Book Review : Suddenly Royal by Nichole Chase

 

 

• Release Date: April 23rd 2013
• Genre: New Adult/ Women’s Fiction
• Pages : 464
• Publisher: Avon

The story of an American woman who discovers she is a duchess  sounded a lot more interesting when I started this book than when I finished. This concept of normal women finding themselves mixed up with royalty is nothing new with movies like The Princess Diaries and The Prince and Me but I couldn’t find the same  charm in Suddenly Royal.

 

Samantha Rousseau is a graduate student working towards her PhD and taking care of her cancer stricken stepfather. Her life is turned upside down when it’s discovered she is a long lost duchess from the France-expy country Lilaria. Suddenly this American girl is plucked from obscurity and into the world of royalty, paparazzi and fame all while  keeping her eyes out for Prince Alex aka Prince Yummy.

Chase executed the premise well, explaining how the families are being brought together but there wasn’t much of a follow through as far as plot was concerned.

 I don’t know if it was the cookie cutterhero or the low ball conflict but the more I thought about it the more I realized this wasn’t the kind of story I expected. We get a lot of Sam going to Lilaria and about her responsibilities,  but honestly it wasn’t that interesting. . . just a lot of people telling her things.  I wanted something more akin to the  first season of Downton Abbey. I wanted more awkward dinner parties, culture shock,  witty banter and actual tension between the leads.

The start of their romance sort of comes out of nowhere, I mean Prince Alex was so perfect he didn’t have to try. He’s a handsome blonde haired blue eyed prince, who runs a charity for a cause the heroine is passionate about. All of the men in the books (Except the gay ones and the one who is the hero in the next book) were portrayed as creepy jerks who only served to make Prince Alex even  more likeable. Prince Alex’s only flaw is that he had a sex scandal a while ago and  that is really only mentioned off hand. There was nothing interesting about him.

For me this book read more like YA then NA. I mean sure the character are college aged but it is a pretty tame story until the last few  chapters which get unusually steamy, and just don’t mesh with the rest of the book.

Suddenly Royal is
one out of three in a series and this book is odd  to me.  I would have though the other boos would have been about the other found royabs, butthe
second bookRecklessly Royalis about
Prince Alex’s sister Cathy and the third bookReluctantly Royal is about his offhandedly mentioned brother, Maxwell.

Suddenly Royal is a lukewarm romance that lost its charm for me. I want a little bit more conflict and work for the HEA.