Review: Paper Princess (The Royals #1)

Author: Erin Watt

Started reading: June 3rd 2020

Finished the book: June 16th 2020

Pages: 370 / 10:00:44 hours

Genres: Romance, New Adult

Published: April 4th 2016

Source: Audiobook

Goodreads score: 4.01

My score:

Synopsis

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. Reed doesn’t want her. He says she doesn’t belong with the Royals. He might be right.

My thoughts

Before I read this book, I did not read the blurb, so I went into it blank. I only knew that I'd seen this book on various bookblogs and that made me curious.

The book wasn't that bad, but I also felt that I wouldn't continue reading this series, I wasn't convinced. Then the last chapters happened with a huge plot twist and cliffhanger, and I had to continue reading the series...

Pros

• Pacing: The pacing of the story was pretty good. A lot of things happened and every chapter there is a twist in the story, something happening or something to think about. 370 pages is not the shortest book out there, and I'm glad that the pages were filled with a lot of stuff happening and that it was easy to get through.
• Personalities: Sometimes I'm sad that a book lacks personality, but this book had it all. Sometimes it was a bit too obvious, but I'd rather have obvious personalities than no personality at all. It's clear who's the good guy, bad guy, good girl, bad girl and so on.
• Final chapter: Like I just said: I was convinced that I wouldn't continue this series, but than the final 5% happened, and that was a pretty smart move from the author! I HAD to keep reading, I was like... Is my phone broken? Did it really end here? NEXT!

Cons

• Shallow: The relationship/romance in this book felt so shallow to me. It was based purely on physical attraction and the two love-birds know maybe 5 things about each other? Where is the real connection, when a person falls in love with personality traits or when people have sincere conversations?
• Stereotypical: There were big personalities in this book, but it was also a bit stereotypical for me. There were bad people and mean people and they stayed that way. The things they said and did weren't that surprising and only highlighted that certain part of their personality.
• Violence: People hate each other a lot and they fight a lot and want to smack each other and fight and... No. There was, next to the drama, also a lot of violence. I can't imagine there being a school in the world where things go the way they do in this book.

Overall

A bit stereotypical with your bad guys, bad girls, good guys and good girls. A romance that's not all that deep, but a book that's easy to read and get through as well. There is a lot going on, there are a lot of little plot twists and a huge cliffhanger at the end! So I HAVE to read the next book... (I already am)

Other opinions on this book

"Wickedly clever writing, deliciously provocative characters, and chilling final pages made Paper Princess impossible to put down!"

- Rockstars of Romance

Memorable quotes from this book

"Look, I like you. Didn't think I would but I do, and because I like you, I feel the need to warn you that we Royals are pretty fucked up. We're good in bed, but out of it? Were like a stage four hurricane."

Thanks for reading!

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