"Royally Yours" by Emma Chase: Review and Blog Tour!

Welcome to the Blog Tour for "Royally Yours" by Emma Chase. I'm so excited to be chosen to review this highly anticipated title, so make sure you read on to see my thoughts.

     
 

Princess Lenora Celeste Beatrice Arabella Pembrook had an unusual childhood. She was raised to be a Queen—the first Queen of Wessco. 

It’s a big deal. 

When she’s crowned at just nineteen, the beautiful young monarch is prepared to rule. She’s charming, clever, confident and cunning. 

What she isn’t…is married. 

It’s her advising council’s first priority. It’s what Parliament is demanding, and what her people want. Lenora has no desire to tie herself to a man—particularly one who only wants her for her crown. But compromises must be made and royals must do their duty. 

Even Queens. Especially them. 

** Years ago, Edward Langdon Richard Dorian Rourke, walked away from his title and country. Now he’s an adventurer—climbing mountains, exploring jungles, going wherever he wants, when he wants—until family devotion brings him home. 

And a sacred promise keeps him there. 

To Edward, the haughty, guarded little Queen is intriguing, infuriating…and utterly captivating. Wanting her just might drive him mad—or become his greatest adventure. 

** Within the cold, stone walls of the royal palace—mistrust threatens, wills clash, and an undeniable, passionate love will change the future of the monarchy forever. Every dynasty has a beginning. Every legend starts with a story. This is theirs.

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Emma Chase is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the hot and hilarious Tangled series and The Legal Briefs series. Emma lives in New Jersey with her husband, two children and two naughty (but really cute) dogs. She has a long-standing love/hate relationship with caffeine. 

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I was pretty excited to receive an early copy of "Royally Yours" for this blog tour! I'd already read the first two books in the Royally series, and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed them, especially the first title.

One of the strengths of this series are the characters - they are all so unique and interesting. Lenora, or "Lenny", as Edward likes to call her, has never led a normal life. I imagine her being modeled after Queen Elizabeth II, bred and trained since birth to lead a country.  She's serious, intelligent, and responsible. She's also very lonely. When we first meet her, she doesn't really have any friends, and even her sister is kept somewhat at arms length. She ends up making friends with Thomas, a newly minted Duke, and together they unite to conquer the old boys' club of Wessco, or in other words, do a bunch of political stuff like change laws and make some new ones. It doesn't really matter a whole lot, except for the fact that Lenora and Thomas become very close.  

So where does Edward come in? Well, he's Thomas's brother and he's been away for many years, exploring the world. One of Thomas and Lenora's favourite things to do is sit together and read Edward's letters, so when Edward finally returns to Wessco, Lenora feels like she already knows him, and she definitely has a bit of a crush on him! 

One thing I didn't like was how long it took for Lenora and Edward to actually come face to face: they don't even meet until a third of the way through the book! With only two thirds of a book left to develop a complicated relationship, their romance felt a bit rushed, in my opinion. 

I wasn't sure what to expect from "Royally Yours": I had really enjoyed "Royally Screwed", but "Royally Matched" was not as much fun. In the end, I'd rank "Royally Yours" somewhere in the middle of the two. 

My rating: 3.5 stars

Review: "A Desperate Fortune" by Susanna Kearsley

For nearly 300 years, the mysterious journal of Jacobite exile Mary Dundas has lain unread — its secrets safe from prying eyes. Now, amateur codebreaker Sara Thomas has been hired by a once-famous historian to crack the journal's cipher. But when she arrives in Paris, Sara finds herself besieged by complications from all sides: the journal's reclusive owner, her charming Parisian neighbor, and Mary, whose journal doesn't hold the secrets Sara expects. It turns out that Mary Dundas wasn’t keeping a record of everyday life, but a first-hand account of her part in a dangerous intrigue. In the first wintry months of 1732, with a scandal gaining steam in London, driving many into bankruptcy and ruin, the man accused of being at its center is concealed among the Jacobites in Paris, with Mary posing as his sister to aid his disguise. When their location is betrayed, they’re forced to put a desperate plan in action, heading south along the road to Rome, protected by the enigmatic Highlander Hugh MacPherson. As Mary's tale grows more and more dire, Sara, too, must carefully choose which turning to take... to find the road that will lead her safely home.

Thank you to Sourcebooks via Netgalley for the free review copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Did I like this book?

Do you ever read a book and think, "Wow, this book is what that other book wanted to be"?  That's what happened to me with "A Desperate Fortune".  It was fantastic, and just so much better than many others I've read written in the same vein.

At first, I was intrigued by the modern storyline because of my immediate connection with Sara.  She has Asperger's, and it was interesting for me, as the mother of a teenage Aspie boy, to see how she was able to cope with her own difficulties as an adult.  She often has trouble making connections with others, and I'd say that her only real friend is her cousin.  This older female cousin is wonderful, instinctively able to tell when Sara is becoming overwhelmed in social situations and excellent at redirecting her with Sudoku puzzles.  She is also the one who gets Sara her job as a codebreaker, which is a perfect fit for Sara: she can work all day at something that intrigues her and not worry about fitting into the corporate world, which has always been a disaster in the past.

In contrast, the historical storyline was a bit slower to capture my interest, but by the time I'd read about a third of the book, I was hooked!  I could not wait to see what happened with Mary and Hugh, and I honestly wasn't sure how it all would end.  It's definitely a bit of a slow build, but with that comes the satisfaction of reading a book that is truly well-crafted.  I enjoyed every moment!

Will you like this book?

With its two connected storylines in two different time periods, I think this book will appeal to those who liked "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay or fans of Sarah Jio.  Although the time period of the historical storyline is similar to Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" series, I feel it would be unfair to compare the two - the "Outlander" series, while one of my favourites, is a serious commitment with the length of the series and the length of each individual book.  "A Desperate Fortune", in contrast, is a standalone novel that probably won't take you months to finish.  And while there is a bit of romance and a tall, masculine Highlander in this book, there's no steamy bodice ripping, etc.  In other words, the romance is quite clean.

Will I read more by this author?

I've long been a Susanna Kearsley fan - she's Canadian, don't you know? - and I've read most of her older titles, but for some reason or other, I haven't read any of her newest books.  Let me tell you that I will be remedying that very soon!

My rating:

Review: "The Ship of Brides" by Jojo Moyes

The year is 1946, and all over the world, young women are crossing the seas in the thousands en route to the men they married in wartime - and an unknown future. In Sydney, Australia, four women join 650 other brides on an extraordinary voyage to England, aboard the HMS Victoria, which also carries not just arms and aircraft but 1,000 naval officers and men. Rules of honour, duty, and separation are strictly enforced, from the aircraft carrier's captain down to the lowliest young stoker. But the men and the brides will find their lives intertwined in ways the Navy could never have imagined.

Thank you to Penguin Books via Netgalley for the free review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Did I like this book?

I used to read nothing but historical fiction, and this book reminded me of why I loved that genre so much!  It's got everything I want in a more involved read - characters with depth, a setting that draws me in and I can clearly picture in my mind, and an impeccably paced plot.

When I first read the title, I was picturing a ship full of mail order brides, but it turns out that the women on the ship are already married.  These are women who have met and married British soldiers while they were stationed in Australia.  Not only are the women starting a new life as a wife to someone they barely know, they are also leaving their families and country, possibly for the rest of their lives!  For most of them, the trip to England on this retired war ship is the first time they've ever been truly independent, and many of them are so young, still children by today's standards.  Moyes does a wonderful job of expressing the different attitudes of the brides.  Most are excited at starting this new phase of their lives, but some are rightfully terrified and homesick.  Still others are whiney about the conditions on the ship and having to mingle with girls of a lower class - I'm looking at you, Avice!  Throw in several hundred single men manning the ship, and you have an especially interesting dynamic!

Will you like this book?

"The Ship of Brides" has a little bit of everything - romance, history, drama, suspense, and mystery, not to mention great writing!  I think that most people will really like this book, and I will probably be recommending it to everyone.

Will I read more by this author?

This is the second book I've read by Jojo Moyes, and I already have one more of hers on my shelf and another on my TBR.  For a new-to-me author, she is quickly becoming one of my favourites!

My rating: