Narrated by Barrie Kreinik and Shiromi Arserio, the captivating narration enhances the experience. I really enjoyed how there were two narrators for this audiobook. Jennie Jensen's journey from American pop singer to royalty is riveting, especially as she navigates the intrigue surrounding Princess Penelope's death. I felt like the book's mystery was very similar to Princess Diana's story. While at times I felt like the details in the royal family "rules" were a bit too much, the captivating narration enhances the experience. Not everyone is thrilled about Jennie and the Prince's engagement, which added an extra layer of tension to the already complex narrative. I loved how both were solved seamlessly in this book!
The blending of romance and mystery kept me listening until the very end!

A very special thanks to Blackstone Publishing, Bibliolifestyle, and Netgalley for the ALC and complimentary copy.

This novel of contemporary court intrigue masquerades as a romance, but is actually a mystery, and although I am not a fan of that particular genre, having just completed binge-watching The Crown, the romantic elements and excellent narration were strong enough to compel me to listen all the way through.

Jennie Jensen, adoptee of nice regular Iowan folks, is a singer-songwriter with a significant following. When she’s doing a set in England, she doesn’t recognize the latecomer who requests her hit song (after she’s already performed it) as the heir apparent. He invites her out, and when he finally discloses who he is, she’s charmed. She hadn’t planned on falling in love with Hugh, but a number of months later, they’re engaged. Royal life grows more and more confining as the wedding date nears, and Jennie starts to get the feeling that someone doesn’t want her to marry into the family: she becomes ill on the boat during her bachelorette party, her cake topper is snapped in half, and documents she stores in her safe deposit box go missing. When she finally relays her fears, they are dismissed.

Hugh’s mother was killed in a plane crash during his teen years; from here, the storyline closely follows the royal family’s history. Hugh is an amalgam of Harry and William, and Jennie, an American, seems to be getting the same ostracizing treatment as former actress Megan Markle. The story moves back in time with excerpts from her diary as Jennie’s adopted mother, who happens to have an obsession with the royals, provides context for the conspiracy that the Princess of Wales was murdered, and the plane crash, outright murder. Jennie goes to the princess’s ex, a retail tycoon, to discover that Scott Corbin has a whole room dedicated to solving the mystery.

Listening in to this tale was like coming upon a crash: I couldn’t turn away, and also had a sense I was contributing to a privacy issue faced by many royals, celebrities and people of note by allowing their lives to become tabloid fodder. What worked so well in The Royal We fails here; the story feels outright disrespectful, copycat, and opportunistic. The cattiness of ladies in waiting will resonate with fans of Phillipa Gregory looking for a historical, monarchy-themed palette cleanser.

Narrator Barrie Kreinik portrays the Princess of Wales with an elegant, throaty voice, and Shiromi Arserio’s Jennie is a delightful contract with a younger, more innocent, midwestern tone. Their energy, Jennie’s curiosity, and the Princess’s anxiety were conveyed with conviction.

I received a free, advance reader’s review copy of #TheRoyalGame via NetGalley, courtesy of Blackstone Publishing.

I wish this book followed more of the two main characters love story. I feel like this would make me more attached to the characters and make them feel more real. I thought the concept of this mystery needing solved was a cool idea but the execution was not there. Every character felt like they were in the story to be pawns in this mystery and were very 2D. When the suspect was revealed, I couldn't remember who it was and how that person was applicable because there were too many side characters to keep track of. I also felt like the suspect's reason for doing what they did was not believable enough. I felt the ending was super abrupt and needed a little more to be satisfying.

The story meanders significantly and there isn’t a strong enough pull in the romantic or thrilling elements to be a good contender for either category. I think this might be a good fit for someone who really loves plots surrounding the royals. I don’t gravitate toward those stories frequently and was hoping for more of a romance. That is obviously a personal problem and many will not have this issue.

Thank you Linda Keir, NetGalley, and Blackstone Publishing - Audiobooks for my advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.

Plot - 2
Writing and Editing - 3
Character Development - 3
Narration - 5
Personal Bias - 2
Final Score - 3

This novel takes obvious inspiration from Princess Diana and Meghan Markle and their treatment at the hands of the British Royal Family. Based on the cover, I expected this to read more as a romance or rom-com, but it seems to want to me a suspense thriller. For me, it missed the mark there and the pacing is unbalanced. That said, I'm a sucker for the royal family and enjoyed this read.

I truly despise giving poor reviews, but I just could not get passed the plot of this book. I was hoping for a plot line ala "The Royals" on E! but was met with a regurgitation of the actual royal family history from the last 50 years. I felt like I was reading a bad tabloid. So if you're looking for some mindless reading with fun royal adventures & hot princes, this is not it.

This book was quite a bit of a rip off of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's relationship in a lot of ways. I found it to be a little trite because of that. I was very disappointed as I like books about royalty. I would give this one a pass.

The audiobook narrator was amazing! This title was super cute and easy to get into. As some one who loves the British royals and reads A LOT of books based on them, I do feel this story didn’t seem too original. It also kind of quickly jumped into the romance without much development. Overall, still a cute, quick read and I’d read more from this author.

This audiobook was a lot of fun to listen to. It had a female with an American accent, read by Shiromi Arserio and the male with a British accent read by Barrie Kreinik. Both narrators did a great job doing the American & or British accents as needed and using a female or male tone. The narrators did a great job to make the book come to life.
Jennie is an American pop star and Hugh who is the Prince of England meet at her concert when he is late and asks her to play a song she already played. The book takes us through the differences of how each of them grew up and the obstacles they are each facing together and apart. The book kind of has similarities with twists to the current Royal family of England history.

The Royal Game by Linda Keir is a fun, intriguing book about Royalty. From the beginning, I thought it would be very comparable to The Royal We, but it definitely had more twists and turns than The Royal We. I found myself really drawn to the characters, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The characters are familiar, but still interesting. It's definitely a great, escapist read. The audiobook was well done.

I received a copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Too much ripped out of the headlines. Names changed but so much was Diana and Charles and Meghan and Harry with a bit of Kate thrown in. And the Princess of Wales dying in a suspicious plane crash— really, that was the best the author could come up with. While I do follow the British royals, this was just a bit too much for me. Others may feel differently. Narrators were fine.

Nope. Did not enjoy and almost didn’t finish. It’s one thing to be inspired by true events but to take a real story, change names and occupation? So cringe.

A royal romance with some intrige that kept me nicely entertained.

Jenny and Hugh worked well together and I enjoyed my time with them. Some of the secondary characters got a bit confusing for me, but they worked well with the story.

While parts read as a British royal family fanfiction, as it leaned heavily on everything surrounding Princess Diana and Meghan Markle, I had fun reading this book, especially at this moment when the internet is abuzz with all the conspiracy theories surrounding Kate Middleton..! Fun coincidence.

Some pronunciation hurt my ears ;) Perhaps this was on purpose as most was from the POV of Jenny, who is American. but to hear CanterBERRY and not CANterbury, or EdinburGH and not Edinburah… yeah I could have done without.

Read as an audiobook.

3.5 stars rounded up.

I received an ARC of this book (thanks!) and these are my own opinions.

I started listening to this book without really checking out the summary, synopsis, so I literally chose the book based on the cover. I know, never judge a book by its cover. I love Royal romances and was looking forward to this story. Unfortunately the book The Royal Game by Linda Keir fell flat for me. The storyline is just a deviation on Meghan and Harry., even changing Princess Diana’s accident into a plane crash, even mentioning that her death was rumored to not be an accident. Ouch. Meghan, oops I mean Jennie, is a singer. And the family doesn’t accept her, and the inner circle treats her bad because she’s American.

Jennie is in the middle of a concert when a handsome concert goer asks her to sing his favorite song, even though she has already performed it earlier in the concert. After the concert she is approached by a gentleman asking her to meet his friend, her groupie. She ends up agreeing and is startled to find that he is Prince Hugh, heir to the throne.
The story fast forwards several months later where their relationship has progressed and she is planning her wedding. Jennie is wading through the change in her life, trying to follow etiquette and learn the rules of Royal life. The romance was quick and superficial, with not much actual romance occurred.
The story was ok, I would have loved it had the author made it with a fictional kingdom with using their own imagination, instead of regurgitating current events. I had no connection to the characters and struggled to get through the book. The mystery was good, but the romance part was boring. Maybe I am just over the real events, but I just couldn’t get into this story. I felt more like I was listening to an update on current drama than a fictional story about fictional characters.

I enjoyed the narrators voice. She definitely did a great job reading the story and I would check out more books read by her. I liked the cover.

As much as I appreciate #NetGalley providing this audiobook, I sadly couldn’t stand this one. I think I am just over this story line. The inspiration drawn from the real life royal family was taken too far and I found myself unable to imagine the characters as anyone other than their real world inspirations. While this would be great for a historical fiction book, it was very frustrating in reading this. I normally love a good royal romance/mystery, but maybe I just need more separation between reality and reading.

Heavy with thinly veiled references to the British royal family this book was set to be a fantastic mystery and thriller. While I did like the characters and found them very personal and engaging the 'mystery' element of the book was focused towards the end of the novel and very hastily concluded. I wish there had been a bit more build-up.

Interesting read! Very reminiscent of the drama between the Firm and Princess Diana, as well as Prince Harry and Meagan Markle. The pacing was a bit off for me, sometimes I felt like the storyline was rushed and then others it lulled and I wished it would speed up. Overall though I had a good time reading it!

I really enjoyed this listen. It highly reminded me of Prince Harry, Megan and Princess Diana. I liked the back and forth of the POV's and loved that there was some mystery along with a love story.

First, a huge thank you to Blackstone Publishing for granting me access to the audiobook and to Linda Keir for providing me with a new royal read! We all know I love all things royal! I may or may not be a bit obsessed with Kate and her mysterious surgery at the moment. Give me a break, it's intriguing!

The Royal Game was a great! I loved the audio narration and found myself really wishing I were royal, until I very much was reminded by Linda Keir how painfully under the microscope these folks are and how rigidly constructed their lives are from their greetings, to their body language, and dress.

I did not expect to get a mystery wrapped up in this love story, but boy did I get one. Also, it's totally listed in the description on NetGalley, I just missed it in my draw to the cover and the fact that Royal was in the title.

Jennie and Hugh are a delightful duo. I was drawn in by Jennie's transition from stage fame to royal fame and the differences those worlds carry. Jennie's adorably supportive family was also a joy to read on the pages. I love me a curious gal who needs to know the truth and that is exactly who Jennie is. She's stumbled upon information about Hugh's mom (Penny) and as she learns more about the beautiful complex woman, Jennie can't shake the feeling something more happened to snuff the light out of Penny.

I highly recommend this book to all of you royal lovers!

Jennie is a singer, and loving the gigs that she is performing at. One night a strange man comes with body guards, requesting songs she has already played. She plays for him, only to discover that this is Prince Hugh, the future King of England.

As their engagement rolls on, things start to happen to Jennie. Things that are fishy, and not coincidences, things that Prince Hugh's mother, also has happen to her, but no one believed her until it was too late.

I am here for all the things related to the Monarch, and throw in a Princess Diana conspiracy-like plot - give me it!!