Thank you to Netgalley for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This one was SO much fun! I love anything royals related and have been looking for another book similar to American Royals, and I am so happy to have found this new book that seems to be setting readers up for a series.

Out of the four main characters, I probably enjoyed Emmeline the most even though I'm sure Sadie is considered to be the main protagonist. The twists were enjoyable, the writing was lovely, the pacing was quick, and the world of royals was a lot of fun in general.

Will definitely read the next book in the series!

Interesting book, I loved the main character, Sadie. Granted, there is spoiler level stuff that I will not get into here, that truly made me question everyone and my own sanity. The book was good, but there was some whiplash moments with characters that were a bit shocking for me. Overall, I would read the next one if there is one!

I'm confused as to whether this book was supposed to be set int he real world or not. On the one hand, it's located in a non-existent country, On the other hand, the author calls a character the descent of Nelson Mandela ON PAGE ONE. Confusing worldview aside, the author also has no business writing teenagers. This read as an adult's stereotype of what "kids these days" sound like (and pet peeve; I hate it when American authors try to write foreign accents. Its just cringe.) Add to that the inanity of having teenagers compete for a throne (there are no qualified adults in the entire country?), and three out of the four don't even live in that country. The author couldn't decide what story she wanted to write and so threw in every idea she ever had, then sent it to Netgalley without proofreading or editing of any kind.

Royal Heirs Academy a book that piqued my interest when marketed as Maxton Hall and American Royals was luckily on Netgalley and I had the chance to read it this past week, and because of that, thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for making that possible! Lindsey Doug’s writing style was very… interesting. Don’t get me wrong, it was so pretty, but it did seem quite cringe at times, and I think that has to do with the fact she tends to cater to younger audiences with her other books. Nonetheless, it is very pretty writing. Another thing I picked up on is how hard she tried to be inclusive I love inclusivity since it’s so important for obvious reasons, but it felt like Doug was trying too hard, especially in an environment that in real life is very skeptical about things like LGBTQ+ and sometimes even color. This whole book felt like a long gossip girl episode, but they’re royalty I loved the school environment, especially since I’m reading this during the start of the school year and the relationships in this book were so messy and interesting! Every character had their own problems and personality's making it very easy to differentiate them and their ambitions.
I will definitely pick up the next book when it comes out and I hope Doug gets better at how she writes teenagers since I do find it hard to believe some of these 15-17-year-olds would say any of this shit, no offense.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book had all my favorite things wrapped in one, royalty, boarding schools, and gossip. The plot moved along quick and it was cool to get different povs throughout the book. I’m interested to see if more books follow. The only complaint that I have is that I wish the beginning had more chapters to get to know the characters before switching povs. For example, I think we should have gotten two or three chapters about one character and then move on to the next and once you’ve had people get to know them enough, you can do every other chapter.

This was such a fun and great read! Loved the female lead and the constant comic relief. Definitely reminded me of a few 90s movies.

***(2.5 stars rounded up to 3)***. I’m conflicted about this one. I was drawn in by the comparison to the “American Royals’ series (which I found silly and fun and fast-paced) and I do think that’s apt. I also love a boarding school setting, which was put to good use here. My disappointments were with the dialogue and the characters. I found the dialogue pretty stilted and cringey, especially regarding Alaric. He’s Irish, and the dialogue he speaks feels like it was written by an American unfamiliar with the Irish dialect. & I say this as an American! I also felt like the characters weren’t fully developed, so it was a little hard to invest in them and their arcs. Overall, I did speed through this, so it was well-paced for me and I did have fun with it! I also think I’m too hard on YA lit, because I’m not super familiar with it, and I might judge it by unfair standards.

"Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review"

Royal Heirs was a compelling standalone by Lindsey Duga about 3 heirs and a seemingly nobody that competed with the hopes of ascending the throne of Ashland. This book offers a unique experience because each of the main characters receives a point of view so as the reader you are never left in the dark about what each character is experiencing. While there was not really a 'main character' I found that a lot of the plot centered around Sadie Aurelia.

The plot was captivating while providing enough plot twists to keep you on your toes. The book dives into some heavy topics like parental abuse and mental health and I found that the way they were written did justice to these heavy topics.

My only real complaint was the romance aspect of the book, in the early half of the book the chemistry between Alaric and Sadie was palpable and the complexity of their romance was really interesting to read, the other half of the book focuses on Sadie and Titus and their seemingly present chemistry, that I as the reader wasn't really fond of.

All in all it was a good read and something I wouldn't mind getting a second book of.