The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
Release Date - April 7, 2015
Publisher Website - Little Brown/Grand Central Publishing
Publisher Social Media - Twitter
Pages - 464 pages
My Rating - 4.5/5
**received for an honest review from publisher**

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

"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 fantasized 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 whose 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.

The entire world was captivated when Prince William married Kate Middleton and cemented their fairytale romance, which began what would be the happily ever after. I never knew how much I wanted a fictional account of what that kind of relationship would look like until I read The Royal We. A look at a fairy tale romance that isn't quite what it appears behind closed doors, and a romance that is built on friendship beyond anything else. An overt nod to the real life romance of Prince William and Kate, it'll leave you smiling, happy and eager to read it all over again upon finishing.

I had never heard of Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan (aka the girls behind the website Go Fug Yourself) before this book started to appear everywhere I turned. I was delighted to find a witty, engrossing novel filled with heart, and humour. Their writing is filled with banter and made the pages fly by for what is a surprising long book.

There is an depth and nuance to the novel that I hadn't expected. I was expecting something frothy and light. While it is filled with romance and swoon inducing scenes, along with a lot of laughs, this is a novel with something to say about the hard work of relationships in general, and the compromises we make for those we love. It is set on a grander scale, but the issues at it's core are not so unrecognizable. It makes the connection to the characters even easier to form, and allows you to fall completely in love with all of them, even the captivating secondary ones.

The realities and hardships of dating the man who will become King one day are examined in this novel. Being the fiancée to such a man is referred to as a job at one point in the novel, and that feels absolutely true. Bex struggles with moving into this world, and how completely it could take over her life if she allows it to. The fine balance between becoming part of Nick's world, but not abandoning hers is the crux of the novel, and is portrayed as complicated and imperfect as would be expected.

Nick and Bex are effortless together when they are outside of the demands and struggles that come with his title. There is an ease in which they click, and the moments in which they get to be just Nick and Bex instead of HRH and Rebecca are where the story shines. I spent a majority of the novel swooning over the little details of their romance, especially the ones that made it feel like its own real life fairy tale. Things such as him finding a USA/Britain flag pin that she strategically hides under her clothes as part of a sexy game they play, or their bonding over a shared pattern of staying up way too late watching bad TV shows, only add to the romance and make it that much more tangible. You feel as though you're getting to see them fall in love, and that allows you to invest fully into the story and the characters.

Freddie, the flirty playboy Prince with a heart of gold, who just happens to be moulded after Prince Harry, steals the entire novel. He's a charming rogue who is the life of the party. He will entirely win your heart, and leave you begging for a companion novel featuring him as the lead. All of the secondary characters are well crafted, but Freddie has that extra something that makes him memorable. The character connections and how they interact with each other was the most fascinating element to the story. The glimpses of family bonds, friendships, and romances made it feel like a group of friends that you were a part of by the end of the novel. Ones that were hard to say goodbye to when the final page was turned.

Those with Royal Wedding fever (or more recently Royal Baby fever) will devour this novel in one sitting and immediately beg for more. It's funny, romantic, and charming with just the right amount drama to keep you utterly spellbound. It's one that that is sure to be a popular selection on the beach this summer season and with very good reasons. It's hard not to fall in love with this Prince and his bride to be.