Reviews - Royal Blood - A Scandal to Die For

418 reviews for:

Royal Blood - A Scandal to Die For

Aimée Carter

4.03 AVERAGE

stormecho52's review against another edition

4.75

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

thereviewbooth's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Evan entering the Royal life felt fairly realistic for a fictional character. I was pleasantly surprised that I liked Evan’s character, and she was definitely very American. The supporting characters were very well done, and we get at least a little bit of history/background on each. There were only a handful of characters that didn’t have enough background in my opinion. Since this book is slated to be the first of a trilogy, I think the author did a really good job setting up the characters and hopefully, if they’re important enough they’ll get more page time.

I really liked that none of the main characters (Evan + crew) attempted to become amateur sleuths seemingly overnight. I will say that the murder part of the story was fairly short and seemed to be the springboard for Evan being thrust into the spotlight. The fallout of Evan’s existence and everyone’s opinions of her, why she even exists, and if she’s guilty make up the meat of the book. There are some hard subjects covered in this book; attempted rape, date-rape drugs, and mental health in the form of schizophrenia (not a complete list). The author navigated these sensitive subjects extremely well and I couldn’t help but feel deeply for Evan.

My memory may be fuzzy, but that part isn’t, and I understand exactly what almost happened. What did happen. I pull the blanket tighter around myself and bite the inside of my cheek. I can still feel every blistering kiss, every burning caress, and I desperately wish I could shed my skin like a snake, leaving behind every inch that Jasper touched until I belong to myself again.

The romance aspect in this book was blessedly light and fairly chaste (other than the assault) and I am thankful for it. I don’t mind romance – it just doesn’t need to be in EVERYTHING. I quite honestly wasn’t expecting some of the twists and turns in Evan’s story – nor did I expect those behind it.

I enjoyed this book immensely – it took me by surprise with how much I loved it. I am very much looking forward to seeing where the rest of the trilogy goes from where we see Evan at the end. I would like to thank TBR & Beyond Book Tours for having me as a host and for the chance to enjoy an advanced copy of Royal Blood. Thank you Aimée Carter for writing a fantastically unexpected gem – I can’t wait to read the rest!

shelovestoread's review against another edition

3.0

royal blood is a ya coming of an age girl.

a princess diaries x murder mystery.

Our main protagonist is the bastard of the British King. And she is American. Hasn't really meet her father ever.

Through a series of missfortunate and rebellious events, she find her on a plane to England, without any warning.

What follows is chaos, mystery, the British press and media and to too it off A MURDER..

this had a great premise, but I mostly found the book lackluster. The mystery element was a little lackluster, the culprit of was blatantly obvious.

the romance was weird and was very very insta lovey. Not one but with two people like gorl get your head in the game.

The side characters were also a little lack luster, all the growth and everything felt superficial and unrealistic.

This books deals with themes of sexual assault, mental health, suicide and online bullying and dealing with being in the limelight.

This book did keep me engaged and I managed to finish it back to back. Even though a little unsatisfactory.

The author ties up the ending perfectly to set up the show for book 2. ☀️

3 stars from me.

rooted_reads's review against another edition

4.0

mysterious medium-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: Yes

I really enjoyed this book! Royals with a mystery twist. I loved the development and story behind Evan’s family. This is sweet moments and difficult ones too.

kellyj1028's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

natsbookshelves's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous mysterious medium-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: Yes

Royal Blood follows Evan, the illegitimate daughter of the king of England, 9 time expellee from various schools, who finds herself in the palace meeting the royal family after her latest expulsion. We see Evan trying to navigate her new life as the news of her being the illegitimate daughter gets leaked to the press and the whole country find out about her, as well as being the centre of a murder investigation. But was Evan the last person to see Jasper alive?
As well as Evan’s life being turned upside down, I liked the fact there were other scandals involving other characters throughout the book, as it really gave the characters and the book more dimension.

There were quite a few characters in this book but I found it rather easy to keep up with who is who (minus their titles), as the royals kept a tight knit group of friends and family.

I personally think this book was more a light murder mystery rather than a thriller, and I went in thinking there would be higher stakes and tension, but I found it to be more drama mixed with murder mystery. I think that people who enjoyed A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder may enjoy this books as I found some similar elements to Royal Blood, but I still found this book to be quite enjoyable!

Overall, I am giving Royal Blood 4 stars as I did enjoy it, and I am looking forward to the next book, especially since this book ends on a slight cliffhanger!