Review: Royals by Rachel Hawkins
May 30, 2018 Meredith Reviews 0 ★★★
Royals by Rachel Hawkins
Series: Royals #1
Published by GP Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers on May 1, 2018
Meet Daisy Winters. She's an offbeat sixteen-year-old Floridian with mermaid-red hair; a part time job at a bootleg Walmart, and a perfect older sister who's nearly engaged to the Crown Prince of Scotland. Daisy has no desire to live in the spotlight, but relentless tabloid attention forces her to join Ellie at the relative seclusion of the castle across the pond.
While the dashing young Miles has been appointed to teach Daisy the ropes of being regal, the prince's roguish younger brother kicks up scandal wherever he goes, and tries his best to take Daisy along for the ride. The crown–and the intriguing Miles–might be trying to make Daisy into a lady . . . but Daisy may just rewrite the royal rulebook to suit herself.
I was a HUGE fan of Rachel's Hex Hall series, and am DYING to read her Rebel Belle series. So, of course, from the moment I heard about this book, I HAD to have it. Not only will I read basically anything Rachel writes, but (as you all know) I'm OBSESSED with books about royalty. Sadly, I was a bit disappointed with it. It had some really adorable moments, but overall, it was just… meh.
My biggest issue with this book is that I wanted MORE: More of the story (296 pages wasn't enough); more of Daisy in Scotland; more of Daisy and Miles; more of… everything. I was temporarily excited when I saw that there IS a Royals book two listed on Goodreads, but it kind of sounds like it's a different main character, so… temporary excitement tempered.
I really liked Daisy in all her nerdy, sassy glory. I love how relatable she was, and the way she wanted NOTHING to do with the royal life. In most books, the main character glamorizes the idea of being royalty. And let's be honest, as much as we all want to be royalty, it does come with some drawbacks. So this was a refreshing attitude to see. But once she was drawn into royal life and Scotland, I LOVED it and wanted her to embrace it more. Unfortunately, she didn't.
Miles was… I loved the "hate to love" trope and I loved the "fake dating" trope. But I'm really torn on how I felt about Miles in general. By the end of the book, he had me swooning and shipping him with Daisy. But still… I wanted more (as I keep saying).
Alexander and Sebastian felt like caricatures of William and Harry. Alexander was the absolute perfect golden boy, and Sebastian was the bad boy who got into fights, etc. Sebastian was completely unlikeable – what he did to Daisy in the beginning… Are you serious?? And I despised his confession near the end, and what it meant for everyone involved. I'm trying really hard to find a redeeming characteristic for him, but I just can't think of any…
I couldn't keep track of half the characters in this book, even if my life depended on it. It was just such a huge "friend" group. I really don't feel like we even learned enough about any of them to make me care about them.
The end was really cute and romantic, but I really wanted Daisy to STAY in Scotland, not the other way around. So that was kinda weird.. Sorry for the confusing vagueness, I'm trying to avoid major spoilers as best I can.
Overall, I'm still excited for book two, I just hope we get more Daisy and Miles. I still loved the overall plot, and Rachel Hawkins is an epic writer, so I'm still excited to read her Rebel Belle series, and everything that comes after. I'll admit, some of what happened in this book went AGAINST the typical tropes, and that was a bit refreshing, but it just needed MORE. So, with book two, I hope we get that MORE that this book lacked.
I highly recommend this for those who love books about royalty, and the "love to hate" and "fake dating" tropes. Also, those who loved Rachel's other books will likely enjoy this one.