The Royal We | BBRBF Book Club + Outfit

So as you probably know by now, Sara Lily and I started a book club! Its title is officially the BBRBF Book Club, which stands for “Best Book Reading Blog Friends”. As Sara stated, we’re kinda lame, but we’re awesomely lame. Right? 😉

Anyway, our first book, as you can see, is The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan. Now, I should state as a disclaimer, I have been reading Heather and Jessica’s blog, Go Fug Yourself, for an insanely long time. Long before blogging was the cool thing to do, I feel like, I was addicted. I love their humor, I love the glamorous and weird world of celebrity fashion, and… basically, I am a fan. So, I was reading long ago when Wills and Kate happened, and when their love of the royal couple started. That along with my longstanding readership of their blog means I feel a bit more endeared by the overall storyline, and all of the semi-inside-jokes I noticed throughout the book.

Before we get into that more, though, as usual, here’s the synopsis! (Via goodreads)

“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.”

Now, this book is basically a fanfic of Prince William and Duchess Catherine’s life pre-marriage. If you’re not into that sort of thing, then it’s probably not for you. However, I love fairytales and romances of all kinds, so… it is right up my alley. I don’t actually follow Wills and Kate other than on GFY, so I don’t really know much about them, and I don’t really care to, but I really enjoyed the fact that Jessica and Heather brought in some of the many joking remarks they have made about William, Kate, and Harry over the years.

The story solely follows Bex’s point of view in her journey through Oxford, meeting Nick, and all of the drama that leads up to their relationship, engagement, and ending at their eventual marriage. Sorry, I sort of spoiled the end for you right there, but it was inevitable. Unless you’re oblivious to what this book is based on, it’s kind of predictable that they eventually end up together; while I enjoyed it, it is not a terribly original storyline, and I would have been pretty surprised if it ended with anything other than Bex and Nick together. Their writing and the uniqueness of their characters made up for the predictability, however.

I will say, however, that for two seconds I thought they might not. I won’t say why, and it was actually a somewhat frustrating moment for me, but I seriously was taken up with the characters enough to wonder if Bex would follow a different path.

One thing against this book, it is so long. For the story and my expectations, I figured it’d be a 200 page book max, but it is a generous 400+ pages, with five parts. And by the fourth part, as much as I was enjoying the story, I really wanted it to be over. That could have something to do with the fact that I literally spent all day yesterday reading the second half of the book because I am a procrastinator… but it was a long book for a story such as this.

And, as Sara mentioned, they  never actually were “seen” (written, more like) in school. While they are at Oxford, all of the interaction happens before or after classes, and there isn’t much mention of class itself. Which didn’t really bother me, but it might irk some of you more scholastic types.

I really liked the variety of characters in the book, and how they all played out in the overall story. While some people might think it’s a bit too much to keep track of, I felt warmth for most of them. If you’ve read the book, you know which one I am not so fond of. 😉

Overall, though, I really enjoyed it. As much as I used to deny it when I was younger, I am a huge sucker for sappy romances that keep it somewhat smart and clean. I appreciated the quick humor, the snarkiness, the drama, and the parallels I could see connecting The Royal We to Heather and Jessica’s imaginary world of Wills and Kate on GFY. It was the kind of satisfyingly light fluff I needed at the moment. I didn’t get too emotionally attached to any of the characters, but I did have fun getting to “know” them and see how their lives turned out.

I do agree with Sara that I wish we had seen more of Queen Eleanor. I really liked her character, and it would have been great to get to know her more. But, I have very small  nits to pick with this book. It was light, fun, and actually pretty easy and fast to read considering its length. Then again, I am a fast reader, so…

Dress, vintage | shoes, belt, and brooch, thrifted | glasses (old) c/o Firmoo

Have you read The Royal We? What did you think? Read Sara’s review here, and Noelle’s review here. And link to me if you are going to read it, or have read it, because I want to see what you think, too!

And guys, today this outfit almost didn’t happen. I bought this dress before I dyed my hair pink, and then haven’t worn it because I can’t really breastfeed in it. But in my rush to get a post up this morning, I decided to style and photograph it early this morning… and hated the way it looked. So I decided I would try again this afternoon in a different outfit. Something about the dress just called to me, though, so I went again with different accessories, and way, way better hair… and now I feel a bit like a pink-haired Lucille Ball.

It’s the first time I have tried “poodle hair“, and it… well, it sorta works. I have a lot of hair, and the whole poodle style hair is not easy to do when your hair is really long. But, I love the way it all turned out!

I hope you all have had a fantastic week! I am off to do my second day of 30 Days of Yoga, and clean my house.

Happy Thursday!

Oh! I nearly forgot: our next book is The Portable Veblen, by Elizabeth McKenzie. We’ll be posting on the third Thursday of April with our reviews!

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