REVIEW: Paper Princess by Erin Watt

Paper Princess by Erin Watt: In an obscenely stereotyped Rags to Riches type narrative, we journey with Ella, effectively an orphan after her mother has passed from cancer, who she is forced to strip to survive whilst putting herself through high school.

Until of course, her ‘guardian’ Callum Royal shows up out of the blue at her public school and who begins to tout promises of pots of gold at the end of the dead father Steve rainbow. Refusing to believe this is anything but a scam, Ella tries to flee town and ends up being pulled out of her strip club by Callum and flown to his mansion with a compromise that sounds too good to be true.

Which, of course, it isn’t except to say that the deal comes with 5 Royal sons, who are determined to make her stay in their house and her attendance at their school anything but pleasant. Given her rough and tumble history however, Ella grows increasingly determined not to crumble under their petty attacks and character assassinations, until of course things go a little too far and her heart is caught in the crossfire.

As a YA romance, and the first in the series, there was a bucket to love; edgy protagonist despite the endless stereotypes, some fabulously witty one liners and some social class realities that didn’t come on too strong irrespective of the cliches. For the most part, Ella’s attitude drove the story, and when her and lead Royal brother Reed begin to push each others’ buttons beyond the norm, the sexual tension between our two heats up like no man’s business. Funny, fast-paced, often exorbitant, this was a great starter to the Royal series with an ending that is as cut-throat as most of the other critical moments in the story. And with a light dabble in some heavy themes, this ticks a lot of boxes for young adult romance lovers and has succeeded in setting the scene for some interesting action to come.

Book Info:

Publication: 19th September 2023 | Berkley | The Royals #1

Ella Harper is a survivor—a pragmatic optimist. She’s spent her whole life moving from town to town with her flighty mother, struggling to make ends meet and believing that someday she’ll climb out of the gutter. After her mother’s death, Ella is truly alone.

That is until Callum Royal appears, plucking Ella out of poverty and tossing her into his posh mansion among his five sons who all hate her. Each Royal is more magnetic than the last, but none is as captivating as Reed Royal, the boy who is determined to send her back to the slums she came from.

Reed doesn’t want her. He says she doesn’t belong with the Royals.

He might be right.

Wealth. Excess. Deception. It’s like nothing Ella has ever experienced, and if she’s going to survive her time in the Royal palace, she’ll need to learn to issue her own Royal decrees.