The Royals: Paper Princess by Erin Watt

Title: Paper Princess
Author:  Erin Watt
Publisher: Timeout LLC
Genre: YA
Release Date: April 2016

‘You may have lost your family, but you’re not alone anymore, Ella. You’re a Royal now.’

Synopsis (Goodreads)

These Royals will ruin you…

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. 
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 boy is more magnetic than the last, but none 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. 

‘You want me to say it? Fine I’ll say it. I want you. I fucking want you.’

It is safe to say that The Royals have officially ruined me. I devoured this entire series in one weekend and I will admit, I am a little, okay a lot, obsessed with it, which is why I cannot wait to share my thoughts on this series with you. Paper Princess is passionate, erotic and has some almighty cliffhangers which will keep you hooked until the very end.

Ella Harper is working as a stripper trying to make ends meet when Callum Royal finds her claiming to be her new guardian after the death of both her mother and her estranged father. Before long, Ella is whisked of to the Royals rich and elaborate household but the five Royal sons are less than welcoming. Particularly Reed, the sporty athlete who is determined to make Ella’s life a living hell. There’s just one problem; Ella is falling for Reed and she doesn’t know how to stop. Will Ella and Reed find love or will he ruin her?

‘This place is like the Garden of Eden. Beautiful but full of danger.’

I am going to start of by saying how much I loved Ella. She had everything I look for in a female protagonist. She was feisty, she could hold her own and she was pretty witty. It is obvious the Royals are not expecting somebody with such fight in her as Ella had and I absolutely loved this about her. Ella refused to give up and gave as good as she got. Her comebacks to the boys made me laugh out loud and there is one particular scene with the school bully that had me cheering Ella on. If you ever want a feisty female protagonist, Ella is your girl.

Then we have Reed, the second eldest Royal who runs the show. I won’t lie to you, I thought Reed was a massive arsehole for the first half of the book. The way he treats Ella is horrific and I found myself getting seriously angry at the pranks he pulled. But oh my goodness this boy is hot. I didn’t think it was possible to find a fictional character so attractive but Reed Royal got me. Apart from the good looks and abs, Reed is funny, smart and he will do anything to protect his family, which includes keeping Ella away.

‘Reed is the only thing that exists. Right here, right now, he’s the centre of my universe.’

I was not expecting this novel to be as erotic as it was. There are some rather graphic sexual scenes so this book is definitely not for the younger reader, but I for one was lapping this up. I love a couple with some passion and Ella and Reed certainly shared some fiery moments. There were literal fireworks when these two were together and I loved that they just couldn’t control themselves around one another. We also got to see Reed’s more romantic side towards the end of the novel and particularly in the next two books which was really sweet.

I also have to mention some other characters. Easton Royal is the middle child, he is in the same year as Ella and he too makes her life a misery when she arrives. But Easton is the first boy to let his guard down and Ella and Easton begin an unlikely friendship. Easton really relies on Ella to keep him sane as he battles his own demons with drink and gambling addictions. My heart went out to Easton and I cannot wait to read the two novels that are coming out this year which follow Easton’s story. There are also some very horrible characters in this novel. The antics that the students got up to at school were pretty hard to read and the majority of them are down to Queen Bee Jordan. I HATED Jordan with a passion and you’ll see why if you read this book. But I loved that Watt caused me such emotion towards characters and it shows what an awesome writer she is.

‘My skill, if I have one, isn’t dancing. It’s my ability to believe that tomorrow can be a better day.’

The last thing I have to mention is those damn cliffhangers. Erin Watt is the new queen of cliffhangers. I finished reading the series in one weekend because her cliffhangers kept me so enticed. At the end of both Paper Princess and Broken Prince secrets were revealed that forced me to read on immediately. I actually bought Broken Prince and Twisted Palace on my Kindle about five seconds after finishing the previous book because I had to know what happened next, which is very unusual for me because anybody who knows me will tell you how stingy I am with my money (I actually bought Paper Princess when it was discounted at a £1). I would recommend you don’t read these books when you have a lot of stuff going on because, I assure you, they will distract you from anything you have planned.

I hope I expressed my love for this series. I am dying to reveal more but I really can’t without issuing spoilers so if you want to chat to me about these books please drop me a message so we can fangirl together. Erin Watt had me hooked from the get go and I will admit that I have gone back and reread my favourite scenes a number of times since finishing the books which shows how great they are. If you are into danger, romance and passion The Royals are the family for you.

‘I cling to him as if he holds the only comfort I will ever find in this world.’