Every now and then I find a book so perfect that it just gets me. Sometimes it’s because the book speaks to my soul. Other times, it’s just because it’s so fun and reflects where I am at or want to be in my life.

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When The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan was published in 2015, it was the latter sort of book for me. I heard about it and immediately pre-ordered it for my Kindle the day before its release, then started reading the second it downloaded. The cast of characters was so rich and fun, and it dealt with characters a little younger than me growing into characters a little older than me. The first book in this two-part series features Bex, an American woman, who attends Oxford and meets Nick, the future King of England. It takes years for these two to make it work, and even though I did not reread The Royal We before reading The Heir Affair, the details and characters were still fresh in my mind five years later.

The Heir Affair starts off directly where The Royal We left off, chronicling the early years of Bex and Nick’s marriage. It’s still so much a rom-com, but this one added an extra layer of family drama that had me crying as much as I was laughing. I definitely will return to both of these books in the future.

The summary, from Amazon:

Making it up the aisle was the easy part: Rebecca “Bex” Porter must survive her own scandals and adjust to royal British life in this “timely and positively delicious” follow-up to The Royal We that’s “just as fun, charming, and delightful as the first” (Taylor Jenkins Reid)

After a scandalous secret turns their fairy-tale wedding into a nightmare, Rebecca “Bex” Porter and her husband Prince Nicholas are in self-imposed exile. The public is angry. The Queen is even angrier. And the press is salivating. Cutting themselves off from friends and family, and escaping the world’s judgmental eyes, feels like the best way to protect their fragile, all-consuming romance.
But when a crisis forces the new Duke and Duchess back to London, the Band-Aid they’d placed over their problems starts to peel at the edges. Now, as old family secrets and new ones threaten to derail her new royal life, Bex has to face the emotional wreckage she and Nick left behind: with the Queen, with the world, and with Nick’s brother Freddie, whose sins may not be so easily forgotten — nor forgiven.

50 Romance Novel Reading Challenge

I chose this book as my first choice for my 50 Romance Novel Reading Challenge, created by Love, Sawyer. The prompt was Week 26: Royalty. This book is about a fictionalized version of the British Royal Family.

Buy The Heir Affair here.
I highly recommend reading The Royal We first.

The Heir Affair was one of my two most anticipated new releases for 2020. (The other is A Rogue of One’s Own, the follow up to Evie Dunmore’s Bringing Down the Duke.) I was so thankful when I received an ARC from NetGalley! The sequel to The Royal We totally lived up to my expectations. (And yes, I truly think you need to read The Royal We to fully appreciate this one.)

The book starts off with Bex and Nick on a sort of incognito honeymoon after the fallout of the scandal that followed their wedding – readers of Book 1 will have an idea what this is. But duty eventually calls, and they must return to London. Throughout the course of the book, the couple and their friends struggle through the first few years of their marriage, all while maintaining a deep love for one another and ultimately a wonderful sense of teamwork. The couple hits a rough patch towards the halfway point of the novel, but is able to unite together and move forward. Bex and Nick are truly #relationshipgoals. They struggle with communication, as seen in Book 1 and the first half of Book 2, but by the end really have grown as a couple, even more so than they did in the first book.

While I hated most of Nick’s family when I met them in The Royal We, they grew on me in this one. Of course, I already loved Freddie, Nick’s brother/the Prince Harry figure. How can you hate Freddie? But during The Heir Affair, I grew to love Queen Eleanor. She was once a sort of nemesis to Bex, but the two form a bond in this one that is really touching. Plus, we get some great scenes of the Queen of England becoming a Chicago Cubs fan. It’s hilarious and adorable. The Twitter-obsessed, ancient Queen Mum is just as fun as she was in the first book. Even Nick and Freddie’s father, Prince Richard (or Prince Dick) seemed relatable to me, and I loved Elizabeth and Edwin’s strange sexual antics. Bex’s sister Lacey also finds a solid love interest, and I was happy that my fancast was on point, according to the authors! (Heather and Jessica are hilarious on Twitter and interact with their fans and readers, which is awesome. Follow them at @fuggirls.)

via GIPHY (Olly geeking out over elephants, probably.)

I do want to note a content warning of fertility issues. I found this topic to be dealt with very respectfully and truthfully, honoring all of the characters involved in a way that made them seem both vulnerable and incredibly strong.

Finally, I have to offer a huge commendation to the authors. I was so eager to read this one that I didn’t pick up Book 1 again before reading Book 2. I was a little worried. I hadn’t read The Heir Affair in over five years. I was certain I had forgotten a major character or plot point. But I dived back into the universe of Bex and Nick and their friends and family so easily. There wasn’t a single character that I forgot, and I remembered everything that mattered for the plot, too. The second prior characters or events were mentioned, they came back to me. Even the most minor of characters are lovely (or dastardly) and full of life.

IMO, this one ended perfectly with no need for a Book 3, but a Book 3 would be welcomed and I think there is a lot of room to explore within it! (The Royal We ended similarly, with a satisfying ending that would’ve done well on its own).

Overall, this was an excellent read. Maybe it’s just the time of life I’m in – ready to meet the one and settle down and over my college antics, as featured in the first book – but this one really resonated with me and I think I liked it more than The Royal We. I laughed out loud and teared up plenty. The Royal We was a 5 star read for me, so this one clearly is too! My thanks to NetGalley, the authors, and Grand Central for giving me a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Find out more about how I rate books here.

The Heir Affair (Royal We, #2)The Heir Affair by Heather Cocks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This one was an emotional rollercoaster, and I may have loved it even more than the first. Bex, Nick, and their family and friends make it through the first few years of their marriage, full of family drama from the previous book and from a secret Bex uncovers. I laughed out loud about as often as I teared up. Content warning for fertility issues. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the authors for giving me a copy in exchange for my honest review.

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Book Club Questions

  1. How did Bex and Nick grow us a couple from the first book to the end of this one?
  2. Were Freddie and Lacey’s happy endings satisfying?
  3. Explain the various relationship dynamics in this book.
  4. Could you handle constantly dealing with paparazzi and tabloids? How do these issues affect Bex, Nick, and other characters?
  5. Does this story remind you of any royal family or celebrity drama/gossip/stories in real life?