Royally Screwed by Emma Chase was a book I was pretty pumped about, given how much I’ve enjoyed Chase’s blend of romance and humor in the past. Plus, it has a hunky royal hero and a heroine who throws a pie in his face. While the description had me salivating and clawing at my Kindle like Gollum on a rampage, the hero’s lack of growth and frequent douchery were a big letdown.
Nicholas is Prince of Wessco, a fictional country that has a lot of English elements. There’s a queen, there’s a parliament, and there’s a royal tragedy that leaves Nicholas and his brother Henry parentless at a young age. The Queen ideally wants to kick the princes’ asses into high gear as they’re now in their mid to late twenties. She wants Nicholas to get married at the end of the summer and to choose a suitable wife from a list. She also wants to travel to New York to collect his wayward, partying brother.
Olivia runs a cafe and pie shop called Amelia’s, named after her late mother. Her father drowned himself in drink following his wife’s death, leaving Olivia to run the place. She also has a plucky younger sister ready to head off to college. She’s proud, hard working, and I really liked her, save for a few quibbles.
Nicholas and Olivia have their meet-cute when he stops into her cafe. Nicholas is a bit buzzed and sexually propositions Olivia. Not knowing the jerk is a prince, she promptly shoves a pie in his face and he’s smitten. Because dude’s like a challenge, I suppose. Soon, Nicholas is returning to shop to apologize for his behavior and to convince Olivia to go out to dinner with him.
His identity doesn’t remain a secret for long as Olivia’s sister recognizes him immediately. Hello, she’s a late teen. I’m not surprised. I am, however, a little surprised that Olivia didn’t recognize him. I’m comparable in age and a workaholic, but I’m plugged into the internet and social media like crazy. I’m not saying there aren’t millennials (man, I dislike that term) who don’t eschew technology, but I found it rather unbelievable considering (if I’m not mistaken) there’s a TV on in the cafe sometimes. I’m sure Olivia would have picked up some bits and pieces of broadcasts about a hunky prince headed to New York.
The book started out totally fine. Olivia and Nicholas have a bit of a fun, whirlwind romance in the city with plenty of Cinderella moments. There’s a very odd stalker scene that sticks out like a sore thumb, but other than that, I’m on board. It wasn’t until Nicholas takes Olivia back to Wessco that I started having issues.
He finally confesses to Olivia that he’s destined to get married in four months as part of his royal duties, but maybe they could have a summer fling of a lifetime. Olivia says yes because Amelia’s has been her life and everyone thinks she deserves a little fun.
But once back in Wessco, Nicholas truly makes an ass of himself, over and over. He says some shitty things about Olivia to a fellow royal who wants Olivia when Nicholas is done with her (he’s playing a “part” when this happens and is trying to seem aloof, which, wtf dude). He tries to get Olivia to be his mistress after his marriage. Then, he believes that she’s betrayed a very personal secret of his to the press. WHEN THIS DAMN WOMAN TRAVELED ACROSS THE WORLD TO BE YOU WITH KNOWING IT WAS ONLY TEMPORARY!
Olivia is raw and vulnerable and sacrifices so much just to have this limited experience of happiness. Nicholas sees her hauling her drunken father into bed. He sees her discomfort and insecurities being out of her element in Wessco – both socially and financially. Meanwhile, all it seems he has to give her is a few flirtatious comments and, apparently, an amazing dick.
In my opinion, he wasn’t worthy of Olivia at all.
And back to that whole mistress thing. The Queen – his grandmother – firmly puts him in his place once she hears that idea. Because, and I’m paraphrasing, who gets shit on when a dude takes a mistress? The woman. All the vitriol and shame is aimed at the woman, instead of the man who is carrying on affairs. If he cares about Olivia at all, why would he want to subject her to that? He’s a bit of a selfish prick.
That being said, Royally Screwed does a great job of setting up the second book, Royally Matched. We meet Henry and he’s struggling with substance abuse issues and some trauma. Though he’s a secondary character, we get to see him try and get clean and get his act together. He’s the hero in the second book and he’s already done some growth in making himself into a better man and a better person.
We’re also briefly introduced to Royally Matched’s heroine, Sarah Mirabelle Zinnia Von Titebottum (pronounced tight bottom – *wiggles eyebrows*). She’s bookish and shy, which I love in my heroines. I either like ‘em bookish and nerdy or aggressive and brash. No middle ground for me! She shows up once in Royally Screwed and that one scene stole my attention. An item drops and breaks in the background and she seems to freeze up, a reaction to some mysterious trauma. I want to know more! The second book also takes place over a reality TV dating show, if you’ve been loving Elyse’s recaps of The Bachelor.
So while I had some major issues with the hero in this book, Henry and Sarah’s interactions have really galvanized my determination to continue with the series. If you have a weakness for royalty in contemporary setting, Royally Screwed fits the bill, but because of the hero’s consistently selfish actions, I found the secondary characters way less frustrating and much more fun to read about.
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I’m with you, Amanda! I adore Chase’s legal books (especially Sustained), and the premise of this book felt fresh to me. And I loved the scenes in New York and had the same issues as you with the scenes once she comes to him.
I felt like Chase had set up Olivia’s motivations properly, but man, I wish she’d gotten right up in Nicholas’s grill when he started being a douchebag.
I’m also in total agreement that I’ll be reading Henry and Sarah’s books as their few interactions completely intrigued me.
Was it me reading too fast (because…I was done by the end with Nicholas’ boorish behavior…*cringes*) or was the information about who actually leaked the secret to the press left as an unfinished storyline? I am telling you, at that point I was reading so quickly I think I may have skipped whole paragraphs simply because I thought Olivia deserved better.
I am looking forward to Henry and Sarah. They are more interesting than Nicholas from the outset, who came off as a spoiled, entitled brat. Sure, he actually is all of those things due to growing up royal, but there was zero growth or awareness. Olivia should have made him grovel a lot harder.
@shuzluva: It was revealed…but now I can’t seem to remember it. I’m not sure if that’s a reflection on my memory or the whiplash I had with Nicholas’ behavior.
Very distracted because I’m wondering if Wessco = Wesson + Crisco??
It’s been a few years since I’ve lived in NYC, but I don’t remember there being this many pie/cupcake/artisan cookie shops. I want the book where she runs the register and stocks the cup o’ noodles in her family’s corner market, becuase you know what? Those markets may not be cute, or trendy, but they are freaking EVERYWHERE!
@Genie: I think the shop is more like a coffee shop that specializes in pies. It’s also not in the city, but one of the boroughs. Brooklyn, if I remember correctly?
And as much as I love a cup o’ noodles, they aren’t as sexy as a slice of pie. 😉
I’m sorry, but Wessco sounds like a packaged-goods conglomerate headquartered in Wichita.
I just read this and had pretty similar feelings. I quite liked Olivia but by the end I was really annoyed with Nicholas and wasn’t happy with the ending. All I could think was what are the consequences now for Henry? That’s selfish! So I’ll probably read the second book both because I also enjoyed Henry as a character and to see what happens.
@shuzluva and @Amanda it’s revealed as the person you think it is (spoiler: the (still pissed but come on it was a decade ago) ex)
@Leandra
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I had a feeling that was the case, but just couldn’t remember.
I kinda got the douchebag part just by looking at the guy on the cover, who’s just begging to be snarked at.
I totally agree! I normally LOVE Emma Chase, but had so many problems with this book including the whole premise of why he can’t marry Olivia (which, SPOILER, I don’t think any other monarchy requires). Love cbackson’s comment on Wessco–I thought the very same thing! Keeping my fingers crossed for the next book.
I usually like Chase’s writing, but the royal watcher in me just can’t accept the concept of royalty presented in this book. Just. Can’t. My annoyance started at the beginning and it only added up with how Nicholas and Olivia behaved. Feels like it’s not an Emma Chase book at all 😐
P.S. I think British royalty is overused in stories about modern royalty, how about some Nordic monarchy instead?
I love romantic comedy and I love royals. Sounds like the queen in this one was pretty awesome.
One I liked that seems similar in setup (Bad boy prince shelters in a tea shop during a rainstorm in Bath, meets cute with the owner Evie) is The Royal Rake. It’s part of a series but it’s good as a standalone and Leo isn’t a douche. He’s shy of commitment but what I liked was Evie is really happy with her life–loves baking, loves her flat and her cats and her friends and isn’t above using Leo’s appearance in the shop to attract more business. It was sweet and sexy and funny–and Leo had to grow up before she’d be with him!
https://www.amazon.com/Royal-Rake-Romances-Book-ebook/dp/B01F2LEGMY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487420719&sr=8-1&keywords=royal+rake
It’s amazing how spoilery these reviews are.
@Prismatick: I don’t think I revealed anything that was a huge spoiler. But we do have spoiler tags that can be added if there’s something detrimental to the story that shouldn’t be revealed and is.