Royal Attraction, Tiffany Truitt

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre:Romance

I'd just finished a pretty tight thriller so wanted something light to read. this seemed perfect but actually it was a little too light and fluffy. 

The main issue I had with this story was I just didn't feel the romance, didn't feel any great connection between the couple. 
I need there to be lots of in depth romance, but what I got was a few fluffy moments, lots of introspection and looking back.
For much of the time too all the characters acted like they were young teens, not early twenties. It just didn't make for a story I loved.
There were some fun parts, the potential for conflict was there, it could have been so much better. ( For me, I have no doubt others will love it as it is. Che sera and all that...)
It never really felt "real" to me, I didn't get the sense that it was a story that was actually happening, didn't get the "lost in the story" feeling that happens to me with a good book. 

There were things I felt jarred, Alexandra has been brought up with the boys since she was a toddler so why do they make such an issue over her speaking "American", she wouldn't would she? Brought up in UK, hearing UK speech patterns she'd naturally follow them. So she wouldn't use American phrases, and when she used British slang it would sound just the same as when the boys do.
It's also brought up frequently how Aiden will one day be King of England - and he won't unless something seriously changes, as it currently he'll be King of UK. 

Some of the phraseology was just plain weird.Right back in the start we get "the aroma of gravy and mead wafting through the air. Sunday brunch in all it's glory". Mead?? Mead for heavens sake. Gravy and roast beef, gravy and red wine even but Mead went out centuries ago, only available now as a specialty brew....then there's the way Ollie and Liam keep calling her "Lass" Why? Its more a Scots expression, and felt wrong. 
If you're going to set your book in a certain country then you need to make most things match what's expected,  and things like these just felt so out of place. 
 
Stars: Three, a story I wanted to like, but just couldn't rate higher despite the promise it held. 
ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

Loved this story. The dynamic between Aly, Ollie, Aidan and Freddie was great. Great backstory and characters, I'd love to see Aidan get his love story!

WOW!!!! So book was so good. I wish life was like this. Writing was like this comes once in a blue moon.

I have mixed feelings about this story, I loved the banter between the characters and the little pranks but individually the H & h were a mess. Personally after what he had been up too and the way when the going got tough Ollie would throw Aly under the bus I don't know if I would be too fast to trust him. The whole paparazzi issue resolved itself way to quickly and I really didn't like the jumping from present to past throughout the story.

Mehhhh...that's how I felt about this story at the beginning and it didn't really dissipate through the book. I mean, it has good parts, I really enjoyed Ollie and the dynamic of the royal family was fun but something about Alexandra that never clicked with me but I pushed through til the end. She does get marginally more tolerable as the end nears but for the most part it's a cute royal romance where the characters have history.
This was a complimentary advanced reader copy from the author/publisher in exchange for a honest review via Netgalley.

Ollie really needs to work on his skills, "...His eyes dart away from my face, scanning the crowd. He swallows. Hard. More than once. “You look fine. Good . Fine,” he mumbles before taking a long swig of his champagne." Ollie is quite the helpful guy, "...He pulls my naked, soapy body against him. “Helping you shower,” he growls as his eyes take me in. All of me." I liked this book, I fell in love with Ollie and his personality.