I gave this a 1 star but honestly I didn't finish the book because it was just that bad. The characters were flat and immature. I definitely felt that it should have been edited for YA and that would fit the characters more. I simply could not relate.

NetGalley only gave me a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review, they did not throw in coffee or wine.

The secret life of royals isn't my favorite novel by far. It's a bit far fetched and juvenile. But the fashion descriptions are nice. The royal history isn't too bad. The emotions between Conner and her are true. But the whole royal society and using the Mountbatten-Windsor name just feels dirty. Overall not a book I'd read again.

Another "just okay" read from Netgalley. I like the concept and the character reminds me a bit of Andrea from The Devil Wears Prada. However, I am finding the writing style to be very immature and young. I don't think this story is intended for adults, but rather more for the mid-t0-late teenagers age group. I think that, should the author adjust Olivia/Grace's age by a few years (so maybe 21 instead of 26), the story will really hit its stride with the young-young adult genre.

The Secret Lives of Royals,  Shalini Dua

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: General fiction (adult), New Adult.

I was intrigued by this, and really wanted to like it. It seems to be a debut book, at least I can't find any others by this author so I wanted to be able to write a positive review. Writing is darn hard work, so I admire those who go on to actually publish. Sadly for me this book just didn't work though :-( I'm sure others will love it but for me its a fail.
I didn't really like Olivia much, she veered from over confident to cautious, all about the wrong (IMO) things. She dropped her long time friends like a hot brick and seemed to just accept this strange job, one she dreamed of but was totally unqualified for without any worries of why it just fell into her lap. Tells her long time friends she's too tired to go out, but jumps up and happily goes off with her new friends when they call.

The story itself was so intriguing, a society within society that's really running the world, calling the shots. If that were so though they would never let some un-briefed, unsigned new girl be party to all the facts.
I felt when they were having meetings, especially with the King that there were lots of heavy words put together to make what they were doing sound good, but in fact there was little or no detail about what they were actually doing and how. “Beets need promoting Olivia, trundle off and talk to Gordon Ramsey, push it in the top mags, get it talked about on TV”. “OK then, super, jolly good sir”. Well, it wasn't quite like that but it ran along those lines. I couldn't really believe that this society with few rules, very lax on details was capable of running the world, and that was a disappointment because I really wanted to be convinced. I needed to know how things were arranged, how all this lush lifestyle was financed, how they got and kept control of information, checked fats, actually did things. I'm not convinced the royal tags were correct either, we in the UK have some strange ways about titles and they don't always run as simple as it seemed here. TBH I felt that the Royal stuff, the details of how the Society ran were too thin, too poorly researched and it showed. It could be a great novel, its a terrific idea, secret bloodlines, people behind the scenes forcing changed, and running things for the greater good, but in my view it needed a lot more work on the details.

I think maybe the New Adult tag is correct and the General fiction (Adult) is over optimistic, and maybe teens will take this as its meanr, while older readers like me are too much a cynic to believe in this without more detail of the how, why, when stuff.

 Stars: Two, a story with lots of potential but which I struggled to believe, didn't feel real to me. Maybe will have greater appeal for younger readers.
ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

3.5 stars ~ "Welcome to The Circle." For being a debut novel, this was really well-written, easy to read and kept my interest throughout. The lead, Olivia aka Gigi aka Gracie, was an extremely likable character and despite her "royal" blood, felt really relatable as well. This was a fun book to read!

The last 10% of the book seemed....rushed....and strange (ninjas anyone?). And that ending left me in a state of dissatisfaction. I assume there will be a sequel to this?? I hope so! I'll definitely read it just to fulfill my love of #TeamConnor.