A review by xanthe
The Royal We Free Preview (The First 7 Chapters) by Heather Cocks, Jessica Morgan

3.0

I picked this up to read in hopes of some fluff in honor of the recent royal engagement and was a bit surprised at how much of a downer it ended up being. Instead of a fun, frothy read, this seemed to be an indictment of how terrible the royal family is for relationships and authenticity and indictment of the media circus that surrounds them. The main character, Bex, repeatedly gives up control over her own choices and eventually her own appearance and body as she falls further and further into the machinery of the royal family's reputation machine. The romance parts were lovely, as Bex and her Prince (someday King) repeatedly come together and profess their love to be worth any obstacles, but they always seem to have a desperation to them, defiance in the face of misery. Yikes. I can see that other people found it much more swoon-worthy than I did, but I was left uncomfortable with the feeling that Bex and her Prince were both trapped and unhappy - but together!