BROKEN PRINCE
Series: The Royals #3
Genre: NA/YA Romance
Author: Erin Watt
Release Date: October 17, 2016
These Royals will ruin you…
From mortal enemies to unexpected allies, two teenagers try to protect everything that matters most.
Ella Harper has met every challenge that life has thrown her way. She’s tough, resilient, and willing to do whatever it takes to defend the people she loves, but the challenge of a long-lost father and a boyfriend whose life is on the line might be too much for even Ella to overcome.
Reed Royal has a quick temper and even faster fists. But his tendency to meet every obstacle with violence has finally caught up with him. If he wants to save himself and the girl he loves, he’ll need to rise above his tortured past and tarnished reputation.
No one believes Ella can survive the Royals. Everyone is sure Reed will destroy them all.
They may be right.With everything and everyone conspiring to keep them apart, Ella and Reed must find a way to beat the law, save their families, and unravel all the secrets in their Twisted Palace.
The royals are like the apple in the fairy tale. Golden on the outside, but rotten to the core.
Well…damn. Color me conflicted. I struggled with my rating for two days after finishing it. Because see, the thing is, I’m freaking conflicted! Am I even making sense here? Of course I’m not! Because I’m conflicted I tells ya! Bah. Just bah.
To say that I’ve been anticipating this book as much as a virgin’s first orgasm would be an understatement. What? Is that not a saying? Well it should be. You get what I’m saying here, right? I. Needed. It. Erin Watt has been teasing us mercilessly for months. Ever since I finished Paper Princess, I’ve been practically foaming at the mouth for this conclusion. That book was my catnip. Teenage angst and drama mixed with enough sexual tension to make even a nun frustrated. What? Is that not a saying either?
Basically, I’ve been building up the conclusion in my head for months. But in order to do the book and myself justice, I went in with zero expectations. Like none. Will I love it? I don’t know. Will I hate it? I don’t know. I left it all to the fates and jumped right in…
So how do you make all of the teenage drama even more extreme? Throw in a murder mystery into the mix. It was basically like Gossip Girl meets Cruel Intentions meets Pretty Little Liars. Craziness ensues. But if you’ve read the previous books, this is nothing new.
I highly enjoyed the first 80% of the story. I loved Reed, I loved Easton, I wanted to throttle Dinah and punch Jordan in both ovaries. Nothing new. I was still just as invested in Reed and Ella finally doing it…I mean…their relationship. What? You get teased for two books and tell me your ovaries don’t turn blue. Quit judging.
Quit the battle and just give in, Reed! Be like Nike and JUST DO IT!
But I digress. This book was a solid 4 stars for me. Even with all the murder mystery and additional drama added to the mix, it was still a page turner. And then that ending happened…
Of all the crazy drama twists that can happen, I think that ending put most soap operas to shame.
It was so over the top, it was so crazy, that it totally killed everything for me. Le sigh. Don’t get me wrong, it certainly didn’t discount the fact that I enjoyed the majority of this book, because I totally did, but c’mon! Perhaps the argument can be that with the way the series progressed it’s only fair to make it finish out with this crazy bang, but I’m not of that mind. It was simply too OTT for my tastes.
Do I still consider this series to be one of my favorites? Absolutely! Do I wish it ended a little different? Sure. But that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy this crazy ride. Paper Princess is still one of my top reads of the year. Am I let down with the conclusion? Not really. Aside from the crazy drama of that ending, I still read it in one sitting. Am I still foaming at the mouth for more Royal brothers? ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY!!
THE ROYALS TRILOGY
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- Paper Princess (The Royals, #1)
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- Broken Prince (The Royals, #2)
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- Twisted Palace (The Royals, #3)
CHANGE OF HEART
There’s something about this series that is entirely too addicting for me. I’m not even kidding; I’ll start the book, blink, and the next thing I know, I’m done. I devoured 
I’d pushed her aside for so long that there was no foundation to build on. Just a mess of shattered pieces that I’d crushed with a sledgehammer every time she’d grown closer than I was comfortable with.
God. GOD. This book. This heartbreaking, incredibly written, gut wrenching book. If it had any more of my favorite elements in it, I’d feel like it was custom written for me. I don’t remember the last time I read a book that gripped me the way this one did. To the point that I felt it on a visceral level. To the point that now days later after finishing it, I still can’t stop thinking about it. This was easily one of my top favorite reads this year. I picked it up and read it straight through because I couldn’t bear to put it down for even a second. I was an ugly crying, sniveling, raging mess the entire time and loved every painful second of it.
If 
Nicole Jacquelyn has a true gift with words because her characters are so incredibly compelling, you don’t just read about them, you experience them. There is not an ounce of telling in this book. Everything is shown, including the character descriptions. Yeah. I was blown away to say the least.
You may be asking yourself if it’s possible to write a book with a dead spouse and not make the heroine feel like a consolation prize prize. And to you I say, abso-freaking-lutely.
Everything about this story is brilliant; from the feelings it will wrench from your very soul to the emotional mess it will leave you at the end of it. Shane and Kate’s story is not an easy one. It’s filled with pain and heart break but it’s also beautiful in its own right. You don’t read the characters’ journey, you experience it. Everything from the fundamental changes in their relationship to their feelings and everything in between.
If you’re questioning picking this up, don’t! If you’re a fellow angst-whore like me, if there’s one book I can recommend you read, it’s this one! Grab some tissues and some alcohol and prepare to read the whole night through because I guarantee this book will own every piece of you by the time you’re finished.
When you read about a book a day, they all sort of begin to blend into each other. So when I stumble upon a book that’s as unique as Forgetting August, it’s a treat. This was unlike anything I’ve read in the past and I was immediately drawn into the story. It was just that good; the writing, the mystery, the angst, the romance, all of it wrapped together into one spellbinding unforgettable read.
Everly is happily engaged and planning a wedding to a wonderful man that loves her fiercely. But with one phone call and three little words, her carefully constructed world crumbles into chaos. He is awake.
When a gorgeous redhead shows up at his hospital bed, he hopes that her clear knowledge of him may help him piece together the memories that he no longer has. But then only thing he sees in her eyes is pure unadulterated hate. Hate for the man that he once was, and hate for the man that clearly hurt this woman beyond repair.
Thick love is best. Thick love is…it’s when you KNOW.”
Before I get to my review, let me get a few things out of the way with first.
The first half of the book is very much a slow burn, but it never drags. The angst and emotions truly have you riveted to the pages, it certainly did for me. My heart broke for Ransom and yet in the same breath I wanted to curse him to hell and back for his behavior. It was frustrating, it was maddening, it was disturbingly enrapturing.
I don’t want to give much away about the book because it’s just one of those things you need to experience for yourself. What I can say is I loved the route that Eden took with book and I was shocked as shit about it that I was. See, here’s the thing, I HATE a drawn out story that I think could have ended in one book. Cliffhangers drive me to drink and induce near homicidal thoughts when I finish reading it. Thick Love is part 1 of 2 books, and you know what? It’s best that way. This book was not about the epic love between Aly and Ransom. It was more about Ransom coming to terms with his guilt, healing his heart, and learning to move on. Both these characters have a lot of growing to do still and there’s no way this book would have been the same had it been all crammed into one book.
As much as the bumps on the road to Aly and Ransom’s relationship drove me out of my ever loving mind, it also made me feel. This entire book, everything about it will do one thing, guaranteed; evoke emotion. Whether that be rage, tears, it will make you feel.
If I’m being perfectly honest, I was actually hesitant to read this. Last time I read a companion novel, the only thing it managed to do was make me hate the heroine with the fire of the worst kind of venereal disease. Not that I’d know what that felt like, but you catch my drift. What I mean to say, is more often then not you’re getting the same regurgitated novel you already read but in a different POV. Well this wasn’t that at all. Not even a little bit. Not even close. While this is essentially in Jared’s POV it’s a completely different book. So much so, that you can read it as a standalone, which I wouldn’t recommend since you need to see it from Tate’s POV first in 
I fell in love with Penelope Douglas’s storytelling in Bully, and the only thing this book managed to do was completely reaffirm that. Everything and I mean everything that I wanted more clarification and answers on in Bully was addressed here. While I adored that book, I found the reasons that Jared gave Tate for his behavior in it a little…weak. I felt like it had to be something more, something bigger for him to flip that switch and be the way he was with her. Until You delivered those answers in spades. Penelope truly allows the reader inside Jared’s head and you understand him and all his behavior so much more. Plus I loved getting more of him and Madoc and their banter together.
It’s been over a week since I read Toxic and it’s taken me this long to be able to sum my feelings and clear my head enough to rate it. If I can describe this book for you in one word, it would be exhausting. I was absolutely emotionally spent when I finished it. I spent a good 40% of it feeling like I want to rip my hair out. And this is coming from a self-professed angst whore, mind you.
But then here’s the thing; I liked it. Even though the constant back and forth between Phoebe and Jeremy left me feeling like they’re going to give me whiplash, I still liked it and gobbled it up like the angst starved junky that I am. Was it delicious? Heck no! I thought I may choke on it. But god help me, I still liked it. My favorite trope is the second chance romance and Toxic delivers it in spades.
While both Phoebe and Jeremy know they may be toxic together, they can’t stay away from each other. Their chemistry practically crackles in electricity. There’s one thing that’s certain, Kim Karr can write some scorching sex scenes. But the lies between them are like poison that won’t leave. Much as they try to purge it from their relationship it remains that one toxic factor that brews the way for mistrust and mistakes. I think it would be safe to say that neither of these characters are perfect, far from it in fact. These two fuck up so many times it made me want to throttle them and chuck my kindle at the wall. It was rage inducing.
There’s a wealth of secondary characters that were introduced that added to the story in a very significant way. Maybe that’s what helped dilute the angst between Jeremy and Phoebe? It made the book evolve like a movie in front of my eyes and it made me really connect to the characters’ lives. I’m not sure I’d be able to say the same thing if this happened in any other book, but in this one it just worked.
If you’re looking for a book that will enrage you and enrapture you all in one, Toxic is that. It’s a make you want to rip your hair out while still rooting for the characters kind of second chance romance. It was far from perfect, but yet it worked. It may not be for everyone, but if you’re a reader that enjoys your angst in rage inducing proportions while getting an unforgettable second chance romance, Toxic is definitely a must read.
I need to be near you, and I DON’T know what that looks like. But I DO know I need it. Please give me another chance.
