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A review by restless
Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins
2.0
Sorry folks, I didn't get the hype with this one.
What it's about: Her Royal Highness is a YA sapphic slice-of-life romance between a princess and a Texan. The book follows Millie, a bisexual teenager, as she has her heart broken, meets new friends, develops a crush, and tries wearing tartan.
What I thought: if you have ever dreamed of dating a princess at a mouldering boarding school in the Scottish Highlands, then this is the book for you.
The school has all the fixings, it's like Hogwarts and Cackle's Academy all rolled up into one (minus the witches). There are also plenty of royals and royal-adjacents, but that is never an issue. Our ingénue Millie may be the only "normie" in her friendship group, but absolutely no-one cares.
I suppose that in a weird way, this is the kind of nice and life-affirming story some of us really need. Unfortunately, my reading tastes are neither nice nor life-affirming, and so I was bored to tears.
Then there is the attempt at enemies-to-lovers, but really, Flora's issue is always with the school and never Millie. This could have been interesting, except it gets dropped half-way through the book. The school too (as a setting) could have been great, but that too is never fully developed. Then there's Millie being Texan, which has precisely zero impact on the story.
TL;DR: not for me, but maybe give it a go if you love royals.
What it's about: Her Royal Highness is a YA sapphic slice-of-life romance between a princess and a Texan. The book follows Millie, a bisexual teenager, as she has her heart broken, meets new friends, develops a crush, and tries wearing tartan.
What I thought: if you have ever dreamed of dating a princess at a mouldering boarding school in the Scottish Highlands, then this is the book for you.
The school has all the fixings, it's like Hogwarts and Cackle's Academy all rolled up into one (minus the witches). There are also plenty of royals and royal-adjacents, but that is never an issue. Our ingénue Millie may be the only "normie" in her friendship group, but absolutely no-one cares.
I suppose that in a weird way, this is the kind of nice and life-affirming story some of us really need. Unfortunately, my reading tastes are neither nice nor life-affirming, and so I was bored to tears.
Then there is the attempt at enemies-to-lovers, but really, Flora's issue is always with the school and never Millie. This could have been interesting, except it gets dropped half-way through the book. The school too (as a setting) could have been great, but that too is never fully developed. Then there's Millie being Texan, which has precisely zero impact on the story.
TL;DR: not for me, but maybe give it a go if you love royals.