Title: Kiss of the Royal
Author: Lindsey Duga
Genre: Young Adult | Fantasy | Romance
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Publication Date: July 3, 2018
Source: Publisher
Format: eARC
In the war against the Forces of Darkness, the Royals are losing. Princess Ivy is determined to end this centuries-long conflict once and for all, so her new battle partner must succeed where the others failed. Prince Zach’s unparalleled skill with a sword, enhanced by Ivy’s magic Kiss, should make them an unstoppable pair—but try convincing Zach of that.
Prince Zach has spent his life preparing for battle, but he would rather be branded a heretic than use his lips as nothing more than a way to transfer magic. A kiss is a symbol of love, and love is the most powerful weapon they have—but try convincing Ivy of that.
With the fate of their world on the line, the battlefield has become a testing ground, and only one of them can be right. Falling for each other wasn’t part of the plan—but try convincing their hearts of that (goodreads).
Kiss of the Royal was a fun read!
Plot: In a magical world of an evil queen and ax-wielding dwarves, only those with royal blood had the magic to banish that evil power away. Because of the need for so many royal soldiers, the princesses and princes trained and reproduced with no real emotion behind it. Enter Princess Ivy, the no-nonsense princess who trained to stop a dragon's egg from hatching (and thus killing everyone) and Prince the Zach, the clumsy, but skilled swordsman, who refused to kiss anyone.
Kiss of the Royal read like a fairytale; there were mythologies, evil queens who came to be out of jealousy, and a journey to track down a dragon. I had a lot of fun reading this one, I thought that this book would have a more serious and darker tone, but it was filled with bantering and the overall journey kept me flipping pages. Kiss of the Royal centered around the idea of rejecting love for logic and reason. The notion was similar to Delirium, but I liked seeing how Duga explained the reasoning and highlighted how mythology could shift to meet the culture's needs.
Characters: Fans of constant bantering will absolutely adore Zach and Ivy together, I know I did! Zach and Ivy were like water and oil: Ivy acted with reason while Zach relied on his gut reactions. Zach was lovable from the start; he was barely tolerated by his own people and had a charming personality. It was heart-warming to see Ivy slowly come to terms with her growing attraction for Zach and what that meant regarding her upbringings. Another form of love that Duga explored was familial love and there were some precious side-relationships that I fell in love with.
Worldbuilding: Dwarves, dragons, and queens - oh my! The world was very much set in a fairytale world with equal parts fun and danger. I respected the amount of work Duga put in to craft the mythology and how she was able to play with perspectives.
Short N Sweet: Fans of lighter fairytales (with a lot of romance) will love this! I think Kiss of the Royal is the perfect summer read!
Labels: 4 stars, book review, entangled teen, kiss of the royal, review
