I appreciate Blackstone Publishing for providing the opportunity to review this book. While the premise intrigued me with its Megan Markle and Prince Harry vibes, I was disappointed to find it resembling a fictionalized version of their lives. The narrative felt abridged, with abrupt time jumps, and I missed exploring the main characters' courtship and love story. Additionally, the character of Jenny Jensen and the plot seemed unrealistic, and the plot twists didn't resonate with me.

This was just not a book for me. I did listen to the audio and I wasn’t a super big fan of the narrator so that might be playing into my dislike a little. I just found it a bit boring and predictable. However, If you enjoy the American Royals books I could see you really enjoying this one! Again, not a terrible book, just not a book for me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

American Jennie Jensen has a meet cute with Prince Hugh, the future King of England while preforming at a concert. Cut to a secret romance, a public engagement and the terror begins. Who is trying to stop their marriage? Could it be connected to the death of his beloved mother, Princess Penelope? When strange, scary and life threatening things happen Jennie starts secretly investigating only to find more questions than answers. Will she find out what really happened before she loses her life as well? So many suspects, terrible people, so many lies, so much deceit and deception behind Palace wall all to maintain what “The Firm” wants the public to know and perceive them all. An interesting mystery within a sweet love story. It had me thinking about Prince Harry and Meghan and Princess Diana through the entire listen. While the plot's intrigue added suspense, the drawn-out royal family speculations felt overwrought at times.
I did enjoy the listening experience and the narrator did a good job.
If half stars were available this would have been a 3.5 star read.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Fans of the royal family and the monarchy will enjoy The Royal Game by Linda Keir. The Royal Game has little romance and focuses more on a mystery surrounding the soon-to-be princess and a past Queen. Reminiscent of Princess Diana and Megan Markel, the story was good but not necessarily original.

This story artfully combines elements of romance and mystery, and I also experienced its audiobook version, narrated by Barrie Kreinik and Shiromi Arserio. The story, centered on Jennie Jensen's unexpected royal romance and ensuing challenges, captivated me with its blend of love and intrigue. The narrators brought depth to the characters, enhancing the listening experience. While the plot's swift conclusion felt somewhat rushed, the overall narrative kept me engaged. Although not groundbreaking, this book was a delightful escape into a world of royal drama and romance. It's perfect for those who enjoy tales of love, mystery, and the allure of royalty, albeit without expecting profound depth or novelty.

I went into this thinking this was more of a romance and I love royal romances. I didn't expect as much of the mystery component which I think took the forefront. I wasn't convinced of Hugh and Jennie's love. They had a whirlwind romance but it felt very superficial. I was invested in what happened back in the day to Hughs mom Penelope and it definitely had a lot of parallels with Princess Diana in real life. It dragged a but in the middle but the audiobook kept me going. I enjoyed the narrator.

First of all, I listened to this via audiobook, so I must say the narrator was very pleasant and easy to follow.

But I’m reviewing titles for my romance bookstore, and this story was more suspense than romance. In fact, other than their initial meeting, the book glosses over their entire relationship. The reasons why they fell in love would have been helpful in buying in to their chemistry and ultimately caring what happened to them.

This sounded like a fun read—and it was—but I found it more complex and insightful than expected. The premise is that Jennie Jensen, a young American musician, meets the Prince of Wales and gets engaged after a whirlwind, clandestine courtship. In Meghan Markle-like fashion, she soon discovers that royal life comes with a lot of rules, near-constant harassment from the press, and even some threats. While this is a romance, it is also a mystery, and I found it complicated enough to be very engaging. Soon-to-be princess Jennie finds that her love for Prince High is constantly intruded upon, and as the treats escalate she wonders if she should go through with the wedding. Many elements of the story are based on the very-real members of England’s royal family, but with many twists, conspiracy theories, and intrigue (that may or may not be fictional!) and I found it a very compelling book. I loved the narration as well. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this audiobook.

This book was not what I was expecting. I thought the balance between romance and mystery would be equal but this was more mystery. In fact I felt like the romance was almost non existent.

Thank you NetGalley abs plusher for this audio ARC!

First off the narrator did great!!!
This had it all! Romance, mystery and its dual timelines! This book is great! I enjoyed it! It was hard to stop listening to it. The storyline and plot are great and so are the characters.

Book Review: The Royal Game
Stars: 3X5
Author: Linda Keir
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing Inc.
Thank you @netgalley for this Arc

While performing ar a concert, American Jennie Jensen has a chance meeting with a guy but she has no idea that he is Prince Hugh, the future King of England. Soon they become an item and. Cut a secret romance starts, a public engagement and the terror begins. Someone is trying to stop the marriage. Could it be connected to the death of his beloved mother, Princess Penelope? Strange, scary and life threatening things happen Jennie starts to question things but only finds there are still more questions than answers.
Will she find out what really happened to Penelope and will it cost her life. Like real life royalty the is so much deception . This what a sweet love story with mystery and a wonderful ending.

For me I just didn’t really care for this book as it was just too close to the happenings with the real English Royal Family. If you like royal fanfare then this book is for you.

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3.5/5 rounded up.

First off, do not go into this story thinking it is a romance. It has romantic elements, but that is a very mibnor part of the story. This is first and formost a contemporary mystery. And as a mystery it is pretty solid. I adore the Princess Diana vibes and the parallel that Princess Penelope's killer has come back to repeat history. There are so many instances where this trope is underutilized and it made for such an interesting story.

I was able to deduct odd behavior of characters early on and had my suspicions of the main culprit around the 50% mark and was glad that I was correct.

From the point of narration, I am glad I am reviewing the audiobook over the print because I think I would have struggled with time skips. The accents given to characters aided me in realizing when we were experiencing Penelope's POV vs. Jenny's. Even with the dates I was normally lost or had to go back.

I admire the paralells made between the characters and the fact that there is a concrete resoluton. I did believe it started off considerably slow, not really gaining momentumn for the mystery until about the 30% mark. Once you hit that section it is 100% worth the read!

Thank you Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing-Audiobooks for the free ARC Audio in exchange for this review!

I enjoyed this book - I wondered at times if it was being ghost written by a Royal because there were quite a few instances where the book drew on the experiences of Princess Diana (Princess Penelope) and Meghan Markle’s (Princess Jenny) Royal life. It wasn’t so much of a romance book as a mystery book with Jenny uncovering bits and pieces of Penelope’s life through her journal and trying to piece together if the threats Jenny was receiving were from the same source as the threats Princess Penelope had received. I enjoyed the mystery element of the story and I definitely thought that the threats were being left by someone other than who they turned out to be from - which kept me intrigued in the development of the story.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading about royals/royal life and is interested in a mystery that spans decades!

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Romance. Mystery. Dual timeline. Yes please! These are a few of my favorite things.

I while many parts are very clearly inspired by the royal family—enough is changed to give a great story full of love and a wonderful mystery that keeps you flipping the pages to find out what the truth is.

Narration was excellent and seemed to be the perfect voices to connect with the characters.

Are you an American who loves the Monarchy? Or do you love the royals in general?

Jennie is a pop star who meets Prince Hugh and they fall madly in love. The British people are split on how they feel about their prince marrying an American.

Strange things begin to happen and go missing in Jennie’s room. While Jennie is dealing with wondering if it’s worth it to marry Hugh, she must also grapple with the rumors that Hugh’s mothers death may not have been an accident after all.

This book takes some stories from real life modern day royalty and the tragedies that have befallen their family throughout the years.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

At first The Royal Game sounds like it will be a romance, but it’s more of a mystery. We have a story about an American musician (Jennie) marrying a British prince (Hugh). We also have flashbacks to hear from another woman who married into the royal family. Clearly the author got a lot of inspiration from Princess Diana and Megan Markle. It felt almost as if the author dislikes the actual royal family (aside from these two women) and decided to write a book and make her version of them out to be just awful people. I felt like we didn’t have nearly enough development of the relationship between Jennie & Hugh. I’ve seen reviews say that you’ll like this if you’re a fan of the royal family, however to me it feels to be the exact opposite.

The author did a good job maintaining the suspense and didn’t give away who the “bad guy” was to early. I also thought the narrators did a great job.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing-Audiobooks for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Another weird fan fiction read. This one was like a strange retelling of Harry & Meghan except Meghan is an indie musician. Deceased Princess mom, aloof father. Sound familiar?

The Royal Game
By: Linda Keir
Narrated By: Barrie Kreinik & Shiromi Arserio
Review Score: 4 Stars

Boogie’s Bulletpoints
•I absolutely love how Jennie and Hugh meet.

•The mix of the story with real Royal history is so well done.

•There is a decent amount of suspense in this book; I kept wondering who the bad guy was!

•This book has a little bit of everything; romance, fantasy, mystery, and suspense.

——————————————
The Royal Game was kindly provided as an ARC by Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing Audiobooks. Thank you for allowing me to enjoy this wonderful book!

Release Date: Out Now!

The Royal Game is a twist on the modern English Royal Family. You have an American who becomes a princess (Meghan Markle vibes) to a future king who lost his mother (Princess Diana). Obviously, the stories are not identical, but you can definitely pick up on the inspiration.

On top of all of that, though, is a mystery. Someone is threatening to kill Jennie, and she has no idea who. She has to go back in time to the life of Hugh’s Mom, Princess Penelope, to solve this riddle.

I loved this book. It was both fun and entertaining, while also being suspenseful. The flow of the story was so well done, and I really enjoyed it. I loved the narrators as well. The story jumps back and forth between Jennie and Penelope, and the different voices made that really easy to follow.


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This book is a combination of the Royal family members past and present. It was a very interesting take of several stories. I throughly enjoyed the mystery aspect of the story. Highly recommend to any Anglophile who enjoy the life of the Royals.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this early copy for an honest review.

This is purely about Meghan Markle and Princess Diana. Like it's very very obvious even from the description. So if you are interested in reading a story about these two then this is for you. If you are not interested in them or are tired of hearing about them or you just really hate Meghan Markle then this is not a book you are going to want to pick up because the MM inspired main character is lovely, and if you don't want to think MM is a good person then this might rub you the wrong way.

Tiny little pop star Jennie with her 15,000 followers plays a small show and afterwards is introduced to Prince Hugh, who happened to be in the audience and request his favorite song from her.

They hit it off and pretty soon, they are engaged.

Years prior, Hugh's mother was killed in a mysterious plane crash.

This book goes back and forth between Jennie's timeline of falling in love, planning a wedding, accidentally breaking royal protocol, and having the tabloids demonize her then love her, and then it cuts to Princess Penelope's timeline and we watch her happily get married, then the ruination of her marriage and affairs all the way through to her death.

When Jennie starts getting threatening messages that parallel what Penelope wrote in her diary decades prior, there's a murder mystery to solve!

This was entertaining. It was also all closed door/off page spice.

Maybe a 3.5 star read but I'm rounding it up.

The narrators also did a great job, with a dual narration for Jennie and Penelope.