From Goodreads: Making it up the aisle was the easy part: After marrying the heir to the throne, Rebecca “Bex” Porter must survive her own scandals as she adjusts to life in the glamorous British royal family, in this “highly anticipated” follow-up to The Royal We, the “fun and dishy” bestseller and NYT Summer Reading List pick inspired by Will and Kate’s romance (People).After a scandalous secret turns their fairy-tale wedding into a nightmare, Rebecca “Bex” Porter and her husband Prince Nicholas are in self-imposed exile. The public is angry. The Queen is even angrier. And the press is salivating. Cutting themselves off from friends and family, and escaping the world’s judgmental eyes, feels like the best way to protect their fragile, all-consuming romance.
But when a crisis forces the new Duke and Duchess back to London, the Band-Aid they’d placed over their problems starts to peel at the edges. Now, as old family secrets and new ones threaten to derail her new royal life, Bex has to face the emotional wreckage she and Nick left behind: with the Queen, with the world, and with Nick’s brother Freddie, whose sins may not be so easily forgotten — nor forgiven.
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My Thoughts: This was the perfect summer beach/pool read when I escaped from quarantine. Seriously. Life is heavy, lots of stress between kids and work and just life, but this made me kick back and relax and just enjoy my time...which I so needed! I have to admit, when #Netgalley granted me the opportunity to review this book, I had yet to read the first in the series. But, I quickly remedied that because it is also a good summer read and was extremely enjoyable and set up the second book quite well. This is one of those series where I would definitely suggest reading the first book in the series before this one...could you catch up? Of course. But does it make more sense having read the first? Most definitely.
This tracks as a bit of the authors' spin on the real life romance between Prince William and Kate, with an American twist and more drama than at least any of us were aware of between the brothers (not that I think any of this is impossible...in the world of royalty and the crazy rich, anything is possible). That being said, their spin is just enough fantasy to set it apart from the newspapers (or blogs) and make it what it is...a fictional story of two people who fall in love trying to navigate their families, friends, love, getting pregnant, and all the other things that all the rest of us mortals have to work through, even if on a different, less public, scale. ANd really, particularly right now, who doesn't think about escaping to a place where you are unknown, without the day to day worries and responsibilities that we have that seem multiplied in this challenging world? That's how we start off this second look into the relationship of Bex and Nicholas, as they hide from the world and the scandal that erupted as they began their married lives (again, why you need to read the first book).
I'm not a royal watcher, I don't follow the blogs or the news related to the British Royal Family...but I don't live under a rock and so I did see parallels to real life in this. While there are parallels, it's not real, and it's sweet, and sassy, and frustrating, and happy, and sad, and all you can hope an escape into a book can be when you really, really don't want to go back to reality, I heartily recommend not just the Heir Affair, but also The Royal We, as great summer/breach/pool/vacation/staycation escape books that can transport you to a world of richness, and pomp and circumstance and yet make you very, very thankful that you are where you are and perhaps don't need to deal with quite that much drama and intrigue and pressure.
**I reviewed this book in exchange for an honest review, thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this, and the incentive to read the first book in the series!**
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