A review by calamitymeat
The Rules of Royalty by Cale Dietrich

hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

**There is currently a boycott going on against St. Martins Press and I completely missed that this was published under a St. Martins imprint so I am VERY sorry for crossing a picket line**

This has been my second attempt to find a romcom that I didn't completely hate. It's definitely much more of a romance than a romcom, but it was fine. 

If I had read this while I was in high school, I probably would have been obsessed with it. But now that I'm almost out of college, it was a little painfully PG which is just not what I'm interested in right now. I found this in the non-YA romance section of the bookstore and I'm kind of convinced this was supposed to be YA and somehow wasn't published as a YA book. 

Definitely wasn't bad. Unlike some of the other romance novels I've read in the last few years, I can actually understand why someone would enjoy it and I wasn't writing "I want to kill myself" in the margins the whole time. It's good as a fluffy little "baby's first gay romance novel" so if that's what you or someone else is looking for, I definitely recommend it. 

I appreciate how good the characters are at communicating with each other and how empathetic they are towards each other. One of the things that has bothered me in half of the other romance books I've read were how terrible they were at talking to each other. One of the major conflicts in the book is
Erik's family constantly controlling his every move because every little thing he does needs to be approved by his grandmother, the queen. So I was expecting a huge falling out after Erik insists they can't be public or that they had to break up because "You'll never know what it's like to not be able to make any of your own decisions" and Jamie would respond "Why do you let them control you" or something along those lines.
But every time this comes up, Jamie is completely understanding and it never turns into a huge fight. It's genuinely refreshing to see 17 year olds maturely talk things out and work through their problems like adults when half of the romance books Ive read are about grown adults and just devolve into (or start with) a huge fight and a breakup before the 3rd act because they can't put themselves in the other persons shoes.