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A review by bookish_notes
Cracked Kingdom by Erin Watt
5.0
It's the end! Five books in, and Cracked Kingdom is a wild ride from start to finish. I still need to read Tarnished Crown (Gideon's story that was released on Wattpad), but as far as the main books go, this is it. I was worried that Easton's story wasn't going to live up to expectations, just because of how I felt about Twisted Palace and that entire book. But. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this story and I prefer Easton and Hartley over the other Royals. Easton really came into his own and it's really no surprise this is my favorite because I think it's the least problematic book in the series.
We were left with a shocking cliffhanger in Fallen Heir. I did have issues with the first half of the book, but it definitely got better as it went along. That ending though. Well, this book picks up pretty soon after those events.
Trigger warnings for alcoholism and suicide.
This story is told from dual POVs. Where I didn't find it working for me when we got Reed's POV in Twisted Palace, I did love Hartley's perspective here. The chapter headings are also really cute between Easton and Hartley's chapters. The misogyny is actually toned way back in this book when it comes to Easton (can't say the same for the rest of Easton and Hartley's school). Easton is a gentleman, and pretty respectful to Hartley, I think. He's still a Royal who likes to throw his money around to get what he wants, but I don't feel like he ever pushed Hartley into doing anything she didn't want to do. Easton comes to some pretty big realizations in this book about himself and I think that's certainly development on his part.
The added layer into this story is that Hartley has no idea how her and Easton are together, who her friends are, and the discord between her and her family. Her family isn't telling her anything, and Easton has to be the responsible one and look after his siblings. All that's left for Hartley is the student body of the elite high school she attends.
There's a lot of slut-shaming, and mean girl type stuff happening to Hartley when she goes back to school and I feel so bad for her. Even when Bran tries to be nice, I'm not sure I liked what his character turned into in this book. It made him look like he was taking advantage of Hartley's memory loss to take her from Easton, and that didn't sit well with me. Isn't he supposed to be the kind one?
There were some things about this book that I did appreciate. There isn't some magical moment where Hartley gets all her memories back. There will always be gaps in her memory. It's not touched on as much until the very end, but Easton isn't cured from being an alcoholic. He's used to having a vice to numb his thoughts and feelings, and just because he gets back together with Hartley doesn't mean that all of that just goes away. An interesting thing that I didn't realize until I read up on it later is that while, yes, Sebastian does wake up eventually, I didn't realize how much of a personality change could happen after. He was the sweet kid and Sawyer was the wild one, but after, Sebastian grew darker and quite...a sex fiend, I guess might be one of of putting it. Sebastian has always relied on Sawyer and they were two peas in a pod. Inseparable. I think in this after state, Sebastian is trying to figure out who he is on his own?
Which brings me to Lauren. To be honest, I don't get it. From the first three books in this series, we saw the Sebastian, Lauren, and Sawyer dynamic and I don't ever recall them in a capacity where Lauren was a terrible person. They were having fun and then in book four, it's like she does a 180 and is downright awful? Is it because Ella and Reed just never saw it and Easton did, or...I don't know. I am not a fan of how Lauren was written in this series AT ALL. She never even visited Sebastian while he was in the hospital? After all that time, the whole thing is just weird to me.
What I was a fan of, is the unexpected friendship between Ella and Hartley. They are hilarious together when they make fun of Easton and I want them to just be the best of friends. Ella is still trying to be an undercover detective, and I think it's so funny that Easton has to be the voice of reason. The ending is explosive and very unexpected.
There's still an underlying fact that INCEST is still kinda a thing in this series? The adopted sister and brother thing is still kinda iffy to me between Ella and Reed, but then the last book dropped a bombshell that would make Ella and Easton related. And when you remember what happened between them in...I want to say Paper Princess(?) was when they made out, it's just like, WHY IS THIS HAPPENING. That said. I did think the epilogue was sweet. Ella and Reed still aren't my favorite, but it was nice for people who are a fan of the couple.
For what it's worth, I do love this book the most of the Royals series. I love Easton and Hartley. They are so funny together and I love their banter. I love the random BTS shoutout (I seriously freaked out and couldn't read for an hour afterwards). <3 The authors have said that this is the last book and we're not getting anymore for the Royals. I would love a book about the twins, whether or not it is with Dylan (Hartley's younger sister) somewhere down the line when they're all older maybe.
I liked this series. There were some definite highs and lows and tons of shocking moments in between. I'm definitely reading Tarnished Crown soon, but I can't wait to see what else the writing duo, Elle Kennedy and Jen Frederick, have in store!
We were left with a shocking cliffhanger in Fallen Heir. I did have issues with the first half of the book, but it definitely got better as it went along. That ending though. Well, this book picks up pretty soon after those events.
Trigger warnings for alcoholism and suicide.
Spoiler
I was really worried about the twins. Sawyer manages to walk away with a scrape that needs a few stitches while Sebastian lies in a hospital bed in a coma. We can tell from the blurb that Hartley suffers memory loss in this book. But it's not in the way you'd expect. She's seemingly not doing too poorly from the accident, and it's only when she suffers a fall in the waiting room that she wakes up with the last three years of her life missing.This story is told from dual POVs. Where I didn't find it working for me when we got Reed's POV in Twisted Palace, I did love Hartley's perspective here. The chapter headings are also really cute between Easton and Hartley's chapters. The misogyny is actually toned way back in this book when it comes to Easton (can't say the same for the rest of Easton and Hartley's school). Easton is a gentleman, and pretty respectful to Hartley, I think. He's still a Royal who likes to throw his money around to get what he wants, but I don't feel like he ever pushed Hartley into doing anything she didn't want to do. Easton comes to some pretty big realizations in this book about himself and I think that's certainly development on his part.
The added layer into this story is that Hartley has no idea how her and Easton are together, who her friends are, and the discord between her and her family. Her family isn't telling her anything, and Easton has to be the responsible one and look after his siblings. All that's left for Hartley is the student body of the elite high school she attends.
Adults should be protecting their kids, not destroying their lives.
There's a lot of slut-shaming, and mean girl type stuff happening to Hartley when she goes back to school and I feel so bad for her. Even when Bran tries to be nice, I'm not sure I liked what his character turned into in this book. It made him look like he was taking advantage of Hartley's memory loss to take her from Easton, and that didn't sit well with me. Isn't he supposed to be the kind one?
There were some things about this book that I did appreciate. There isn't some magical moment where Hartley gets all her memories back. There will always be gaps in her memory. It's not touched on as much until the very end, but Easton isn't cured from being an alcoholic. He's used to having a vice to numb his thoughts and feelings, and just because he gets back together with Hartley doesn't mean that all of that just goes away. An interesting thing that I didn't realize until I read up on it later is that while, yes, Sebastian does wake up eventually, I didn't realize how much of a personality change could happen after. He was the sweet kid and Sawyer was the wild one, but after, Sebastian grew darker and quite...a sex fiend, I guess might be one of of putting it. Sebastian has always relied on Sawyer and they were two peas in a pod. Inseparable. I think in this after state, Sebastian is trying to figure out who he is on his own?
Which brings me to Lauren. To be honest, I don't get it. From the first three books in this series, we saw the Sebastian, Lauren, and Sawyer dynamic and I don't ever recall them in a capacity where Lauren was a terrible person. They were having fun and then in book four, it's like she does a 180 and is downright awful? Is it because Ella and Reed just never saw it and Easton did, or...I don't know. I am not a fan of how Lauren was written in this series AT ALL. She never even visited Sebastian while he was in the hospital? After all that time, the whole thing is just weird to me.
What I was a fan of, is the unexpected friendship between Ella and Hartley. They are hilarious together when they make fun of Easton and I want them to just be the best of friends. Ella is still trying to be an undercover detective, and I think it's so funny that Easton has to be the voice of reason. The ending is explosive and very unexpected.
There's still an underlying fact that INCEST is still kinda a thing in this series? The adopted sister and brother thing is still kinda iffy to me between Ella and Reed, but then the last book dropped a bombshell that would make Ella and Easton related. And when you remember what happened between them in...I want to say Paper Princess(?) was when they made out, it's just like, WHY IS THIS HAPPENING. That said. I did think the epilogue was sweet. Ella and Reed still aren't my favorite, but it was nice for people who are a fan of the couple.
For what it's worth, I do love this book the most of the Royals series. I love Easton and Hartley. They are so funny together and I love their banter. I love the random BTS shoutout (I seriously freaked out and couldn't read for an hour afterwards). <3 The authors have said that this is the last book and we're not getting anymore for the Royals. I would love a book about the twins, whether or not it is with Dylan (Hartley's younger sister) somewhere down the line when they're all older maybe.
I liked this series. There were some definite highs and lows and tons of shocking moments in between. I'm definitely reading Tarnished Crown soon, but I can't wait to see what else the writing duo, Elle Kennedy and Jen Frederick, have in store!