"The Royal We" - Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan

Hello fellow bibliophiles! Today's review goes off my "Unfinished Series" theme for the month but as I said at the start, I would have a few books to read outside of that! This review is the February book for my FYA book club. Since the list came out of books we would be reading for the year, the other members have been going crazy for this book. So I was quite excited to pick up The Royal We! Who doesn't love a good "commoner falls in love with the prince" fairytale?!

I might be Cinderella today, but I dread who they'll think I am tomorrow. I guess it depends on what I do next. 

American Rebecca Porter was never one for fairy tales. Her twin sister, Lacey, has always been the romantic who fantasised about glamour and royalty, fame and fortune. Yet it's Bex who seeks adventure at Oxford and finds herself living down the hall from Prince Nicholas, Great Britain's future king. And when Bex can't resist falling for Nick, the person behind the prince, it propels her into a world she did not expect to inhabit, under a spotlight she is not prepared to face.

Dating Nick immerses Bex in ritzy society, dazzling ski trips, and dinners at Kensington Palace with him and his charming, troublesome brother, Freddie. But the relationship also comes with unimaginable baggage: hysterical tabloids, NIck's sparkling and far more suitable ex-girlfriends, and a royal family who's private life is much thornier and more tragic than anyone on the outside knows. The pressures are almost too much to bear, as Bex struggles to reconcile the man she loves with the monarch he's fated to become. 

Which is how she gets into trouble. Now, on the eve of the wedding of the century, Bex is faced with whether everything she's sacrificed for love -- her career, her home, her family, maybe even herself -- will have been for nothing.

Spanning nearly a decade, THE ROYAL WE is a richly imagined, emotionally compelling novel that examines, with warmth and wit, what truly happens after your prince has come. 

Normal girl from Iowa studies abroad at Oxford, meets a great group of friends, falls in love with the Prince of England, goes through the horrific tribulations of the press, ultimately causing rifts in their fairy tale romance. All completely normal. Sounds great right? Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan are great writers, don't get me wrong. And I love a good fairy tale dream-like romance. But UGH! I was so disappointed!! What I couldn't stand, is  the multitude of similarities between the book and the real Prince Will and Kate. And not just similarity with it being a story of royals but parallels between family relationships, friendships, and love story. I mean, we're talking the same timeline of events, absent mother figure, and Jenny Packman dresses!! It was too much. I love the "Will & Kate" story. I'm the creepy stalker who waits anxiously for new pictures of the royal babies and wants to know every charity Kate is spearheading. I read every People article. And I would have liked this book more had it not been SO similar. That fact alone ruined the book for me. Still a well-written book though so if that fact doesn't bother you, then it's worth the read! As always, feel free to share any comments, suggestions, or recommendations!

Happy reading fools :)

P.S. Things will be a little quiet for the next few days! I have a puppy I need to go spend some quality time with this weekend! Don't let that adorable, innocent face fool you, though. He's a monster :)