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smithrachaelynn's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
What I liked:
- Viktor’s romantic heart, OMG he was the absolute star of this book. He was soo poetic and romantic and protective. He had so many adorable moments.
- Mental health, this book had a really amazing portrayal of mental health from a bunch of different characters. So that was refreshing.
- The kiddos, Callum especially was so much fun in the story and added a lot of humor.
What I didn’t like:
- The journalist thing, I know it’s a Roman Holiday retelling but I REALLY hate journalist storylines. It’s unbearable to me. Thankfully it became a nonissue after a bit in the beginning. I was really close to not finishing because of that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
nickoliver's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Nothing in this book worked for me. Let me bullet point it, though, because I'm not in the mood for a structured review:
1.) The main character Maggie was extremely annoying. I was supposed to believe she was this angelic older sister who sacrificed her own career and life for her siblings, but she never really seemed to even like them all too much? Especially the way she treated her grieving teenage sister rubbed me the wrong way. The girl was fourteen and hooking up with a nineteen-year-old who was around drugs a lot, and she barely even worried. Everything April (the sister) did was just dismissed as teenage angst and 'eh, she's just doing it because she hates me'. And she barely took care of her other siblings and didn't really hesitate to go away with Viktor; honestly, the oldest of her younger siblings, Pike, was the one who did the most work, not her, but no one acknowledged that.
Maggie was also so American, especially in the later chapters, when she was in Sweden with Viktor. And she romanticised royals so hard it drove me up the wall. It was especially baffling, because she referenced the British royals sometimes, and yet she didn't know that being a prince didn't mean you were noble and good? She seemed to be convinced that Disney movies were based on the real world.
2.) The relationship between Maggie and Viktor was so boring. There was zero chemistry, and it was basically just 80-90% sexual attraction. They fell in love over the span of a week, and while I don't always hate instalove, it just wasn't done well in this book. It just wasn't believable. And their first meeting made me extremely uncomfortable, and it was never addressed how creepy and invasive Maggie behaved in that scene. On the contrary, it was played down and used as this sweet reminiscent moment later on.
3.) The smut was very boring, and it angered me how often they had sex in places they shouldn't have had sex in? For example, one time Viktor fingered her on a Disneyland ride. Another time they had loud sex in Maggie's house when her sister was literally in the next room and could hear them all night long. They constantly forced other people who didn't consent to listen to their sex noises. It's hard to like smutty scenes when you spend the entire time feeling sorry for the people around them. They also weren't really written that well, tbh.
4.) None of the side characters were properly fleshed out, even characters that definitely should have been, like Maggie's siblings. It was infuriating, especially since some of them would have been a lot more interesting than Maggie herself. Halle also refused to actually write any conflict when it came to them - they were always conveniently on board with whatever Maggie wanted, like moving to an entirely new country. I'd also like to know why everyone talked about Callum like he was the anti-Christ as opposed to a normal, albeit very hyperactive, five-ish year-old.
The only interesting character in the entire book was Magnus, he was a firecracker, but then he was also a huge misogynist who treated women like walking fleshlights, so I couldn't even enjoy his presence. Kind of pissed me off, too, because he had a lot of potential, but Halle couldn't resist making him a heterosexual fuckboy, I guess.
5.) The Swedish stereotypes made me want to weep. IKEA was mentioned all the time, and Maggie said that all the women in Sweden looked like supermodels and all the men like Bond villains, because that was surely accurate! 50% of the things Callum uttered were imitations of the Swedish chef from the Muppets. You didn't learn anything about the Swedes or the country, everything was very surface level. Halle probably did zero research, because even Viktor's job wasn't described in the slightest. I constantly had to read about Maggie's creamy or milky skin and Viktor's good looks, but what Viktor actually had to do as a prince? No idea. Honestly, even Viktor himself talked about his duties as a prince as if he'd learnt them from a Disney movie. "When I'm King, I'm gonna change all the laws (that conveniently help Maggie out, because why care about the Swedish people)!", as if it would be that easy. Didn't his father ever teach him anything about what being a king was actually like?
6.) A lot of scenes that would've added some substance to the story were not shown at all, just talked about in retrospect. For example, Maggie exploring Stockholm, or her and the King having a deep conversation.
7.) The book was way, way, way too long. This did not need to be almost 500 pages. No romance should be this long, but especially not this one.
I probably will pick up the sequels because I've heard good things about especially the third book (actually the reason I started this series in the first place), but probably not any time soon.
1.) The main character Maggie was extremely annoying. I was supposed to believe she was this angelic older sister who sacrificed her own career and life for her siblings, but she never really seemed to even like them all too much? Especially the way she treated her grieving teenage sister rubbed me the wrong way. The girl was fourteen and hooking up with a nineteen-year-old who was around drugs a lot, and she barely even worried. Everything April (the sister) did was just dismissed as teenage angst and 'eh, she's just doing it because she hates me'. And she barely took care of her other siblings and didn't really hesitate to go away with Viktor; honestly, the oldest of her younger siblings, Pike, was the one who did the most work, not her, but no one acknowledged that.
Maggie was also so American, especially in the later chapters, when she was in Sweden with Viktor. And she romanticised royals so hard it drove me up the wall. It was especially baffling, because she referenced the British royals sometimes, and yet she didn't know that being a prince didn't mean you were noble and good? She seemed to be convinced that Disney movies were based on the real world.
2.) The relationship between Maggie and Viktor was so boring. There was zero chemistry, and it was basically just 80-90% sexual attraction. They fell in love over the span of a week, and while I don't always hate instalove, it just wasn't done well in this book. It just wasn't believable. And their first meeting made me extremely uncomfortable, and it was never addressed how creepy and invasive Maggie behaved in that scene. On the contrary, it was played down and used as this sweet reminiscent moment later on.
3.) The smut was very boring, and it angered me how often they had sex in places they shouldn't have had sex in? For example, one time Viktor fingered her on a Disneyland ride. Another time they had loud sex in Maggie's house when her sister was literally in the next room and could hear them all night long. They constantly forced other people who didn't consent to listen to their sex noises. It's hard to like smutty scenes when you spend the entire time feeling sorry for the people around them. They also weren't really written that well, tbh.
4.) None of the side characters were properly fleshed out, even characters that definitely should have been, like Maggie's siblings. It was infuriating, especially since some of them would have been a lot more interesting than Maggie herself. Halle also refused to actually write any conflict when it came to them - they were always conveniently on board with whatever Maggie wanted, like moving to an entirely new country. I'd also like to know why everyone talked about Callum like he was the anti-Christ as opposed to a normal, albeit very hyperactive, five-ish year-old.
The only interesting character in the entire book was Magnus, he was a firecracker, but then he was also a huge misogynist who treated women like walking fleshlights, so I couldn't even enjoy his presence. Kind of pissed me off, too, because he had a lot of potential, but Halle couldn't resist making him a heterosexual fuckboy, I guess.
5.) The Swedish stereotypes made me want to weep. IKEA was mentioned all the time, and Maggie said that all the women in Sweden looked like supermodels and all the men like Bond villains, because that was surely accurate! 50% of the things Callum uttered were imitations of the Swedish chef from the Muppets. You didn't learn anything about the Swedes or the country, everything was very surface level. Halle probably did zero research, because even Viktor's job wasn't described in the slightest. I constantly had to read about Maggie's creamy or milky skin and Viktor's good looks, but what Viktor actually had to do as a prince? No idea. Honestly, even Viktor himself talked about his duties as a prince as if he'd learnt them from a Disney movie. "When I'm King, I'm gonna change all the laws (that conveniently help Maggie out, because why care about the Swedish people)!", as if it would be that easy. Didn't his father ever teach him anything about what being a king was actually like?
6.) A lot of scenes that would've added some substance to the story were not shown at all, just talked about in retrospect. For example, Maggie exploring Stockholm, or her and the King having a deep conversation.
7.) The book was way, way, way too long. This did not need to be almost 500 pages. No romance should be this long, but especially not this one.
I probably will pick up the sequels because I've heard good things about especially the third book (actually the reason I started this series in the first place), but probably not any time soon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, and Death of parent