Paper Princess by Erin Watt

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Title: Paper Princess
Author: Erin Watt
Series: The Royals #1
Published by: Indie, EverAfter Romance
Release Date: April 4th 2016
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 370
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2018 #LetsReadIndie Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ IndieBound
My rating:

Blurb:

From strip clubs and truck stops to southern coast mansions and prep schools, one girl tries to stay true to herself.

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. 

My Review:

4.5 stars — Well shiiiiit.  This was one of those super popular series that EVERYONE LOVED, and so automatically I become leery and assume I’m going to be the black sheep.  NOPE!!  Apparently my tastes align with the masses, WOOHOO!!  I think different readers will get different things out of it, and I’m sure it won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but for me it was exactly as the authors put in their acknowledgements: CRACKTASTIC.  Like I was trying to come up with a descriptor for this book, and what drew me in, and that’s just perfect.  Because this is not normal Lenore fare.  Honestly, there are a ton of different things that should be Lenore no-no’s.  But for some reason it just worked for me.  I think it appealed to this tiny, picky, base part of me that enjoys a little bit of crazy drama, as long as it meets certain criteria.  I honestly don’t know what that criteria is, I just know when something works and when something doesn’t, and the margins seem to be pretty thin, you know?

So normally what sucks me into a book is amazing characters…and OK, this did have some pretty spectacular characters, but usually they have to be…like…morally upstanding in some way for me to fall for them.  And most of the characters in this one are just…well, not always awesome people.  But there’s glimmers, you know??  And I think going into it knowing it was going to be a bit over the top drama, almost…soap opera-y?  Or like not a normal soap, but a teen soap, like something out of the CW?  For some reason I just went with it.  I’m trying not to question.  But if you’re a hard nope on characters doing bad things and behaving badly, then tread lightly.  Our hero(s) are straight up bullies at the beginning.  Like, the things they do to Ella are pretty horrible.  There’s a lot of questionable stuff that just doesn’t get properly addressed, things that would bug the crap out of me in other books.  Alcoholism, drug-almost-rape, inappropriate parental behavior.  Like I’m really selling this book right?  But I was SUCKED IN!!!!!  I couldn’t wait to find out what scandalous thing was going to happen next, or what way the characters would draw me into their drama despite myself…I kept flipping ahead and then flipping back b/c I was impatient.

One of the strongest draws for me was Ella.  She was…interesting.  I felt her vulnerability, but I also felt her well of strength.  She would shock the crap out of me with her feistiness, and then my heart would break for her at other times.  I just, almost despite myself, LOVED her.  *shrugs*  There ya go.

As for the heroes…they intrigue me as well.  I know darned well that all is not as it seems, that things are actually way more fucked up, and the level of damage on them astounds me.  It doesn’t excuse their behavior, but it does make me connect with them despite their awfulness.

I had to write this review up super quick, b/c you know darned well I need to get going on the next book!!  Like my tummy is actually jumping with anticipation.  It’s so fun to be EXCITED about what’s going to happen next!!  And holy hell am I glad that I waited til it was finished to start, b/c I would have DIED!!!  Kudos to all the immediate readers, you have my sympathy.