I LOVED THIS.

This story starts out introducing us to the four MCs individually in their own chapter. All four MCs were accepted into a very VERY prestigious school and find out on the first day that 3 of the 4 are ROYAL and cousins, and the 4th was chosen randomly to compete against them for to take over the crown of their kingdom. From there, the competition is on...not only for the crown but for their hearts.

Sometimes with multiple POVs like this, the story gets muddled and messy, but this was streamlined and easy to follow. I really enjoyed the book and I'd love to follow the series because we were left with a hard cliffhanger.

Maybe my expectations were too sky high. I think I had an inflated idea of how royals in an academic setting would work. When I read the synopsis, I was so hooked, but unfortunately, it wasn't up to my liking nor was it executed that well.

For most of the novel, it felt as if we were centered around the characters and their drama. There wasn't enough character development for me, and it felt like we had lost the plot and were stuck in the upward trajectory to get to the climax.

Maybe a reread in the future will change my mind, but ultimately, this was extremely meh.

Listed as Gossip Girls meets American Royals, this might be more of an American Royals meets the Hunger Games minus the killing your competitors type story with a bit of the Selection tossed in. Three heirs to the throne who were hidden at a young age plus one girl who is not related to any of them are sent to Almus Terra Academy, an elite boarding school that teaches the next generation of world leaders, entrepreneurs and geniuses. The prize, the throne of Ashland to the one who impresses the current king the most. Filled with backstabbing, alliances, romance, misunderstandings, and competition, this book will entertain readers who have enjoyed boarding school competition type tales. I for one am looking forward to the continuation which can’t come soon enough.

Royal Heirs Academy by Lindsey Duga is a fast-paced, drama-filled YA novel where four teens—three royals and one commoner—compete for the crown at a cutthroat elite academy. Packed with twists, secret alliances, and emotional tension, it keeps you hooked from start to finish.

What I loved:
• Strong character development and unique personalities
• Royal intrigue and backstabbing drama
• A gripping plot full of surprises

What I wanted more of:
• Deeper world-building
• More time spent on certain character relationships
• A bit more clarity in the political side of the story

This book is perfect for fans of The Selection or American Royals!

What a fun concept! I enjoyed the boarding school/academia theme plus the ruthless competition for the crown! Also cannot be mad at a bit of romance and drama as well. I thought this book was SO fun. I am definitely looking forward to more books in this series. Some of the characters are pretty dislikable and I felt annoyed when I had to read their parts and I wanted to skip over them. If you love high school drama and competitions I would definitely check out this book,

*3.5 rounded up to 4 stars on Goodreads // Thank you NetGalley and Little Brown Books/Christy Ottaviano Books for providing me with an ARC!

I had a fun time reading this and I really enjoyed it! Even though there were 4 povs, I could easily tell all of them apart. There were four heirs to Ashland’s thrones and all of them had different upbrings and experiences that made their perspectives very unique. Emmeline and Titus were similar to me, both of them cunning and willing to do whatever needed to obtain the crown. Alaric wasn’t my favorite, and Sadie seemed almost too perfect up until the ending. All of them had their own struggles that really played into how they acted throughout the book. I feel like this could potentially have a sequel in the future, but as far as I’m aware, this is a standalone.

The only major flaw that brought this down to a 3.5 from a 4 is that there were a lot of side characters that served basically no purpose, I can’t even remember their names anymore. Trang, Oliver, Oakley, and Sebastian are the only ones I can actually remember and there were so many more than just them.

This was a really fun, royal soap opera of a book. It held my attention throughout, even if the characters were a bit flat. I didn't really like any of them, though I did find myself rooting for Sadie by process of elimination. The backstabbing and dramatic parts were entertaining and would make a good YA TV series. Emmeline would definitely be a scene stealing character on TV, not the annoying brat I read on the page. The romance, if you want to call it that, was the weakest part for me by far. It had an open ending, so I'm guessing there's a sequel in the words which is a good thing since I'm definitely interested in seeing where the story goes next.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

Sadie Aurelia is just an average girl from the Scandinavian country of Ashland. She doesn't think she's anything special, but she's dying to go to Almus Terra Academy, where all the world leaders and successful business heads go. The only way to get into the academy for a "norm" like her is to get a scholarship through an official program. But what no one told Sadie is that her scholarship came with a chance at the throne of Ashland. She'll be competing with three other official heirs - grandchildren of the current king that he sent away as infants to be raised abroad for their own protection. The heirs - Alaric, Emmeline, and Titus - could not be more dismayed she's there. And Sadie isn't really interested in the throne, she only wants to go to Almus Terra. But she's about to learn the hard way that if she wants to continue attending the academy, she's going to have to play the king's game.

Royal Heirs Academy was rather a painful slog for me. The author seems to really like regurgitating words like "diverse" and "inclusive" (look at our DIVERSE and INCLUSIVE campus! We even have a whole DORM just for LGBTQ people!)...and the academy is meant to be solving big issues like world peace, hunger, climate change, etc. But to no one's surprise (except Sadie's)...there's still cliques and vicious kids there who don't care who they step on to get what they want, and couldn't care less about doing things for others or the environment. The implication seems to be that through an exclusive high school that is 90% elites, we can solve all the worlds' problems.

Then there are the other heirs. The author seems to fully buy in to the current day philosophy that no one is REALLY bad, they're just misunderstood. You can almost hear her saying "Alaric is a bully with a bad temper and a violent streak - but he lead a protest for the "norms" when the elites tried to enforce an unfair rule, and his dad's a jerk, so you can't hate him!"

"Emmeline is a mean girl who is abusive to the FMC and causes her a mental breakdown in order to get what she wants...but all she wants is her parents' approval, she feels really conflicted about what she's doing, and she's in love with a "norm" so you can't hate her!"

"Titus is a stuck up snob who uses the FMC for his own benefit, but his parents are ALSO terrible and he has a disease that causes chronic pain, and he really DID fall for the FMC so you can't hate him!"

In real life of course, some people are just cruel and mean, and have no other motivation other than getting what they want, not caring who they hurt in the process, so this approach is not at all realistic. Especially since most people know that few are crueler than children or teenagers in school, especially when their competitive streaks are brought out. It would have been fine if she wanted to redeem one of the heirs or even two, but one of the heirs needed to simply be willing to do whatever it took to succeed without some kind of internal conflict, or anything that made them "relatable."

Also, I don't think that any academy of rich peoples' children is going to solve the world's problems, most of which they are responsible for starting in the first place. Just saying. Ultimately, I would give this book a miss and advise others to do the same. Three stars. Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown Books for Young Readers for the advance reader copy. This review is completely voluntary and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a fun read, sort of similar to The Princess Diaries and American Royals. We follow four teenagers as they each learn they are potential heirs to a royal throne and must compete to be named next in line.

The book has four points of view, so we get to see each character's past and motivations for why they want the throne. The pacing is quick and there's plenty of drama, including a love triangle, and deception to keep things interesting.

I hope there will be a sequel for the next semester!

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Christy Ottaviano Books and NetGalley for the copy.

Sadie was a perfect student who lost it all until she ends up with a scholarship to the elite Almus Terra Academy. Even better, she finds out that King Eldana has chosen her to be in the running for his next heir, unfortunately up against his own blood heirs. Elite boarding school now becomes a twisting fight for the top filled with gossip, romance, and revenge.

It was a fun book! There was more language and mature content than I expected, so I would reserve this one for high school rather than middle school.

Thank you, NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers | Christy Ottaviano Books for this book for review. This is a fast and fun YA book about the Royal world of Ashland. King Leander has ruled Ashland for 50 years but now he is looking to name a heir. The grandchildren were sent away for their safety, but now is the time to bring them back to compete for the crown. There are the 3 Eldana grandchildren, Titus, Alaric, and Emmeline, and a fourth candidate brought in, Sadie Aurelia, a commoner. Titus has always known he’d inherit Ashland’s future. Now he must prove he has what it takes. Alaric was not raised with a silver spoon and did not know he was royalty. Emmeline only wants to please her neglectful parents. If that means securing the crown, she will do whatever it takes. Sadie applied to the academy as a scholarship student and has no idea why she has been chosen to compete for the crown and doesn’t really want to be any part of it. Sadie just have anywhere else to go.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this Advanced Readers Copy of Royal Heirs Academy by Lindsey Duga!

If all the most iconic plot lines from your favorite beloved soap operas were turned into a book (here’s looking at you, General Hospital), it’d have to look something like ROYAL HEIRS ACADEMY. Lindsey Duga keeps the stakes ramped up almost more than the romance in this book about four teens competing to inherit a kingdom. It’s saucy, slightly unhinged, and just ridiculously fun.

"Royal Heirs Academy" is a typical YA royal boarding school story. The book was a mixed bag but a quick, easy read. While some characters and plot points were well-developed, others felt underdeveloped and left me wanting more. The characters are predictable. the plot twists are obvious, and the romance is bland. The pacing was also uneven, with some slow sections that dragged the story down. I wanted to enjoy it more than I did.

I have a lot of thoughts on this book, some good some bad. The bad things are kind of trivial. The author insisted on typing out a characters accents rather than just stating the character had an accent and it was incredibly irritating (ex. “See yerselves out”). What was the purpose. What was the reason. I get he’s Irish now please type normally. The other issue I had was the constant TikTok references. They felt kind of cringy. But whatever, unlike the “yer”s it wasn’t that bad. And it was outweighed by how much I enjoyed everything else in this book. The characters were so intriguing. I genuinely loved Sadie and the love triangle wasn’t too predictable, especially with the status of the books ending. Emmeline was such an interesting character, no matter how much I hated her. And the rivalries? The fight for the throne? Omg it was so interesting. I can’t believe I considered not reading whatever the next book is called.

I need the sequel in my hands right now, please. I wish I had known ahead of time that there would be a little bit of a cliffhanger, but it makes me want to stay in the world even longer.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I absolutely LOVE the premise, and the intrigue of learning who the heir would be.

However, I found the story choppy at times, and so I struggled to stay engaged in that sense.

I do like it, and I would read other books by Duga. But I didn't love it.

Would absolutely love to see this book as a movie or a show! The drama and intrigue was so fun. Great character development for the main characters. Hits on some very real topics. The ending definitely implies there will be more to the story so I am waiting to see this become a series.

The premise of this book was very interesting to me, as I was intrigued by the concept of the boarding school setting for the book, as well as the fact that four of the students would be competing in order to inherit the kingdom of a fictional European country named Ashland. The king of Ashland, King Leander Eldana, has ruled for 50 years without ever appointing an heir to his throne and must now appoint one. The catch is that the prospective heirs (King Leander Eldana's grandchildren) have been raised out of the public eye and have now been invited to attend the prestigious Almus Terra Academy where they will complete against each other for the throne. The book opened a bit slow for me and it took a while for me to really get into the story. I didn't really love any of the characters in the book or connect with them on a deep level. I would say I enjoyed this book but not as much as I would have liked to. The best parts for me were when the heirs arrived at Almus Terra Academy and got to know each other. I just wish the pacing of the novel was a bit better as I believe this is what made me not too excited to keep reading and to finish the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

A YA with royals?

Yes, please! Four heirs…three are by blood and one is a commoner. They must battle it out to see who will be the next successor at the most prestigious academy in the world. Scandals, manipulation, and secrets!

I. Love. Royal. DRAMA!

Now we just need the second book ASAP!

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this as an ARC.