Title: Royally Screwed (Royally Screwed #1)
Author: Emma Chase
Genre: Contemporary | Romance
Publisher: Everafter Romance
Publication Date: October 18, 2016
Source: Library
Format: Physical
Nicholas Arthur Frederick Edward Pembrook, Crowned Prince of Wessco, aka His Royal Hotness, is wickedly charming, devastatingly handsome, and unabashedly arrogant; hard not to be when people are constantly bowing down to you.
Then, one snowy night in Manhattan, the prince meets a dark haired beauty who doesn't bow down. Instead, she throws a pie in his face.
Nicholas wants to find out if she tastes as good as her pie, and this heir apparent is used to getting what he wants.
Dating a prince isn't what waitress Olivia Hammond ever imagined it would be.
There's a disapproving queen, a wildly inappropriate spare heir, relentless paparazzi, and brutal public scrutiny. While they've traded in horse drawn carriages for Rolls Royces, and haven't chopped anyone's head off lately, the royals are far from accepting of this commoner.
But to Olivia, Nicholas is worth it.
Nicholas grew up with the whole world watching, and now Marriage Watch is in full force. In the end, Nicholas has to decide who he is and, more importantly, who he wants to be: a King... or the man who gets to love Olivia forever (goodreads).
This was very different from Emma Chase's other series....
Plot: Olivia is a young New Yorker trying to keep her family's coffee shop open and make time for a social life of her own. After an awkward encounter with Nick, a visiting foreign prince, she finds herself in a life she never knew.
Lucky for me Royally Screwed was a quick read because I was not feeling it. I'm used to a lot of sass and sexy times in my Emma Chase novels. There was a lot of sexy times and it was fairly entertaining, but the heart just wasn't there. After having a chance-encouter, Nick and Olivia started dating pretty quickly and were met with almost no obstacles. Their relationship was too easy and everything became too routine too quickly for me. Chase has made me laugh out loud in public before, but I never felt the hint of a giggle while reading Royally Screwed - in fact, it felt like I was watching some E News or Bravo scripted series. Just....meh.
Characters: Olivia was an honestly good person who just needed to catch a break. I loved her dedication to her family and how she easily came to their defense, but other than that, she didn't have much going on for her. I was actually kind of taken aback by how quickly she agreed to go on a date with Nick, they didn't meet under the best circumstances.
As for Nick, he was portrayed as the "serious" one becuase of his title which made him...boring. Royally Screwed was told from alternating perspectives and I swear Nick's chapters were just about getting in Olivia's pants (like 60% of the time). I actually started skipping over those sex scenes because they were so frequent. Have some fricking character man!
I was also disappointed in Royally Screwed's supporting cast. Usually, the secondary characters become just as endearing to me, but here they were decoration. The most interesting character was Marty, Olivia's best friend, who was a whole other problem. Marty was Olivia's gay black Jewish friend and he was just too much. He played the role of the gay best friend by serving as Olivia's fashion guru, discussing all the hot guys he masturbated to, and also delivering those witty one liners at opportune times. He was a stereotype.
Nick's friends and family weren't as extreme, but they were hardly interesting. Prince Harry Henry was the wild one who had a bit of a story arch, but then quickly returned to being the wise-cracking party boy that he was portrayed as earlier in the book.
Worldbuilding: Royally Screwed took place in two locations, New York City and the imaginary Wesco. Wesco's history was explained early on in the book and was somewhere either within the United Kingdom, or nearby (can you tell I paid attention), so it was really easy to picture Nick and co as English. I didn't particularly care for either location because Emma Chase didn't make good use of her settings. Admittedly, I felt more attached to New York, but maybe that was because it was a real place.
Short N Sweet: Royally Screwed was a bit sloppy, but still entertaining. I highly recommend picking up
Tangled if this author is new to you.
Labels: 2 stars, book review, emma chase, everafter romance, review, royally screwed
