book birthday
Yes! Yes! A big yes! After reading too many thrillers I was needing something stimulating, tempting, entertaining, extremely feel good but also powerful, inspirational, thought provoking: I know I want too many things at the same time.
But guess what! I got it all by reading this book!
Karina Halle is hell of a way too much talented author who can dance between different genres from erotic romance to paranormal, contemporary to romcom and she nails all of them! Im still so thankful she brought one of my best paranormal series back: as a team Derry Dex Perry fan!
She never disappoints me! I never had to grade any of her works less than four I think I devoured all of her works And Im telling you guys: I know this book is so intriguing because the royal couple mentioned in it is so similar to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry! But: Its more than a realistic approach this scandalous story.
It has unique approach to mental illnesses PTSD, borderline personality disorder, dependent personality disorder,anxiety disorder etc, genuine criticism of invasion of privacy and promising enemies to lovers/ forbidden love premise!
This is not ordinary soft/ sweet/swoon read to be consumed at one bite.
This is so much more than that! Especially the last chapters about self discovery, standing up for yourself parts ignite your inner rebel to take action for the things you resented for so long!
Lets give you some scoops about the storyline: Piper Evans : elementary school teacher, a hermit, an outsider even though shes been living in the island for five years because of being punished to dumb her cheater fiancées ass who comes from one of the islands wealthiest and most powerful families.
Luckily her occupation and taking care of her mother suffering from BPD, DPD, already took so much time of her so ut doesnt hurt her so much to be shunned by townies and or to have hard time to make friends but her uneventful life will completely change when recently married prince Eddie and Grammy winner, popular singer Monica left Britain for a yearlong for undisclosed reasons: a sabbatical sorts.
There are too many theories whirl around where they are going to move! So Piper can hardly imagine shes going to be neighbors with the scandalous royal couple whose reputation is tarnished by ruthless British paparazzis.
But when an incredibly hot human wall stops her car and asks her ID, she remembers the face: thats notorious, ultra sexy, intimidating bodyguard of royal couple: ladies and gentlemen: heres the hottest protector, veteran, irresistible Harrison Cole: oh stop drooling note to myself !!!
Actually Piper has the same reaction with me but Harrisons rude manners, acting like she might be big threat against royal family brings out the worst of her.
The guy literally pushes her button so bad!
The smart banters, flaming chemistry, slow burn blooming romance between them keep you at the edge,
And you know what the guy is hell of a cook!
But Piper already had so many a, hole experiences which gave her second thoughts about attracting to the emotionally detached people, Even though there are undeniable sparks flying around them, the possibility of starting a relationship will cost them too much, The press not only watches every move of royal, they also watch Piper and Harrison because they know their close connection to the couple,
Meghan oops Monica already invited Piper and her mother at their mansion, she and the prince are way too much friendly than they expected,
Could Piper and Harrison take risks and leave their past traumas behind Could they have their own HEA against all odds
Overall: I loved it so much! Its so much meaningful, fiery, powerful, thought provoking and entertaining earned my five royal, secluded small island, and IIiiiiiiii will always love you!
Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.
“I dont know how to make it work But that doesnt mean Im not going to try, That we wont try to figure it out together, ”
I didnt expect to love this given the mixed reviews but this was surprisingly delightful, The Royals Next Door has all the whimsy, sweetness, and humour you need for a summer romance read, Follows after the romanceloving, podcastmaking whose life is turned upside down when British royals rent the property next door to her, And when Piper meets their stoic, but obnoxious, bodyguard Harrison Cole, a slow burn hatetolove affair begins, and for all they knew, the Royals aren't the only ones who find themselves in the limelight.
This was my first time reading a work from Karina Halle, and simply to say, it didn't disappoint me, This probably retains the fact that this is my first time in a while reading a royaladjacent trope involving the dutch and dutchess' bodyguard with the neighbour next door instead of the royals themselves.
The slowburn romance between Piper and Harrison was wellpaced and pulled me in right off the bat,
Despite struggling to fit in with the townspeople especially given her emotional scar, Piper is still a wonderful character who is fun, caring, and quirky all the same.
Meanwhile, Harrison, the royals handsome bodyguard, who also happened to be a good baker is dedicated to his job and determined not to let his attraction to scatterbrained Piper distract him from his duty.
This put them off to a difficult start, but they both know how to get under each other's skin, and the comical banter and lovely moments got me in a stupor that most can be ascribed to their exquisitely crafted characters.
Some things weighed them down in pursuing their love, but their maturity and honesty help to work it through, Their chemistry feels right and I love how perfect they were written for each other,
“Its not about doing better, Piper, Its about seeing me as a mother and a friend and not as
my mental illness, I'll never be able to learn on my own if you're always there, ”
Notwithstanding the beautiful cover, this novel is not all sweetness and light, since it adopted a secondary plot on mental illness, The author delivers an honest portrayal and the discussions were particularly insightful, The author's note at the end brought everything together nicely, Although admittedly, the conclusion to the mother's bipolar disorder plotline's is a little too facile as I believe it takes more than online therapies to recover quickly, the rendition is still well done.
“The romance stigma is real, even with it being the most popular genre”
This book also addressed the stigma attached to romance as a genre, as well as the double standards that women face when Piper's secret of having a romance podcast was revealed, causing a backlash after someone reported it to her school.
I like how it emphasizes that reading romance is not something to be ashamed of, as society has made us to believe,
Halle's detailed description of Salt Spring Island and its residents was another factor that lured me, Given the smalltown setting, you can expect fullfledged side characters which added to the The Royals Next Door's appeal, What more when it isn't overly glorified like the usual smalltown books I've come across giving the book its own ground,
Therefore, if you're looking for a royal bodyguard and a commoner love story, The Royals Next Door is a beautiful story of respect, love, tolerance and so is a perfect summer read.
August was an amazing month for new books and especially in the romancebook department, I read an earc of THE ROYALS NEXT DOOR thanks to berkleyromance netgalley on my way home from the lake and absolutely fell in love with it, Five weeks later and Im still swooning over Harrison,
You dont have to be a fan to love this story but the Royals are definitely reminiscent of Meghan and Harry, Nonetheless, the focus is not on the Royals but Piper the girl next door, Piper is a school teacher with a secret! No one knows but she is an avid romancereader and hosts her own podcast, She lives a quiet life with her Mother on a small island, Things take a turn when the Royals decide theyd like to move in next door and thus enters the incredibly sexy and oh so serious bodyguard Harrison,
This quest for happilyeverafter has everything I look for in a contemporaryromance, It reminds us to put ourselves out there and that we deserve to be with someone who makes us feel good, safe and confident in ourselves,
If I could put this in all of your hands I would, Highly recommend bumping this up your tbrpile, The Royals Next Door was a cute book! It didn't wow me, but I had such a good time reading it, You know I'm a sucker for romance books with bodyguard trope grumpy/sunshine, This has it! And it delivered tbh, The tropes made me go all swoony inside,
When royalty moves next door, Piper's life fully changes, She's a schoolteacher, kinda hermit and a romance podcaster, but now she has actual royalty living next door! With them comes a broody, grumpy annoyedather bodyguard, Harrison,
For the most part their relationship had to be a secret, because the media, the consequences to the royals, and her mother's wellbeing, But everyone knows immediately these two have something going on lmao, I just needed a little something more, more high stakes between them, because there are a lot of empty spaces between their scenes where they don't meet for a bit and you're wondering how can they fall so fast when they haven't spent that much time together lol.
Also idk why but I find it kinda ehh to use the inspiration of Meghan Markle to write a book about two white people, It's just me! Maybe many people don't see it that way but idk why I do, . .
Overall, this book is cute and I recommend it if you want a royals, bodyguard, annoying at first sight, grumpy/sunshine, soft for her only romance, Piper is a second grade schoolteacher and caregiver for her mentally ill mother, Harrison is the PPO thats personal protection officer for,
sitelink
Well, a fictional equivalent,
To behonest, I wasn't sure I would like this and so I sort of avoided it like the plague after receiving an advanced copy, I'm just not into the whole "royal" thing, The good news is this isn't really about the royals at all, They're basically the neighbors that ocassionally have Piper and her mom over for dinner, The real meat and potatoes or poutine hyuck hyuck is between Piper and Harrison, I guess technically this would fall under the enemies to lovers trope, but it was less like true hatred for each other and more that they were inconveniences in each other's lives.
This book does several things right, First, it jumped on the royal fever before it became too tired of a trope, Second, it tackles mental illness in the way I like best with kid gloves and not a whole lot of detail for the trolls to pick apart, And most importantly it reminds us that,
It's okay to read about sex, It's okay to have a book that's focused on both people falling in love and the woman's own pleasure, The genre has a lot of stigma attached to it, but only because some people are afraid of women's empowerment and sexuality,
Amen, It's okay to read whatever the eff you want, Like romance Read it! Like young adult, but you're a geezer Who gives a poop read it! Like the stabby stuff that might make your friends question your sanity Find new friends and read it!!! All reading is good just read.
And thank you for coming to my Ted Talk,
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, Thank you, NetGalley! ,stars
First of all, this is one of the cutest covers Ive ever seen this year, This was such a really entertaining summer read, cute bodyguard romance with a twist, I really enjoyed this one, it was such an easy book to like, I loved Harrison from the first introduction, a stoic broody bodyguard, whats not to love The sunshine grumpy dynamic was really entertaining,
I also really liked all the talk about romance books and those who reads romance and how theyre always shamed for reading romance Also, all the talk about mental illness and therapy.
The romance might not be the most amazing thing, kinda conflict free, and wrapped up extra nicely with everything being super okay for “a royal” situation, but it was still really cute! One thing I didnt like is how I hated all the people on the island.
I mean for a small island I always expect to fall in love with the closed community, .stars!
Im not normally a big fan of the royal trope in my romance, but when I heard this was inspired by Meghan and Harry and featured a bodyguard, I was sold.
The Royals Next Door is about elementary school teacher, Piper, who lives on a small island in Canada with her mother who struggles with mental illness, Word gets out pretty quickly that British royals Eddie and Monica are scoping out places to live on the island, and pretty soon Piper realizes they are moving right next door to her.
This would be great, except for the grumpy bodyguard, Harrison, who seems to like to make things difficult for Piper
Karina Halle is one of my alltime favorite authors.
I know whether I like her books or not, Im going to get an entertaining and well written story, I love the grumpy hero who likes only the heroine trope, and Harrison was the best kind of grumpy hero, I loved Piper as this quirky, school teacher dealing with a lot in her life but trying to see the best in her situation,
What stood out the strongest in this book was the representation of mental illness with the characters, I love that this book had characters suggesting and seeking out therapy as a means to help others, The book also touched on PTSD and how it can alter decision making skills and how people approach situations in life without realizing the impact, All around Im glad this book touches on these issues without being a super heavy subject because they arent always brought up or tackled in the romance genre when they should be.
I really enjoyed this book and Im excited to read the next one when it is released, Hey, this series might make me a royals romance lover yet,
A digital arc was provided by the publisher via Netgalley, This did not have any influence over my thoughts/opinions when reading this book or writing this review, .