Review: Paper Princess (The Royals, #1) by Erin Watt & Jen Frederick

Paper Princess by Erin Watt

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Received: Bought
Publication Date: April 4th 2016
Publisher: Indie
Point of View: 1st Person & Feminine
Recommended Age: 16+
Genres &  Themes: New Adult, Romance, High School, Family

BLURB:

From strip clubs and truck stops to southern coast mansions and prep schools, one girl tries to stay true to herself.

These Royals will ruin you…

Ella Harper is a survivor—a pragmatic optimist. She’s spent her whole life moving from town to town with her flighty mother, struggling to make ends meet and believing that someday she’ll climb out of the gutter. After her mother’s death, Ella is truly alone.

Until Callum Royal appears, plucking Ella out of poverty and tossing her into his posh mansion among his five sons who all hate her. Each Royal boy is more magnetic than the last, but none as captivating as Reed Royal, the boy who is determined to send her back to the slums she came from.

REVIEW:

‘‘Your life is transformed, isn’t it? Like some princess out of a fairytale. But fairytales aren’t real. Girls like us, we’ll always turn back into a pumpkin after the ball.’’

What an addictive piece of story.

It has flaws, but while I was compulsively reading it, I kept thinking I want more I want more I want more. More drama, more kinky scenes, more stunts.

‘‘Princess’’ Ella wasn’t always a princess; she used to be a pauper. She would spend hours dancing for men, to survive. Her mom died of cancer and she has no one left in her life to take care her of her, therefore, she takes care of herself.

But like in many princess tales, a handsome knight comes to her rescue.

Callum is willing to give her 10k per month to stay with his family and go to school, like any normal girl her age. She’s given a title, a Royal one. The money is good, and Callum claims he is her legal guardian, so she accepts.

Then she meets the five Royal boys. Hot, smart, dangerous and magnetic – bad boys. One glance at Reed, and she knows she is in trouble. But Ella knows trouble inside out, so really, she takes it as a challenge.

Sometimes I think the universe has decided I’m not allowed to be happy.

This is a character-driven story. If you don’t like Ella and if Reed and his brothers don’t intrigue you, there is little chance you’ll want to continue with the series.

I adored every face in this book, even the most despicable ones. There are so many layers to the characters – everyone has their secrets. Some will even shock you. I sure was not expecting Callum to be such a warm creature and Brooke – his girlfriend – to be a total hypocrite.

One of my favorite themes in books is family. I love when dynamics between brothers and sisters and parents create that theme. What’s special about this book is the cast fog you have over the relationships between characters. We don’t really know what to think of the Royal brothers and their interactions with each other at first glance. However, the more the story progresses, the more that fog is lifted and we are granted access to their personal lives.

[T]he dream Callum is trying to sell is as flimsy as paper. Nothing stays shiny forever in this world.

I have to complain about the repetitiveness toward the end of the book, sadly. The scenes can be summarized by using very few words: dancing, parties, clubs and sex. I still looked forward to every new chapter, because of the characters, but the limited originality of the plot disappointed me.

I have many juicy theories about the sequel, though.

Read in a single and foodless sitting.

‘‘[W]e Royals are pretty fucked up. We’re good in bed, but out of it? We’re like a stage four hurricane.’’

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