Cover Image: The Royal Treatment

The Royal Treatment

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Member Reviews

I loved this book!
Arthur was perfectly princely! He was fun and sexy but also showed a caring and protective side. I enjoy when characters have depth and I’m able to connect to them.
Tessa was sarcastic and hilarious! She showed a normal side to the royals life.
There were also good supporting characters- Tessa and Arthur’s families- that helped to show the character depth. So glad I’ve got the next in the series because im gonna go read it right now!

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Why did I take so long to get to this wonderful comedy?

3.5.

Since she was unfairly blocked from more official jobs as a journalist, Tessa has been trying to grow as a blogger/vlogger, and her biggest revenue is The Royal Watchdog, where she expresses her critical views on the existence of the royal family. Prince Arthur has always kept to the public but now the Prime Minister wants to extinguish monarchy he'll have to take drastic measures. That's how Tessa ends up invited to live in the palace for two months, in hopes she'll change her view and of her followers'.

Of course, this is still chick lit and there's not much that will discern it from many others. Even though the authors try to apply a realistic view of the prince's daily activities, which was very interesting, it wasn't anything new. To be honest, as a journalist, Tessa was very naive to think he'd just sit there all day long.

By the way, a lot of the headcanon of how a royal family works this book reminded me of a m/m romance I loved, His Royal Secret. I'm not criticizing—to be honest, I loved going back to that world, especially since the author never wrote anything else after the duology. The things is that the similarities made me aware of plotholes. The most prominent example is Arthur's sister, who he describes as fragile and implies something may have happened to her before. If the series meant each book would explore a different character, I'd understand that was a teaser for the second number, but it's not the case. What we see from the princess is a quite strong-willed woman—the very opposite of what happens in His Royal Secret, where these very words eventually developed into a dramatic subplot plus reason for, well, let's stop here and go back to this book.

What I mean is that we had a lot of ways the plot could have deepened but never did. I'm sure some of those won't be dead ends and will come in later volumes, but it made the book seem to go to next level and in the end I was disappointed that was all.

My other issue was the unnecessary drama due to stupid misunderstandings. I thought we had left the cliche behind a decade ago, so I felt impatient having to go through the same drama any Hallmark Chanel movie will repeat ad nauseam.

In any case, this was still a very enjoyable romantic comedy. I may have my problems but it was just that I started the book and I could immediately see the quality. I honestly wasn't expecting, and that's why in the end I took it seriously. But as a pleasure read, this is perfect. It'll keep you entertained with that silly smile we want when getting books like this to read. Also, we have a pig for a pet, how different is that?

I highly recommend this to any fans of romantic comedies.


Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

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The book was hilarious. The characters are witty and funny. In short a light read humorous romance.

Tessa Sharpe the royal watchdog maintains a blog where she writes about her dislike of Prince Arthur and the royal family in general. When the monarchy is in jeopardy and with tessa's increasing popularity. The royals decide to give the castle key to tessa for two months.

Will tessa have the same opinion on the Royals when her time is up with them especially will she feel the same disdain for the prince.

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This is an adorable romantic comedy that will make you laugh, dream and laugh loud again. I loved it so much that I couldn’t stop reading it till the end …. and then I couldn’t help but starting the second episode. This is a story about being the real youself despite everything and everyone. If you’ll read it you’ll love Tessa and Arthur and their intriguing love story. I truly raccomend this book to everyone who wants to spend fascinating funny hours.

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Christina was a chef on a cruise liner but quit when her boss made an unwanted pass at her, leaving her stranded in Alaska. In this world Alaska was never sold to America, due to this there is a monarchy in Alaska. The monarchy is not well look on by other royals because they're rough and wild. The king is having trouble finding a wife for his son to continue the family linage.
Christina goes on a fishing trip and the King is posing as the ship captain and the two start talking. The king discovers Christina has no money, job or idea of what she is going to do next. The king invites her to the palace and tells his son that he should marry her. The prince agrees because he sees it as his duty. Christina however disagrees to the marriage, and then our story really begins.
The Prince, David is rough and outdoorsy. Christina is an American city girl full of sass. They are snarky and spunky and kind of work.
The Royal treatment is fairly predictable and familiar, but the story is well written, funny and charming.

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The Royal Treatment is so much fun! I loved reading about Tessa, Arthur, and their unlikely relationship. I found this book to be well-written, easy-to-read, and engaging. My only complaint is that the characters, outside of Tessa, seemed to be pretty one-dimensional. Almost everyone else in the book seemed to be written as pure evil or only good. However, this minor flaw did not take away from my enjoyment of the book. I can't wait to read the next book in this series!

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

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Here's the thing: teenagers have The Princess Diaries. Late teens to early twenties get The Prince and Me. And I love both of those. But now that I'm starting to grow out of both those age groups, I felt like I wasn't really getting my "commoner turns royal"-fix anymore. And we all know I love me something royal. Well, do I have some good news for you: MJ Summers' The Royal Treatment? Totally fills that gap!



Quick disclaimer: I got the chance to read this book via Netgalley. All opinions are completely mine, though!

Story

"Ultra-private, ridiculously handsome Crown Prince Arthur has always gotten by on his charm. But that won’t be enough now that the Royal Family is about to be ousted from power once and for all. When Prince Arthur has to rely on the one woman in the kingdom who hates him most, he must learn that earning the love of a nation means first risking his heart.

Twenty-eight-year-old Tessa Sharpe, a.k.a. The Royal Watchdog, hates everything about Prince Arthur. As far as she’s concerned, he’s an arrogant, lazy leech on the kingdom of Avonia. When he shocks the nation by giving her the keys to the castle, Tessa has no choice but to accept and move in for two months. It’s lust at first sight, but there’s no way she can give in to her feelings—not if she wants to have a career or a shred of pride left when her time at the palace ends…

Can two natural enemies find their forever in each other’s arms, or will they ruin each other to save themselves?"

This story, basically, has everything. A woman trying to make it as a journalist and/or blogger (recognisable, much?). A prime minister cruely betraying the very royal family that supported him all the way into his current position. An absolutely adorable pig. A bunch of big brothers that - most likely - you'll want to punch at the end the story. And of course: a whole bunch of euphemisms for anything to do with *ahem* a man's lower regions.

Characters

Usually, I tend to not really like the 'so embarrassing" moments. You know, the ones that make you cringe as well, almost feeling as if you're the one being humiliated? But here's the thing about Tessa: I actually could really recognise myself in her. Now, I haven't been shocked by a torture device that is promoted as a running aid lately. (Then again, this has re-affirmined my opinion that running is just not for me). But the way she handles her constant embarrassment? It's kind of amazing - but it never ceases to be realistic.

Prince Arthur, on the other hand, is just too meta to handle. We're litterally introduced to him with the words

I hate to tell you this, ladies, but if you’ve ever watched a Hollywood film— or even worse— a made-for-TV movie about a royal family, you’ve been served up a steaming plate of horseshit. I know, because I am the Crown Prince of Avonia, but I’m not just speaking for myself. Several of my closest friends are also princes or dukes from various countries around the world. We’ve discussed it and we all agree— the film and romance book industry has done us all a great disservice by setting up unrealistic expectations of what it means to date and/ or marry a member of the Royal Family.
Quite frankly, he'll be a bit of an arrogant twat throughout this book, but he does redeem himself - as does Tessa, for that matter :)

Narration

This was actually the first book by MJ Summers that I read, and she starts it with a disclaimer that she doesn't usually write this kind of books. Honestly? I think she should.

Sure, there were some huge cliches

“It matters to me that you’re here, Tessa. I need you to know who I am. Even if we lose, I could almost live with it if I felt like you understood.” I blink back tears and whisper, “I see you, Arthur.”“You may be the only person who ever has."
As I already mentioned, there's some interesting euphemisms as well - Arthur grabs for an heir stopper, his scepter hasn't been polished in forever or his Excalibur starts begging. At least they stay in theme?

Those cliches are more than balanced out by the cultural references - Kate and William having another baby, Harry getting engaged. Oh, and of course this gem:

I really should have tried harder to be ‘the people’s prince’ long before this month. It was all fine and dandy when the referendum was just an idea, but now that it’s been announced, it’s like finding out that the White Walkers have breached the wall and we don’t have even one dragonglass dagger among us. We’re well and truly fucked.
Overall: 3.75/5

Let's be real, this is not in any way a thought-inducing novel. Well, maybe a little, in that it gives you some background into blogging, politics, be it in a very light tone.

Mainly, though, this is just a really fun read. It's not too high-paced, actually had me laugh out loud a couple of times and somehow managed to stay realistic - even while having a blogger lives with a prince. Because that's gonna happen.

If you want to give this one a try, you can find it on Amazon
(affiliate link) - if you're looking for something nice, happy and fluffy? I would definitely recommend it!

-Saar

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Really Good story and loved book #2 and wish there would be more!!!

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This book was a great surprise! I thought I might like it, but didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did.

Tessa is a great protagonist. She's witty, smart, and has no issue standing up for herself and what she feels is right. However, she's not made out to be perfect and infallible. She embarrasses herself, but doesn't let it keep her down.

Arthur, as cliche as it sounds, reminds me of an onion. There were so many layers to him that you don't see at first. Throughout the book it becomes apparent to Tessa there's so much more to him than she ever thought.

The plot is well paced and has a good mixture of romance, humor, and politics surrounding the possible abolishment of the monarchy.

I am looking forward to the sequel coming out soon!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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I enjoyed the author's previous works but I felt that this book was slightly contrived. Although engaging, I found the whole premise, while good in theory, was very juvenile. I didn't believe that royalty would've allowed Tessa into the castle, and I found Prince Arthur's behavior very disjointing from that of an actual prince. I think there wasn't enough of a conflict so the book got boring after a while. The conflict, or I guess the "urgency" of the conflict, was not stressed enough as a result, it felt like the characters were not really progressing.

However, in terms of the romance, I found it decent enough even if it was slightly rushed. Despite being in both character's head, I had a hard to believing into the romance.

Overall, 3 stars.

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What a fun book!
The Royal Treatment is the perfect summer read (and year round). It is a totally fun romance, like a cross between Bridget Jones, Princess Diaries, and commoner meet royalty stories.

The main character Tessa is so likeable and real, although gorgeous so she has that going for her. You want to root for her especially when meeting her loud, somewhat obnoxious family.

Arthur is the perfect prince - handsome and layered with emotions under his tough and arrogant demeanor.

The two of them together are fun, flirty and magic.

I look forward to reading the rest of the series and love that they are not coming out far apart.

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This was laugh out loud fun for me. Tessa is an amazing woman, truly working to build her career but has a knack for having ordinary situations turn into news worthy incidents. It’s almost like a cloud follows her and no matter how great something goes, there will be that moment that we’ve all experienced where it goes wrong and is just funny. She is building a blog as a royal watcher and becomes their harshest critic. When the royal family finds that their status is being threatened, Arthur, the prince, decides to bring Tessa into the palace to prove her wrong. As Arthur works to win her over, Tessa fights her attraction to him and works to stay objective. There are several hilarious moments along the way along with a slow burning romance. A wonderful escape that will make you smile. I voluntarily read an ARC provided by NetGalley of this book and this is my honest review.

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This book was extremely fun - I loved the characters, I found parts of it to be extremely funny, and it felt so modern....a blogger! Fun Disney references! References to the real royal family! Silly brothers! It was all enjoyable. Of course, parts were predictable, but that's exactly what I look for in books like this. :) I have already recommended this to several friends who will absolutely enjoy this.

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I've just finished this AMAZING book that Netgalley gave me permission to read and review so thanks to them. It was published in May 2017 so is available now...


NOTE: The Royal Treatment is an ADULT novel as the main characters have sex a few times.

The Royal Treatment, which is a dual perspective story, tells the story of Tessa Sharpe, 28 years old who is just a blogger at the start of the story. At first she lives on her own but often goes to see her parents and brothers, and their families.

We see Tessa make mistakes while she's blogging, which are funny. This gets her in trouble. She also runs a Royal blog, where she keeps people up to date on the monarchy of Avonia, the place where she lives. Tessa doesn't like the Royals. She thinks they're not doing their jobs right. She wants the Prime Minister of the country to take over rule. That is until Prince Arthur asks her to move in with him and his family to just see that they are doing the best job they can do...

5 Stars!

Spoilers below...

When Tessa first moves in with the Royals she's very apprehensive. She's only there, at the Palace to get her place back on the newspaper job she was fired from, at first. She just thinks that the Royals are a bunch of liars and cheats, who have

"no place in modern society"

which Arthur shows her they're not and that they do have a place among modern people. They're better than the equivalent, the Prime Minister being in complete power. In showing her what his family are truly like though, he starts to fall in love with her. He sees that she's not some wayward reporter and that he cares for her in a way more than just Royal should care about a commoner. When he opens up about how his mother died is when they really get close. Tessa also falls for him completely, without realising at first.

We see some of Tessa's blog posts and responses as well as her texts and phone messages from her friends and family throughout. I laughed a few times reading these. We see one of her supporters in dismissing the Royals here, too.

I liked reading this because it was a simple story to immerse myself in. The chapters that were told from Tessa's POV felt like it was actually me experiencing the events. The chapters told from Arthur's POV were amusing and I laughed out loud a couple more times while reading them.

"We are trying to appear professional here, in our Sponge Bob pyjama bottoms"

Tessa wears Sponge Bob PJ bottoms at one point. This reference made me think of this as a contemporary, even though the place, Avonia doesn't exist. Avonia also has the same rules as any country in the real world would. And it shows that Tessa, although she's 28 doesn't mind letting her young side show. The British monarchy is brought up once too to keep the story current. American food is brought into the story as well. We know it's not a fantasy when a character is mentioned as once having been in Tiffany's at just under half way through, as well as the food.

I thought it was funny how Arthur refers to his penis as, "Excalibur". This brings a little bit of history into the story even if it is in a crude/comic way. It also keeps up with the Royal theme too.

Arthur's family are stuck in the dark times, it can be said. His father is a totally selfish pig and his younger sister is a brat. His grandmother or "Grandmum" as he calls her gets on with him and helps him see that Tessa is really the only thing important. What his father thinks doesn't matter. His father doesn't like Tessa. He thinks she should leave Arthur alone and go back to her old life so saving Arthur in the long run in his warped mind. I thought his "Grandmum" helping him was sweet and it shows that the older generation can be sometimes wiser than their children/grandchildren. Even if this is just fiction.

I thought the author did a really great job keeping the reader entertained, throughout, as well as making us want to read on to see what happened to Tessa and Arthur, as well as the other characters. That's why I'm giving The Royal Treatment - a Crown Jewels Romance Book 1 5 Stars! I really cannot WAIT to see what happens to Tessa and Arthur in the next book. I'm sure there will be lots more laughs!

Stand by for my next review, coming soon!

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I can't bring myself to finish this book, sadly. I was looking forward for this book because it has a VERY interesting plot and funny. But until chapter 25++ I feel sudden slump because it just weird for Tessa to give up everything after only what, a week?

I have no problem alternating between two point of view, meaning that the writer clearly had made a visible line between the two characters. The two characters amuse me, yet the plot deserved more. I would give the writer 4/5 for the characters though.I wish the writer would emphasize more about the tension between Tessa against the Royals instead making her fall right away!

A big clap for the writer because I can sense, you really make a research before writing this one.

Whatever it is, since its a series, I wish the the other books upcoming would be great because there's not that much book written about Royals. As far as I remember only Princess Diaries Series and The Selection Series.

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I. Freaking. Loved. This. Book. I’m a sucker for royal romances anyway, and this one was amazing. Some of my favorite quotes:

Whatever happened to the days when a prince could say, ‘Off with their heads!’ and s**t would get done?

“What a surprisingly sweet pig.”
“Just like his owner.”

If Tessa knew this type of thing went on, it would only confirm for her that we have no business leading so much as a Girl Scout troop, let alone an entire kingdom.

The dialogue had that warmth and sparkle that makes it sound genuine, and there were times I laughed out loud. It was that good. Lucky us, a sequel is in the works. I know I plan to read it. Now I’m off to see what else Summers has written.

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Have you watched or read any of the Bridget Jones stories? Okay I have and I love them. So funny I want to pee in my pants and I wipe the tears from my eyes. That is this book. I enjoyed it and hated having to put it down because I was so tired. Tessa is the epitome of every girl that just has the worst of luck. She is the youngest of 5, and is the only girl. She gets picked on and is clumsy to death. The poor thing just can’t ever get a break. Tessa got fired from her job as a reporter/journalist because she was shagging the boss, who ends up getting engaged to someone else (sound familiar). She needed to find a way to make money. She went to blogging, and decided the meaner, ruder, and more hurtful with her words she was towards the royal family the more followers she had. Tessa became known as the Royal Watchdog. She was known as being the harshest critic on the royal family.

Prince Arthur needed a plan. One that would help save the monarchy from becoming extinct. With a possible rumor of a referendum being drawn and the low approval rating from the citizens, he made a quick decisive choice (while drunk, not always a good sign) to allow the harshest critic of the royal family to live at the palace and get full access to how the royals truly live. So comes Tessa Sharpe, the Royal Watchdog.

These two meet and walls of defense were built high for both of them. They were using each other to get something, and in the end they end up realizing that neither of those things were as important.

This book was Hysterical!!!!!!! I mean seriously it needs to be a movie. I would die from laughter after watching some of the scenes. Being zapped from an electric current to keep ones running pace elevated just seems to horrible and funny to miss.

There is a small Cinderella kind of moment when Tessa’s heel breaks and Arthur goes to retrieve her another pair of shoes. It was endearing. Other than that, there is not stepmothers or step sisters. Just horrible-older-obnoxious-brothers and a mother that loves to meddle.

I strongly encourage this book. Totally worth the read!!!!!

The author says that she will have a part two of Arthur and Tessa’s story. I would love to have a story about Arthur’s sister.

One of my favorite characters besides the Prince’s pet pig Dex (Yes he doesn’t have a dog or cat, the guy has a PET PIG) was his grandmother, Princess Dowager Florence. Arthur's grandmother is a hoot. They literal say that the Dowager Countess from Downton Abbey was based off her. HA! You know then that this women is super awesome.

So if you are still making your “to read” summer reading list, OR you already did - you NEED to, nay you MUST add The Royal Treatment on it!

You will love, love, love it!

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To be honest... This book had me in a royal twist. The royal treatment is kind of a mix between Bridget Jones and the Princess Diaries. And the first part made my stomach hurt from laughing. A Jogging Shocker... getting zapped, while not running fast enough? Hilarious. Tessa is not only a product tester and reviewer, but also she is known as The Royal Watchdog, a fervent royalty hater. Since her blog has quite the number of followers, she is invited by prince Arthur to come living at the palace for two months. He wants to show her, that the royal family is not the leeches of Avonia she thinks them to be. And hopefully, by showing Tessa they are not the bad guys, he can prevent the end of the Kingdom as they know it.
Where the pace in the story starts of wonderfully, we come to a snail's pace in the middle of the book, where Tessa is living in the palace and learning what it means to be a prince. So I was getting second doubts, if I was ever going to finish this book. But I'm glad I held on. Because after the first half, MJ Summers shifts into second gear and the story gets more exciting, when Tessa and prince Arthur really get to know each other. Will the fairy tale come to and end or not? Will prince Arthur remain a prince? Or will he become a commoner? Well, you just have to find out for yourself... Four out of five stars from me, with a thank you to Netgalley for providing the arc.

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This book was awesome! It was funny and endearing. I loved the character development and interactions. The writing was good and flowed well. It was easy to get sucked into the book from the very beginning. I would definitely recommend this to others and actually bought it off Amazon and left reviews there too. Can't wait for the next one!!

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I read this in one day. It was brilliant. I laughed out loud, cringed at the awkward moments and fell in love with Arthur and Tessa. This was my first book by this author and I absolutely will be watching & waiting impatiently for more Royal delights from her!! If you love Royals(like me!), to laugh, and characters that just feel soo genuine..you will love this!

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