is supposed to allow full sensitivity and subsequent narrative focus and wording as if the strap-on were natural (including a hand-job and oral and lots of "wanting to be inside her"). It felt extremely odd and jarring in a story where both characters describe themselves as lesbians specifically and not bisexual, especially since it's never addressed afterward.
It's a lot of sweetness and no real substance, like eating a tub of frosting where it seems like a good idea at the time, but the further you get into it, the more you wish there was something more to it.
The story does so much telling and not showing. Exposition is extremely clunky and threw me out of the story a number of times - there's an entire scene where George narrates an event to her diary (which we never see again) where she explains what happened in the past few months and her emotions about it. It's the exposition equivalent to the "character looking in the mirror" appearance trick, and it felt that clumsy.
To that extent, both George and Bea spend a lot of time telling other people how selfless, hard-working, and great the other party is, but aside from a few glimpses in George's case, we don't see this in action a lot.
The story also suffers a severe case of trying to introduce elements to bring tensions and then doing absolutely nothing with them or just letting them fade away after a halfhearted attempt. The "romantic rival" gets all of one actual interaction with George on-page and one referenced, and the narrative, in its attempt to set up George and Bea as true-love soulmates, never presents her as a serious threat in anyone's eyes. The Prime Minister is also oddly set up as a possible source of tension and then becomes a staunch ally and never causing dissent, making the reader question why the hell the narrative tried to introduce her as a possible antagonist. The only antagonist the narrative follows through on is equally impotent and feels thrown in, as no characters take him seriously; his actions are paid lip-service worry, but there's no actual concern brought through.
Which just leaves the romance. Both George and Bea are believable in their roles as steadfast, dutiful monarch and a republican with a bit of a chip on her shoulder, but after a while, it becomes clear that that's all their personalities are. Their romance is set up and treated to be super fairy-tale romance-esque, which is fine, but it just further makes it feel very cardboard and bland. It also doesn't help that when they finally get together, two out of three sex scenes (all of which are quite short and euphemistic) involve a strap-on that is made of a substance that is supposed to allow full sensitivity and subsequent narrative focus and wording as if the strap-on were natural (including a hand-job and oral and lots of "wanting to be inside her"). It felt extremely odd and jarring in a story where both characters describe themselves as lesbians specifically and not bisexual, especially since it's never addressed afterward.
It's a lot of sweetness and no real substance, like eating a tub of frosting where it seems like a good idea at the time, but the further you get into it, the more you wish there was something more to it.
necromanticfemme's review
1.0
how r u gonna be a LESBIAN and a royal family bootlicker??? if a modern day royal x commoner love story doesn't end with the dissolution of the monarchy it's cringe <3
sunnydaysrainynights80's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, what a book! I love the history that was wrapped up in this book! The author did fabulous job of describing everything I felt like I was there witnessing it unfold.
I have really enjoyed listening to all of this author’s books! I can’t wait to start the next book in the series!!
I have really enjoyed listening to all of this author’s books! I can’t wait to start the next book in the series!!
spelingexpirt13's review against another edition
2.0
A Royal Romance by Jenny Frame follows Queen Georgina, Britain’s first openly gay monarch, and her friendship and blossoming romance with anti-monarchist, charity worker Beatrice.
I’m very torn over this book. I wanted to love it, we need more queer romance, but it fell short on so many things.
The characters were pretty two dimensional. George, because of course she’s butch and therefore goes by George, spends most of the book whining about duty and honour and over explaining every tiny detail of her life in the most unbelievable ways. The dialogue becomes ridiculous and weighed down by the author’s need to tell everything instead of showing it.
For the rest of this review go to SpExReviews
I’m very torn over this book. I wanted to love it, we need more queer romance, but it fell short on so many things.
The characters were pretty two dimensional. George, because of course she’s butch and therefore goes by George, spends most of the book whining about duty and honour and over explaining every tiny detail of her life in the most unbelievable ways. The dialogue becomes ridiculous and weighed down by the author’s need to tell everything instead of showing it.
For the rest of this review go to SpExReviews
kaitlyn15's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Sexism, Homophobia, and Violence