ROYAL SCANDAL - Aimee Carter


Evangeline "Evan" Bright is an American girl whose father happens to be the King of England. The king has publicly acknowledged the relationship and has brought Evan to England to live with the royal family. This has caused no small amount of scandal and jealousy. Although Evan and the crown princess, Maisie, have come to be on good terms (maybe even friends) there are still many extended family members (and press outlets) who see Evan as either a threat to their own line of succession or to the integrity of the English people.

In the previous volume Evan was set up to take the fall for the death of a British tabloid owner's son but the evidence and truth eventually came out. But this hasn't relieved Evan of becoming a scapegoat for attacks on the Royal Family. Someone is targeting both Evan and King Alexander - and they might just succeed!

After multiple attacks in which a rebel group claims responsibility and claims that Evan is a member of their coalition, a direct attack at their home puts the king on life support and there is talk about preparing for Maisie's ascension to the throne. But because of her age and some changes to the laws of succession, Maisie will need to be advised by a specified group of people.  Surprisingly, because of Alexander's careful wording of the plan, Evan is to be among that group. This doesn't sit well with many, given her American heritage and her presumed links to the guerilla group.

I'm having a lot of fun with this series.  I'm not an anglophile but my wife and daughter are, to a very small degree, so I've caught on to a bit of the lingo and complicated lineage. Having an American girl suddenly discover she's actual 'royal' is likely a fantasy for many teens (just think about books and films like The Princess Diaries). But as author Aimee Carter suggests in this series, it isn't all a bed of roses.

There are times I rolled my eyes with an "Oh, seriously?" thought - sometimes it was because of the piling-on of problems and sometimes it was with Evan's decision-making, but I'd remind myself who this book is targeted toward and how that reading audience (probably teens) would react.

Evan's relationships with the royal family are enjoyable - I will admit that I missed the strength and volume of interaction with her personal attendant that we had in the first book - and I'm glad that there's not an evident resentment conflict between Evan and Maisie (though I admit I'm not sure we're seeing the true Maisie yet).

There's a clear open door for another volume and I would question whether or not this is a stand-alone book because I don't think there's an ending here. If you should read this, plan or expect that you'll need to commit to the next volume as well.

Looking for a good book? Royal Scandal by Aimee Carter is a fun anglophile fantasy, likely for teens with plenty of mystery and teen angst.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Royal Scandal

author: Aimee Carter

series: Royal Blood #2

publisher: Delacorte Press

ISBN: 9780593485934

hardcover, 416 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

VINYL RESTING PLACE - Olivia Blacke

Image
 Juni Jessup and her two sister, Tansy and Maggie, have gone into business together in their hometown of Cedar River, Texas, opening a combination record store and coffee shop. Vinyl LPs are making a comeback after all, despite critics thinking the medium was dead.  But speaking of 'dead' ... finding a dead body in the supply closet just as they are looking to have a grand opening is not part of the plan.  Juni's life gets more complicated when their uncle, Calvin, already a suspect in the murder, disappears. And the police officer leading the investigation is Juni's EX-boyfriend (who passive-aggressively keeps putting himself back into her life). Convinced that her uncle would never murder anyone, Juni sets out to prove his innocence - which isn't easy since he's making himself look guilty - because Calvin is family and family is EVERYthing to Juni. As readers of my blog know, I'm not a big fan of most cozy mysteries, but the setting caught my eye and my in...
Read more

THE WALLED CITY - Ryan Graudin

Image
  Jin and her sister, Mei Yee, were taken and sold and then sent to the lawless Walled City to serve as prostitutes or slaves to anyone willing to pay. Jin managed to escape her captivity, but not the Walled City and she now lurks about, disguised as a boy and is trying to track down the brothel where her sister is still captive. Jin will work odd delivery jobs to earn a small bit of money and hopefully have a legitimate means of coming in contact with her sister's captors.  This is how she meets up with Dai, a mysterious boy who has somehow managed to avoid running with any of the gangs in the city but he seems to have his own unusual connections, which Jon could desperately use if she has any hope of finding Mei Yee. But Dai has his own desperate needs.  The story is told from the different perspectives of each character and we do bounce around quite a bit as the chapters are generally short. This never bothered me, which is slightly unusual as often I find this techni...
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - ...
Read more