Kiss of the Royal was a little slow to get into, but the pacing picked up and I ended up really liking it a lot.

Royals believe that their kiss with magic can be used to defeat evil creatures like goblins, trolls, griffins, etc. The men and women get partnered and they use the kiss to destroy everything and keep the people safe. They believe in the history of the Royals and are very strict with it. There is no love for Royals. They believe in a bond and in lust, but never love. Kisses unlock the magic that is in every Royal. Direct descendants of Myriana are thought to have the strongest magic.

The Romanticas don't believe in the Royal history. They have a different story and they believe in love. So much that it almost dictates what they will or won't do. Almost everything is done out of love.

Ivy has had multiple partners and she has lost each one. She is the strongest princess and a good fighter. There are signs that something bad is coming, so the Royals look outside for help. Ivy is to be paired up with Zach, but he is half Royal, half Romantica. This gives everyone pause, but it quickly becomes obvious that he's a great fighter. They must head out, along with Ivy's page Brom, to find a dragon's egg. If the egg hatches, the dragon will destroy everything. There have also been sightings of the Evil Queen. This could be the end of the world as they know it, with only the dark creatures and Queen remaining.

Ivy finds out quickly that Zach will not kiss her. He refuses to use her magic, but doesn't tell her why. She does find out that he believes in love and he is quickly falling for her. Ivy has strange feelings for Zach, but she doesn't believe that love is real.

While on this quest, Ivy finds out things that make her question the Royals history and everything she has always believed. She is torn on what she is seeing with her own eyes vs the history of her people. Can love actually be real? And is love what it takes to defeat the Evil Queen?

There are a lot of battles with creatures which kept the pacing good for the second half of the book. I really loved Zach and Brom. Ivy took a little bit to like, but I did like her a lot by the end.

Warnings for mentions of miscarriages and some abuse from Ivy's mom.

I gave this book 4 stars. Thank you netgalley and Entangled Teen for the chance to read this early.

I have mixed feelings about this book. In one hand, I loved the story and how it pans out. On the other hand, the world building was lacking and I was left wanting more. Even without knowing much about the world I was diving into, I finished this book in one day. Its a nice read, that keeps you busy from cover to cover.

Imagine a world where the kiss from the Disney's movies, the one that saves the world, wakes the princess or other exists for real and where it is the ultimate weapon against the forces of evil. Well this world is the book, but beware, these kisses are not synonymous with love quite the contrary. Besides, this is the big question of the book, what is love, why is it so important and some people will say "oh my god" here is a cheesy story, but on the contrary. I found the subject was well written and not cheesy at all, and although yes some passages were a bit too much, I found the universe super original and it work so well.

To answer the questions about love, we have our two main characters, Ivy who does not believe in it and Zach who believes in it thoroughly. I loved that it was the male character who is the romantic one, it changed from other YA book and I say a bravo to the author for that. I liked the confrontation of ideology, Ivy is a complex character who has lived all her life without love, however Zach grew up surrounded by his mother, his relatives. The romance between the two characters is a slow burning one but well executed and sincerely rather touching and cute.

For the plot, not everything revolves around love, since there is still a mission that consists in beating the forces of evil and therefore a quest to get there, this part was frankly well exploited with action and beautiful fight scenes. The universe of this book is quite original and it is the one that comes closest to Disney in my eyes, I even read in other review the series Once upon a time. So if you like one-shot fantasy with originality and a beautiful romance, I recommend this book because it was fun and cute.

Kiss Of The Royal is a very unique storyline about royalty. It made me think of all the classic storylines what with how the Kiss has a power. I really like how the author used Love in writing her story to give us a unique perspective on a world where romanticism is a crime and what that kind of future could look like. The main character is arrogant, but I think that comes with her upbringing and her character develops beautifully as the story progresses.

Do you remember fairy tales of old ? Where good faces evil and triumphs ? How about those old Disney films with the Prince saving the princess ? I know that nowadays the heroines manage to save themselves and yes sometimes even the Prince ! Yet one thing holds true and that's the power of love and true loves kiss .
So imagine a society battling evil creatures and embracing lust but believing that to accept the idea of love is blasphemy. This is Ivys world, a life of duty and magic but it's cold and lonely until she's partnered with Prince Zach and his completely different opinions. Ivy believes in sharing magic by means of a magical "Kiss" but Zach refuses that idea and as Ivy learns Zach is one very determined young man !
If honest I wasn't wowed by the beginning and wondered if I'd missed something but the plot soon started to hot up and pull me in . There's all the usual suspects in a traditional fairy tale with evil queens, mages, dwarves and even dragons but of course it's the hero who perhaps saves the Princess or does he ? I particularly liked that we were taken on this journey of self discovery with Ivy and her trials enable her to empower herself. There are other characters who feature but alas they are not as vivid as I like but nevertheless I did enjoy this story.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

Kiss of the Royal was a fantastic read!! I was hooked from the first page!! It was full of suspense and intrigue! I couldn’t put it down!! I would highly recommend it!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

This was a decent read. This is a story where the royals go into battle and their kiss adds strength or healing to their partners. Ivy and Zach had a good storyline development. It had it's moments of predictability and with some surprises thrown in along the way. With so many YA books out there, this just didn't stand out enough for me to love. The writing was decent, but just not strong enough to be a favorite.

I recieved an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I adored this book. It wasn't something particular about it. But it was written in a way I enjoyed very much. This book has the trope "we don't like each other" but then they fall for each other, but the way it was written was for my sake very good and I adored reading about how it developed. I understood the feelings and the emotions. Super glad to have read this!

In actuality I would probably give this book a 4.5, but I thought I would mark it 5 because it really had to fight to win me over. At the beginning of this book I did not expect to like it so much. I thought the premise and the idea of kisses giving this power was super cheesy, but I am glad I kept reading. After the first few chapters I really started to get into it. The character at the beginning was a bit average, but I really liked the fact that through the entire book she changed a lot and you could really see the progress of her change and why it was happening. The kiss being power became a great part of the plot and I really enjoyed the concept at the end of the book (Like it said, it really worked hard to win me over and it did!) I was sad at the end because I thought it might be a series, but it is looking like a standalone. Overall, it was fast paced and kept me glued to it. It wasn't the best story, but it kept me thoroughly entertained.

I could not finish this book and I probably won't be reading anymore from the author in the future. Sorry about that.

This book had a rough start for me. The protagonist felt so arrogant and it really annoyed me, but I'm glad I didn't give up on finishing. The storyline has a lovely message and I didn't expect that ending. The author was able to tie the loose ends in a way that left me fully satisfied. I love how it gives you a feel of a fairytale with the Kiss. All in all a great young adult book I'll recommend!

This cover is awesome! The story reads like a fairy tale and if you go into it thinking of it that way you won't be disappointed bc it's cute. The beginning was slow but once that was over I loved the story because there is an evil queen, a princess, magical properties with any kiss and the knight in shining armor to save the damsel in distress. I loved this story and it's a great summer read. I would recommend for fairytale lovers.

Princess Ivy has to choose a partner, one she will kiss before battle to gain literal strength on the battle field. The problem is she can't choose a partner for love like everyone else, she has to use strategy and the guy she chooses has to be strong so they can defend her kingdom. What happens if they accidentally do fall in love?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc for a fair and honest review.

I can’t really say that I enjoyed Kiss of the Royal. It wasn’t terrible but instead it was so incredibly average in the execution of a potentially interesting premise. The main characters Ivy and Zach were so-so but the characters I did like were Brom and Millennia.

The Royals themselves were confusing in too many ways to touch on without spoiling. Ivy’s almost constant demand to “Kiss” Zach got old really really fast. I honestly don’t see the chemistry between them. While she did finally see the truth and learned to be a lot less selfish, Ivy was extremely condescending to the Romantica’s beliefs on Love (which her own people opposed as imaginary and blasphemous), so I don’t see what he saw in her as opposed to other love-believing Romantica women. *shrugs* Anyway, the description of the Romantica heavily puts me in mind of the Romani people.

The ending was my favorite part because it was cute. I wish there was more to see on how their world will change after what they learned. It felt brushed over.

Overall, though, it’s not a bad book. It just wasn’t for me.

The concept for this book was an interesting one. After the 15th time I read the word “kiss” in this book I’d adjusted myself to the wording and I ended up enjoying the story. It was a bit of the classic troupe where girl meets boy and “doesn’t” like him until she realizes she really does and has all along, but I didn’t mind it. Cute story, easy read.

While I enjoy the concept of the story, the characters fell a bit flat in personality and the writing was average. The main reason I was interested in reading the book was for the romance, yet it did not feel particularly romantic. The book does a good job with the fantasy aspects, so I would recommend this story to readers interested in fantasy creatures like goblins, gryphons, and dragons.

I could not get into this book at all. The beginning of the book was so confusing. I wish they would have easied into the action and help readers understand why she has these powers that can save lives.

This book was a pleasant surprise, as I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. The synopsis was quite interesting, and while I was wary of any tropes that might arise from it, I found this story to be refreshing and entertaining. It took a couple of chapters to get the ball rolling and to become completely invested, however once you get to it it’s hard to put it down. My favorite part has to be the interactions between the main leads. Their banter and witty exchanges made me root for them all the more fervently and I appreciated how multidimensional they were. Kiss of the Royal was a fun and unique read for me, and exceeded my expectations in all the best ways.

I really enjoyed Kiss of a Royal, the concept in the synopsis is what reeled me in. Once I started it I had a couple of places where the book lulled, but after about the 8th chapter it was off and running. I think that the author does a great job getting all the plot and character built up within a short part of the novel. It is a stand alone as far as I can tell, but I think that's why I enjoyed it so much. No major cliffhanger or next book to have to wait on!

I have to say I really enjoyed this novel! This YA gives tribute to some favorite fairy-tales that we all grew up with. The idea of love being so powerful in this book amazed me. I truly enjoyed how well the author signified it through out the novel with out it being too over the top. The characters in this book are wonderfully written. The good, the evil and even just the background characters break out and each contribute to the story making this a one click read. Zach and Ivy were fun to read. Their interactions with one another was comical! The banter between the two of them kept me laughing, all while their relationship grew on me. This book is a 5 star read!

Read: 04/25-05/07

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley recently. This book will be published in July 2018. The reason I requested this book was because the title intrigued me. I was also really interested since it seemed like it was gonna be a YA Fantasy standalone novel. There are not a lot of those out there and sometimes you want a good fantasy novel but not the commitment of an entire series. So I had some high hopes for this book.

Kiss of the Royal by Lindsey Duga is about Princess Ivy and the battle against the Darkness. The Royals of their kingdom have been battling the Darkness and its monsters for hundreds of years through the power of the Kiss. Ivy is determined to finally end the battle but when she loses another partner she begins to get discouraged. Then word spreads about Prince Zach, who is a remarkable swordsman. It is decided that he is going to be Ivy's new partner. The one problem is, he refuses to use battle Kisses, even though Ivy's are the strongest in the kingdom. He believes there is a better way to defeat the Darkness than through the power of the Kiss. As the two partners go on a journey to put a stop of one of the most powerful monsters of the Darkness, Ivy learns that Zach may just be right.

When I first started this book I didn't quite understand what the author meant by the "Kiss", yes with a capital K. The Royals in this kingdom all have magic within them and the purer (or more Royal) their bloodline the stronger their magic. This magic, however, is only transferred through kissing another Royal. They have battle Kisses and healing Kisses. They can also break curses through their Kisses. It was a really weird concept and was honestly hard for me to get behind. It made it hard to really get into the book because I just kept thinking it was weird.

Another thing I did not really enjoy about this book was that some of the concepts while trying to be unique, did not really seem like they had a lot of effort put behind them. Like the "Darkness" and the person controlling it was "The Wicked Queen". Another part was that true love did not exist. The Royals only "mated" to produce heirs and more warriors for the battlefield. However, there is a group that believed in true love and they were called the "Romanticas". It all just felt like the author gave up halfway through the idea.

While the plot at the beginning was slow moving and felt more like a history textbook of the kingdom at first, it did pick up. Once it picked up I found I was able to put the concept of "Kiss" with a capital K in the back of my mind and actually enjoy the book some more. It also had a good little reveal at the end that I enjoyed. I really enjoyed the relationship between Ivy and Zach. They had a lot of good banter and discussions about beliefs that did not feel forced. It came naturally to their characters and the storyline.

I absolutely love when a character has great character development. Ivy's character was a good example of this. She went through a lot of changes throughout the book. The ideas and beliefs that she was raised on were constantly being challenged. Her character did not change her mind immediately. Instead, you could see the process over time. It occurred in a believable manner. I really loved that aspect of the book. The author did a great job with Ivy's character.

Overall, this book was not as amazing as I had hoped it would be but I think part of that was my fault for not fully comprehending the plot before reading it. It was great for a standalone YA Fantasy though.