Review: The Royal We by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan

Publication Date: April 7^th 2015
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Length: 454 pages

"I might be Cinderella today, but I dread who they'll think I am tomorrow. I guess it depends on what I do next." 
American Rebecca Porter was never one for fairy tales. Her twin sister, Lacey, has always been the romantic who fantasized about glamour and royalty, fame and fortune. Yet it's Bex who seeks adventure at Oxford and finds herself living down the hall from Prince Nicholas, Great Britain's future king. And when Bex can't resist falling for Nick, the person behind the prince, it propels her into a world she did not expect to inhabit, under a spotlight she is not prepared to face.
Dating Nick immerses Bex in ritzy society, dazzling ski trips, and dinners at Kensington Palace with him and his charming, troublesome brother, Freddie. But the relationship also comes with unimaginable baggage: hysterical tabloids, Nick's sparkling and far more suitable ex-girlfriends, and a royal family whose private life is much thornier and more tragic than anyone on the outside knows. The pressures are almost too much to bear, as Bex struggles to reconcile the man she loves with the monarch he's fated to become.
Which is how she gets into trouble.
Now, on the eve of the wedding of the century, Bex is faced with whether everything she's sacrificed for love-her career, her home, her family, maybe even herself-will have been for nothing.

When I initially saw this book and read the blurb I didn’t pick it up because to be quite frank it looked like real person fan fic based on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and the idea of real person fan fic makes me feel a little squicky.
I ignored it and read a whole heap of other books, but then reviews started coming in and everyone was saying how good this book was. So I gave it a shot.
And you know what? I am so glad that I did.

Yes ok the story is markedly similar to the real life story of the Duke and Duchess, but it also deviates in a lot of ways to create its own unique tale. From the very first page I was completely hooked. Morgan & Cocks have a truly brilliant writing style and it shines through in Bex’s narrative. From the very beginning I was drawn in, I was chuckling, I wanted to know more. It felt delicious and wicked and utterly brilliant and I tried to draw out reading it for much longer than I normally would with a book, because I wanted to savour it for as long as possible.

It was an engrossing read, peopled with fascinatingly real and flawed characters and tackled some really interesting problems, particularly with the media. How the media portray Bex (and by extension Lacey) how each character reacts to that attention as well as the truly terrifying lengths the methods the paparazzi go to to get their pictures and stories. It’s all depicted in horrifyingly realistic detail and really made me think about the news stories I see each day in a very different light. The novel is a brilliant blend of these heavier, darker tones, as well as exploring bereavement, family bonds, and trying to retain yourself in impossible situations where everyone feels like they own a piece of you/you’re constantly watched. But layered in with these heavier threads are some lovely light, romantic and fluffy elements that create a truly moreish read.

I squeed and giggled as Bex and Nick got to know each other at Oxford. I felt for Bex being stuffed into this impossible situation with their relationship having to be kept secret. I wept for her when she had to deal with the truly horrible treatment from the press and ‘The Firm’. I genuinely had no idea how it would end, how it could possibly all work out, and I loved that suspense.

My only frustration was that the timeline becomes a little hard to follow in places. I frequently found myself becoming confused as to how much time had passed when suddenly there was a Christmas that had happened when I wasn’t looking, or it was summer and last I’d realised it was autumn. It was very hard to keep up and work out precise timings, but it didn’t impair my enjoyment, it just made me a little confused from time to time.

It’s the perfect mix of fairytale romance and real life problems – both for those in the glare of the media and more average everyday relationships. Add in a brilliant cast of characters and this was a truly wonderful read. I loved losing myself in this story and falling in love with Bex and Nick. If you’re put off by the similarities to real life know that yes ok, it does borrow heavily from the real life story of William and Kate, but it also blends in enough fiction to create a truly fantastic story. Definitely a favourite and one I’m going to come back to again and again.