Holy cow guys! We have finally reached the conclusion of the
The Royals series! I stumbled upon this series over the summer and I have been hooked ever since! The characters, the story, the twists and turns within the plot have been such a ride to read through and I am very thankful that I found this series.
Erin Watt, the dynamic duo of two best selling authors have stolen my heart and have virtually royally ruined my soul in every possible way. Which is a good thing! On to the review!
The Cover: Erin Watt''s covers are simple and beautiful. I first came upon
the Royal series through my kindle and when I was in the Amazon store my eyes went directly to the cover of
Paper Princess. Usually there's some character on the cover of a book, but with this series all the covers focus on an object that relates to the story. I love all the covers, but
Paper Princess and
Twisted Palace are my favorites. The covers are unique to me because the drawings of both of the crowns and gates to me look like watercolor.
Paper Princess is very proper,
Broken Prince is more sketchy and less proper, looking a bit shattered and
Twisted Palace looks beautiful, pristine and flawless. Which is a bit ironic because the book is named
Twisted Palace, why do the gates look perfect when the title suggests not everything is perfect? Ah I love, love, love it! I love the books and covers so much that when
Twisted Palace becomes available November 2nd, I'm buying all the books. I already bought them on kindle but the covers are too beautiful not to own in book form!
Basics: Twisted Palace was released on October 17th, 2016 and is the third installment of the
the Royal series. The book is available on kindle for now, but will be released in book form on November 2nd, 2016. Twisted Palace is 370 pages long and was published by EverAfter Romance.
Description: These Royals will ruin you…
From mortal enemies to unexpected allies, two teenagers try
to protect everything that matters most.
Ella Harper has met every challenge that life has thrown her
way. She’s tough, resilient, and willing to do whatever it takes to defend the
people she loves, but the challenge of a long-lost father and a boyfriend whose
life is on the line might be too much for even Ella to overcome.
Reed Royal has a quick temper and even faster fists. But his
tendency to meet every obstacle with violence has finally caught up with him.
If he wants to save himself and the girl he loves, he’ll need to rise above his
tortured past and tarnished reputation.
No one believes Ella can survive the Royals. Everyone is
sure Reed will destroy them all.
They may be right.
With everything and everyone conspiring to keep them apart,
Ella and Reed must find a way to beat the law, save their families, and unravel
all the secrets in their Twisted Palace.
***** If you have not read Broken Prince
or Twisted Palace, please stop here****
Plot: When Broken Prince ended, Brooke and her unborn baby were killed and Reed got arrested for apparently murdering her. After Reed was taken away...Steve, Ella's dad who was apparently killed in a hanging glider accident appears in front of her and Callum. SAY WHAT?! So many questions!
Twisted Palace directly starts off where Broken Prince ended with Reed being questioned in police custody. Ella is back at the house trying to deal with Reed's arrest and her sudden father's appearance back from the dead. What makes the situation even more awkward is that Steve doesn't remember Ella or even being told he was a dad. Seriously Steve? That's strike one for you buddy. The first part of the book is focused on Reed and how he is basically the one the police are pinning for Brooke's murder. They have video footage of him leaving the Penthouse (where Steve and his wife were living, also where Brooke was staying at the time) and they have a hard on him for him to be convicted of murder. Things only get worse when the witness statements of Reed's violent behavior and actions are turned in, dozens and dozens of people go against Reed. Mainly people he beat up because they bad mouthed his deceased mother (who wouldn't defend their mama?!) and others who have their own personal issues with him. (Ex girlfriends, people who don't like the Royals or especially Ella) Basically Reed's situation is looking grim, along having his DNA under Brooke's fingernails (she apparently scratched him) and everyone knowing he had an affair with his dad's fiance, AKA Brooke. Things are looking pretty damning for Reed, as in going to jail for five to twenty five years damning.
Meanwhile, Ella is dealing with a father she never knew or really wanted. She doesn't know him and has constant anxiety when Steve hangs around. Poor girl is also dealing with the fact that her boyfriend and love of her life may be going to jail. Needless to say Ella is STRESSED. Things become more taxing when Steve rips Ella away from the Royal's home, away from the family she's come to know and care about along with being apart from Reed. Steve also objects when he finds out that Reed and Ella are together and goes on to become a super strict annoying dad. He gets Ella fired from the job she loves, makes her deal with his wife Dinah (who was awful to Ella in the first two books) and goes on to try and Ella. Which isn't a good thing because all of her life Ella has been on her own and independent, she doesn't exactly enjoy the fact that her absent father for most of her life comes out of nowhere and tries to take over.
While all of that is going on, Reed and Ella are trying to figure out who really killed Brooke and conserve their relationship. Twisted Palace keeps you constantly guessing from the first page to the very end, is everyone who they say they are? And the Royals are already known to have their issues and secrets, but can it get worse? The Royals may be known to ruin themselves and people they care about but are the Royals truly ruining themselves or is there something more to the story that we don't know about? Buy Twisted Palace and find out!
*****MORE SPOILERS AHEAD, if you don't want to know, don't continue reading*******
Overall thoughts: I have so many things to say so I'll do it in bullet form.
- Callum was the father of the baby?! I was so thankful it wasn't Reed, but that seriously is so sad. I didn't like Brooke, but not only she was murdered, the unborn baby was too. So sad.
- Jordan drove me nuts throughout this series, but she kind of redeemed herself in Twisted Palace; yes she is still mean but there was different side of her that was shown that I liked
- WHO IS EASTON'S MYSTERY GIRL?!
- My vote is on: Savannah, new girl Hailey or Jordan.
- I loved the mini storyline between Val and Wade, seeing both of them struggle with their feelings for one another was adorable. I hope and pray they get their own novella.
- DINAH. Who would've thought it?! She was absolutely horrid in this series! She was a gold digger, vain, only seemed to care about herself and Brooke, she blackmailed Gideon and threatened him and Savannah with horrible things. But...man! At the end she really came out of nowhere and changed my entire thought process on her.
- I loved the closeness of Dinah and Ella. Yes she did horrible things, but she seemed to change a little bit at the end of Twisted Palace. I wish more of that was shown from Ella's POV.
- The whole dynamic between Callum and Steve as father figures. Callum stood up to his best friend about being a father, I loved how he said he was more of a father to her than he was.
- Steve...I am so disappointed!!! I would be pretty upset if someone tried to kill me too but returning home and going after the first blonde you see? Really?
- Again with Steve, he was annoying throughout the entire book. He was all over the place with Ella, couldn't focus on anything and when he did try to be a father...he was completely controlling. No bueno.
- Steve part III. SLEEPING WITH YOUR BEST FRIEND'S WIFE?! REALLY. Then making her believe that Callum was cheating on her and not trying to stop her from killing herself? There are no words.
- When the affair came out, my immediate thought was...are any of the boys Steve's? The thought really depresses me but you have to wonder if it's true.
- If any of the boys are Steve's my pick would be Easton or the twins.
- Speaking of boys, I know a lot of people want everyone to have their own novella or book, but I can't stand Gideon. I understand he was being blackmailed, sleeping with someone he hated and missing the girl he truly cared about, but he was a complete jerk to Ella the entire series. The one time I thought was actually being decent, was when the brothers hatched a plan to beat up Daniel. And that was it. Safe to say I am not on Team Gideon.
- Ella and Reed's relationship = swoon. So much character development!!
- Ella has her own trust and constant the need to run when things get bad issues and Reed has his own father problems, angry and closed off emotion issues.
- But they both fit together; they've seen each other at their worst, they've fell in love, they fought, they found out each other's secrets in both Paper Princess and Broken Prince. And they worked things out and came together to overcome all of those issues. I love and can relate to the feelings they have for both of their mothers and it just touched my heart how they bonded over that fact.
- I am so sad that Ella and Reed's story is over. They will forever be one of my favorite relationships.
Favorite characters: Wade and Val, seriously I need to see more of their relationship. Plus, I want to know more about Val. Hailey was a nice surprise too, I love Val but it was nice to see Ella finding another girlfriend. Callum! I had a love hate relationship with Callum during this series, one second he was trying to be a good father to the boys and Ella and the next he wasn't. But he really proved himself to me in Twisted Palace, I secretly hope Callum will get his own book or novella too!
Bad character awards: Gideon, he was just such a jerk throughout the series and I don't know if it was because of his situation or the fact that he wasn't around much. Maybe I would change my mind if he gets his own book or novella and I can try and understand him from his point of view? Maybe. And Steve I don't need to explain why he got a bad character award, do I? But yeah, worst father and person ever.
Favorite Quotes: "Why does everyone feel the need to make promises? Don't they know that promises always get broken?" Ella, chapter four.
"She got under my skin the moment I met her, and she's still there in my blood and in my heart." Reed, chapter seventeen.
"How dare you Carrington, I'm a modern day Romeo! Romeo dies." Val and Wade, chapter twenty one.
"If Steve asks I respected the hell out of his daughter, three times." Reed, chapter twenty two.
"You. Us. Forever." Reed, chapter thirty two.
"Behind us is the tormented and terrible past. In front of us is our unblemished future. I'm not looking back again." Reed, chapter thirty five.
Final thoughts: I love this series so much and I am so thankful to the dynamic duo of Erin Watt for creating it. They will have me as a reader for life and I look forward to the next installment of the Royal series!
My rating: 5/5 shells
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Till next time!
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