This book review was written by Kyla Baker of Richard Montgomery
Despite being the second novel in the Royals series by Rachel Hawkins, Her Royal Highness was the first book of hers I ever picked up. In the weeks leading up to its release in May 2019, someone I followed on Twitter was sharing their excitement about the upcoming novel. After reading the synopsis, I marked my calendar and anxiously anticipated its release date.
After reading the iBooks version of the novel cover to cover the day it was released, I was hooked. Luckily for me, the second novel follows a new narrator and tells a different story. It has brief references to Prince Charming, the first novel in the series, but aside from that, it might as well be a standalone. This past week, I completed my third read-through of the novel and second read-through of the duology.
The Royals series follows the fictional Scottish royal family, and rich-and-famous friends. Aside from some discrepancies (the first novel having a plot revolving around medical bills, an issue which is more American than Scottish, and the obvious issue of there being no Scottish royal family in the twenty-first century), Her Royal Highness is a well-written, wholesome revisiting of some of my personal favorite romance tropes to date, such as enemies to lovers, roommates and of course the foreign royalty falls in love with an American trope.
Millie Quint, the main character and narrator in Her Royal Highness, is an average teenage girl from Texas who, after a devastating all-but breakup, gets a full-ride scholarship to a prestigious boarding school called Gregorstoun, (seemingly based on Gordonstoun, the school real-life Princes Phillip and Charles of England attended) located in the Scottish Highlands.
Upon her arrival, Millie has a not-so-pleasant run-in with her new roommate, an unnamed rich girl, who’s less than pleasant and less than pleased to meet her new roommate. She also hits it off with fellow students Perry and Lady Sakshi Worthington, also known as Saks, the daughter of a Duke and a socialite. Through them, Millie learns more about her peers at Gregorstoun and discovers that her new roommate is none other than Flora Baird, the princess of Scotland herself.
Throughout her time at Gregorstoun, Millie comes to realize that Flora does not want to be at the acclaimed school, and is willing to go to great lengths to get herself expelled. The worst part is, Flora’s willing to drag Millie down with her. That is, until things start to shift between them. First, Flora starts to defend Millie against the mean-spiritedness of her so-called friends, then, she even goes as far as to invite Millie on a once-in-a-lifetime getaway with her.
As far as queer young adult romance goes, Her Royal Highness is one of my favorites. From the beautiful hidden moments shared between Millie and Flora, to their grand gestures to each other, each moment they share is straight out of a fairytale.
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