This book is a solid book choice if you are looking for a story about the royal family, set in London with the beautiful palaces, story infused with a little mystery / secret notes and royal sabotage. I liked the pop sensation meets the royal prince love story and fairy tale romance aspect. It's an enjoyable and light.

Jennie, an up-and-coming American popstar, is the luckiest girl on the planet. She is engaged to Prince Hugh and is about to become a member of the royal family. While staying at the palace, Jennie starts receiving mysterious messages from an unknown sender. The message is clear... they do not want the wedding to happen.

Add that with attacks from the press, it would be hard not to get cold feet, especially considering what happened to Hugh's mom, Princess Penelope, who died in a plane crash that many speculate was arranged. Jennie works to uncover what really happened and who may be behind it all to avoid ending up with the same fate.

The Royal Game is filled with mystery and romance, and as a sucker for books featuring royalty, I knew I had to pick this one up! Overall, the story was cute and a quick read! I liked that the authors inserted excerpts from Princess Penelope's diary throughout the chapters, allowing readers to recognize some of the struggles associated with marrying into this family. I wish the authors had included more of Jennie and Prince Hugh's relationship leading up to their engagement. I felt like I was missing parts of their story. I was also disappointed by how quickly the authors covered the royal wedding at the end of the book and was not a fan of Prince Hugh and Jennie creating their own traditions. With as many parallels as there were to actual events, the ending felt off. I gave this book three stars on GoodReads and would still recommend it to fans of royalty-inspired fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

4.5 stars rounded up
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I was expecting a bubble gum royal romance. But instead got a royal suspenseful mystery. We have a story of an Jennie Jensen an American pop princess falling in love with the Hugh, prince of England. We follow their engagement and follow Jennie getting acclimated to the royal family. Jennie discovers notes written by his mother Princess Penelope who tragically died in a plane crash. Jennie starts asking questions. I really enjoyed this book. The writing kept me intrigued and wanting to know who the snakes were.

3.5 rounded up

This was an entertaining Royal romantic suspense story steeped in the Prince Harry/Meghan Markle experience. Prince Hugh falls for an American singer and while they eventually fall in love, the media and a mysterious force threaten to derail their plans. I really enjoyed that the story was interspersed with letters from Hugh's mother. It lent to the double timeline mystery and kept the reader on their toes. Perfect for fans of authors like Tracey Livesay and anyone who enjoys British Royals drama. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

Steam level: kissing only/closed door

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the ARC of this novel. I liked this book and it was a very thinly veiled story with characters that are exact matches for Princess Diana, King Charles, Queen Camilla, and Prince William if he was marrying Meghan Markle. This would also be if the death of Princess Diana was more of a mystery rather than paparazzi chasing her. Jennie felt down to earth as a character with the paranoia I would expect from being threatened and I enjoyed how Hugh tried his very best to love and support her. I devoured this book on a flight and cab ride and it kept me really engaged. Romance and mystery can be quite fun together especially if you are intrigued with seeing inside the Firm. 4.5 stars.

American pop singer Jennie Jensen is ready to marry the love of her life, England’s Prince Hugh, but someone is determined to keep her from becoming a princess—in anyway they can. To give her fairy tale a happy ending, she’ll have to play the royal game.

I had high hopes for this book and it was just ok. This was VERY clearly meant to be like Megan Markle/Princess Diana fan fiction. If you like that royal conspiracy theory stuff, you will enjoy this book. First off there is no actual game. I don't know why the title and description makes it sound like she's gonna have to win something and that is not the case. This story was slow. I almost DNF'd this book because 40% of the way in I felt like we weren't getting anywhere. The last maybe 20% is where most of the action took place and I found it more interesting. However, once we found out who was responsible for all of this Jennie and Hugh were just like ok we did it now let's forgive everyone else and absolve them of their part in this hellscape and I found that weird.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review. This book releases 1/30

This book is part royal romance, part mystery, and part historical fiction. It took awhile for me to really get into the storyline, but 2/3s through I was invested! I loved the ending!

My first book I have read by this author & it won’t be my last. I ate this book uo so quickly! It was thrilling, lovely, and amazing all in one!

Royal enthusiasts this is a book for you. There are many parallels to the British Royal family (an American popstar marries into the royal family) and their history (the death of the Princess of Wales). Although, there is clear influence there is creativity licence throughout.

I wasn’t sure how much I was going to enjoy this book; it is more about Jennie’s transition into the Royal family than Jennie and Hugh’s love story- there is their initial meeting and then it does flash ahead to preparing Jennie for life as a Royal and the famous royal wedding. There is suspense and mystery surrounding who is threatening Jennie to keep readers engaged. I also really enjoyed the flashbacks to Princess Penelope’s life, her diary entry and the mystery surrounding her fatal plane crash. Although, it wasn’t what Initially expected I did really enjoy the story.

Thank you Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Royal Game was such a fun read! It was very obviously inspired by recent royals in the English Monarchy, which only made it more fun. Jennie Jensen is an American pop star, who meets Prince Hugh while on tour and they quickly fall in love. This book follows their preparations for their wedding as it becomes clear that someone does not want Jennie to be joining the royal family. She finds threats in their private apartments and feels as though it has something to do with the death of Princess Penelope, Hugh's mother, who died in a plane crash. The romance was very cute and the mystery was engaging. Would recommend to anyone who is interested in the English royals or enjoys cozy mysteries.

#NetGalleyARC This was a decent read. There were definitely a lot of parallels to Diana/Harry/Megan, maybe a little too much if you ask me. Overall I enjoyed the book, especially because it was realistic but it’s not my fave royal read.

The Royal Game follows Jennie Jensen, a famous American pop-singer who is engaged to Price Hugh of England. Jennie moves to England to be with Hugh and is quickly put to the test as to whether or not she's cut out to be a princess. Also, someone is not happy that Jennie will someday be a princess and sets out to sabotage her. The story also draws parallels to Hugh's mother, Princess Penelope who died when Hugh was younger and the scrutiny and stress that she was under.

The author drew lots of inspiration from the current royal family. Several times I kept thinking oh, that's Harry/Megan or William/Kate which was a little odd.

Overall it was an easy weekend read if you like to read fiction inspired by modern royals.

Thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the early copy to review!

Thank you to @NetGalley and @Celadonbooks for letting me read this ebook in advance in exchange for my honest review.

Wow what can I say!! This book was suspensful and had me hooked. If you are a fan of the current British Royals this book is for you! The charcters felt similar to what you would expect of Royal Family and conspiracies surrounding them.

I loved the different POVs from Princess Penelope and Jennie. The twists and turns ultimatley figuring out who did what and determining their motives. However, Jennie also recognized a few questions she had left unanswered and left me disappointed

I loved Hugh and Jennie and their relationship. Through all the hardships and struggles, they stood by each other and supported each other. It made my heart so happy to see. The teamwork and support from her family throughout the book without wavering in the face of media and public backlash was heart warming.

Overall, a great book! Didnt like the unanswered questions but kept me wanting more. Would recommend to people who enjoy suspense and the royal family!

The Royal Game was a sweet royal romance with a mystery/thriller twist. There are definitely some easy connections to make to the love story of Harry and Meghan and Princess Diana. I really liked the addition of the mystery/thriller elements as Jennie finds notes from the late Princess Penelope and starts to receive threats against her own life leading to her investigating things further regarding Penelope's death. And the excerpts from Princess Penelope's journal were a nice addition to break up the modern-day story and put one in Penelope's shoes as she struggled with her everyday life as a royal and through her crumbling marriage, finding love, etc. The modern story with Jennie and Hugh jumps forward quite a bit chapter to chapter, sometimes jumping ahead by just days, sometimes by months - so it took some getting used to. There is plenty of intrigue to keep you invested as there were definitely a few twists I wasn't expecting. Overall the novel was pretty entertaining - I'm excited to check out the backlist titles from both of these authors. Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the chance to read this novel.

This was a cute cozy-mystery romance meant for anyone who follows the modern royal family. However, even as someone who isn't really interested royals, I still enjoyed this book. It's an easy to read, engaging, fast-paced story with a nice twist.

I really have no clue what this book wanted to be - it was like a lesser telling of the royal we with a poor mystery thrown in for good measure. The pacing was completely off, we jump through random bits and chunks of time that often don’t get revisited. I couldn’t make why we would root for Hugh or Jennie - especially Jennie. They seemed like friends, there was no build up of their romance. I’m greatly disappointed in this one - this story has been told so many times, in so many better ways.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

love a good royal book, especially when it’s someone who is not a royal or anywhere near a royal marrying into the British royal family. What can I say, I’m a bit of a Anglophile. Linda Keir’s The Royal Game took this story and added a bit of a twist, and I really enjoyed that.

Jennie Jensen is marrying the British Prince, Prince Hugh, the love of her life. But, there’s more to becoming a member of the royal family then she thought. And on top of having to play the game (which she doesn’t even know the rules too), there is someone who is actively trying to stop her.

I think the thing that kept me enthralled in this book was the mystery of it all. Who was trying to scare Jennie off? She kept trying to figure it out, and every time she felt like maybe she got close it wouldn’t be enough. There was also the added layer of Prince Hugh’s mother, who also went through a similar experience, and the flash backs to her time as well. I think that is definitely the biggest selling point.

Unfortunately, there was also some parts of the book I didn’t love. If I’m being truthful, it almost felt like a mash up of Princess Diana and Meghan/Harry fanfic. A lot of it felt almost too similar to their stories, and at moments I almost wanted to stop reading because of it. Like I said previously, the mystery and wanting to know who was behind everything is what saved the story of me.

Overall, I would give this book 3 stars. It was interesting, but not my favorite.

It was fine but I guess I wanted something different going into this. I think I was sadly just not in the mood to read this type of book right now.

Rounded up from 3.5 stars.

I really enjoyed reading this one. I think one of the things that I liked about it was that I didn't know how it was going to end. At one point I did question whether she was going to end up leaving it all behind and go home, or stay and try working things out with Hugh.

There were a few moments that felt a little too close to reality for me with Harry/Meghan and Charles/Diana. I wish it had been a little less realistic and more fictional, but I understand the appeal of tying it to such a sensational piece of history.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

While I enjoyed the mixing of genres in the novel (romance with thriller aspects) and thought Jenny was a fun protagonist to follow, the fact that the authors stuck so closely to who the royal family actually is and the history of what's known about them (Penelope's--Diana's--death; the fact that both the Prince and Princess of Wales were having affairs; etc.) kept me from being able to fully sink into the story because I was reminded at every turn that this was a fictionalized version of real people. The ending did feel earned and I liked the twist at the end. The secondary characters were all delightful to read about, especially Jenny's parents.