I read this as part of a library reading challenge: genre I don’t read. I don’t read a lot of romance and, while this won’t change my mind on that, I can appreciate why people like this.
Being a mystery fan, I expect that there’s a certain amount of cynicism with the genre. Cynicism towards governance, relationships, general human behavior. I feel like the best mysteries and crime novels tell us about ourselves, as if holding up a cracked but clean mirror.
Romance has kind of an aspirational humanity to it. As I said above, I don’t read a lot of these but I get the gist: people want to be together but circumstances don’t allow it. So they have to find a way because love finds a way. I used to dismiss such thoughts as corny but I’m getting older and I read bad crime novels by the pound so who am I to judge?
I was specifically drawn to this one because of its premise: what if America actually had a monarchy? I wish Katharine McPhee would have had some more fun with this. It’s really the most anodyne take; she’s far more interested in her characters and I suppose that makes sense. I just wish it read like it actually took place in the States and not, say, a random foreign Euoprean country.
Still, I appreciated the dynamic that prevented folks from loving who they truly wanted to get what they want or to fulfill their missions. I was drawn into the drama despite myself. It’s a cute book and while I doubt I’ll grab book two, I may read romance again some time.