Cracked Kingdom by Erin Watt

Cracked Kingdom by Erin Watt              
Release Date - March 1, 2018

Publisher Website - Everafter Romance
Publisher Social Media - Twitter
Pages - 305 pages
My Rating - 4/5
**purchased**

**SPOILERS FOR PREVIOUS BOOKS IN THIS SERIES**

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

These Royals will ruin you.

Ever since Hartley Wright met Easton Royal, her life hasn’t been the same. There are enemies behind every corner and dangers beyond each door. When tragedy strikes and steals her memories, she can’t trust anyone, not even the blue-eyed boy who promises her that everything will be all right.

Because while Hartley’s memory is full of gaps, her instincts tell her Easton is dangerous. She doesn’t know if he’s the snake in the garden or her chance at salvation. The chaos he brings wherever he goes is too much to handle, the intense feelings he evokes are too confusing to unravel.

Easton wants her to remember. Hartley thinks it’s better to forget.

She might be right.

Tragedy. Treachery. Trust. Hartley has to face the facts—in this world, you can’t escape the Royals.

Either you live by their rules or you die by them.

The ending of a series always brings mixed emotions. I am sad to leave behind the world and characters I love so much, but excited to finally know the end to the story I've been following over multiple books. It brings both excitement and sadness in equal measure. I approached Cracked Kingdom with both eagerness and trepidation. I had no cause for worry because Erin Watt crafted an addictive ending to their series that offered up a satisfying, if rushed, conclusion.

The cliffhanger ending of Fallen Heir ensured that fans of this series would be figuratively dying to get their hands on the next installment. The life of one of our beloved Royals hung in the balance, and we all wanted to know his fate. The outcome of this is rather interesting, so I will not ruin it. This event is mostly used, surprisingly, to showcase how it impacts others. It is used quite effectively to show how much some characters have grown since we first met them. I, however, wanted to examine the impact on the person who would be left dealing with the reality and consequences. That is, perhaps, a story for another day and one that I hope is eventually told.

Hartley shows herself to be a resourceful, adaptable, strong young woman who faces her memory loss much better than I would. She could easily give up and become bitter, but she instead decides to make her own path. She is different from Ella but just as formidable in her own way and offers a differing perspective on the Royal family that is entirely welcome.

I appreciated that Easton always remained true to who his character is during the course of his journey. He grows, but it never changes who he is or makes him do things that would be out of character. It just makes him a more decent version of himself. It shows that the authors really know who his character is. They have what happens to him impact him instead of defining him which is sometimes hard to do in a story with this many life altering events happening.

The pacing is full speed as we rush towards an end to not only this novel but the series as a whole. It, at times, felt like the authors could have used a little more time to polish up this final installment, but it is nonetheless a fun, exciting closing chapter to the story of the Royals .... even if I wish we were getting a trilogy from another Royal's perspective.

If you're looking for something that is the literary equivalent of a CW television show than this is the series for you. It packs in as much sex, drama, bad decision making, and angst as you could possibly want into its three hundred and some pages. The entire series is a fun read that will have you completely addicted the entire time you are reading them. I cannot wait to read whatever Erin Watt rights next. I can only hope that it is just as debaucherous and scandal filled as this series was.