With the tenth anniversary of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding approaching, this is going to be another royal focused week. (I promise, I cover more than royal topics!) While I obviously love reading different royal biographies and historical fiction, it can sometimes be a bit serious. So, today, let’s have some royal levity. These are the best royal-themed chick lit books, for when you need a bit of escape from the chaos and stress of life!
Note: I know that chick lit can be a controversial term to some. Personally, I love the term and find it very useful, as it has a lighter/more fun connotation. Some people will use women’s fiction instead, but I consider women’s fiction to be a more serious genre. If not apparent, I adore chick lit.
The Royal We (and The Heir Affair )by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
American Rebecca Porter was never one for fairy tales. Her twin sister, Lacey, has always been the romantic who fantasized about glamour and royalty, fame and fortune. Yet it’s Bex who seeks adventure at Oxford and finds herself living down the hall from Prince Nicholas, Great Britain’s future king. And when Bex can’t resist falling for Nick, the person behind the prince, it propels her into a world she did not expect to inhabit, under a spotlight she is not prepared to face.
Dating Nick immerses Bex in ritzy society, dazzling ski trips, and dinners at Kensington Palace with him and his charming, troublesome brother, Freddie. But the relationship also comes with unimaginable baggage: hysterical tabloids, Nick’s sparkling and far more suitable ex-girlfriends, and a royal family whose private life is much thornier and more tragic than anyone on the outside knows. The pressures are almost too much to bear, as Bex struggles to reconcile the man she loves with the monarch he’s fated to become.
Which is how she gets into trouble.
Now, on the eve of the wedding of the century, Bex is faced with whether everything she’s sacrificed for love-her career, her home, her family, maybe even herself-will have been for nothing.
Why You Should Read This…
Can you make a list of best royal chick lit books and not include this? I think that The Royal We is one of those books that I can recommend successfully to nearly everyone I’m friends with. Referred to as “Kate Middleton fan fiction” by many, it is your quintessential beach read. It is light and fluffy and you are immersed in the drama of young royals and their romantic lives, and sometimes you need that escape. It is longer than the average chick lit book, so it’s perfect for a whole long weekend or a short trip.
This is written by the two women behind The Fug Girls, and they are no longer covering the royals on your site. So, if you want royals from TFG, The Royal We and The Heir Affair are your only choice! (And no, it wasn’t based on Meghan Markle- it was written before she met Prince Harry.)
The Royal Treatment (Crown Jewels Series), Melanie Summers
Ultra-private, ridiculously handsome Crown Prince Arthur has always gotten by on his charm. But that won’t be enough now that the Royal Family is about to be ousted from power once and for all. When Prince Arthur has to rely on the one woman in the kingdom who hates him most, he must learn that earning the love of a nation means first risking his heart.
Twenty-eight-year-old Tessa Sharpe, a.k.a. The Royal Watchdog, hates everything about Prince Arthur. As far as she’s concerned, he’s an arrogant, lazy leech on the kingdom of Avonia. When he shocks the nation by giving her the keys to the castle, Tessa has no choice but to accept and move in for two months. It’s lust at first sight, but there’s no way she can give in to her feelings—not if she wants to have a career or a shred of pride left when her time at the palace ends…
Can two natural enemies find their forever in each other’s arms, or will they ruin each other to save themselves?
Royally Crushed (Crazy Royal Love Series), Melanie Summers
Princess Arabella of Avonia is bored out of her ever-loving mind. No twenty-eight-year-old wants to live an endless loop of high teas, state dinners, and the same five conversations. They want freedom and adventure. After a wild night out in Ibiza ends in disaster, the royal handlers have shortened her leash considerably. Desperate for an out, she sneakily signs up to co-host a new nature docu-series, starring Will Banks, the man dubbed McHotty of the Wilderness.
Will has ladies all over the globe lining up to meet him until a hot, new adventurer comes on the scene, and his ratings take a nose-dive. Producers decide an emergency change in format is in order. Enter Princess Arabella. The pampered and proper royal is the perfect foil to Will’s rugged outdoorsman.
It’s hate at first sight, but their on-screen loathing makes for great television. Surprisingly, when the cameras stop rolling, these two finally see each other’s good sides. Can these opposites find their forever in each other’s arms, or will their differences be their undoing?
Why You Should Read These Series….
I have to say, these two series are fantastic and I’m a little sad that there are only three books in each series. (The Crown Jewels series is finished, but the third book in the Crazy Royal Love series is due out in July, 2021.) I only discovered them at the end of 2020, and they are now my go-to comfort reads/ listens. Each of the siblings gets their own trilogy, which I really enjoy- the relationships aren’t rushed or unrealistic. And it’s set in Avonia, which is nice that it isn’t having to mimic the British Royal Family quite so closely.
Warning: there is profanity. Personally, I can be a Sweary Poppins, so I’m always secretly delighted when characters curse. However, I understand that it’s not for everyone.
A House Full of Windsor, Kristin Contino (NetGalley)
Spanning from 1980s London and the royal wedding of a century to a present-day reality TV show, A HOUSE FULL OF WINDSOR explores how one woman’s messy past shapes her family’s future.
Sarah Percy’s career depends on New Yorkers taking her household advice as gospel. “Sarah Says” used to be the most popular segment on the city’s top morning show, but ratings are down and it looks like Sarah might not have a tip for everything, after all… especially when her mother gets involved.
Debbie Windsor, Sarah’s mother, is a shopaholic and compulsive hoarder, a secret Sarah has worked tirelessly to hide her entire life. Debbie was always fascinated by royalty, but when her real-life love story started to parallel Princess Diana’s, she turned to collecting royal souvenirs to fill the void. Leaving her husband’s native England and relocating the family to her hometown in Pennsylvania doesn’t help the situation, and two decades later the house is a royal mess. Debbie’s safety is on the line, but she brushes off any attempts her family makes to help.
When Sarah’s brother gets a job on Stuff, a TV show about compulsive hoarding, he nominates their mother for an episode and promises his famous sister’s participation. Backed into a corner, Sarah and Debbie agree, but everyone has something at stake whether the episode does or doesn’t go off without a hitch. With both family and romantic relationships on the line–including the connection between Sarah and the show’s sexy host, and Debbie’s budding romance with a local shopkeeper –long-buried secrets and resentment must come to the surface for the family to move on.
Why You Should Read This…
If you are interested in the current British Royal Family, this is absolutely the book for you. While we don’t actually see them, the late Princess of Wales, Prince Charles, Prince William, and even Prince George are all in the background of this novel. It is a touching and heartfelt novel, and it is a poignant reminder that lives, royal or otherwise, don’t always turn out the way that we plan! I think that when you are a royal watcher, you certainly remember the things happening in your life during big royal events. It is quite enjoyable to be able to see someone else’s life through the lens, and a wonderful royal read!
The Royal Runaway, Lindsay Emory
Princess Theodora Isabella Victoria of Drieden of the Royal House Laurent is so over this princess thing.
After her fiancé jilted her on their wedding day, she’s finally back home after spending four months in exile—aka it’s back to press conferences, public appearances, and putting on a show for the Driedish nation as the perfect princess they expect her to be. But Thea’s sick of duty. After all, that’s what got her into this mess in the first place.
So when she sneaks out of the palace and meets a sexy Scot named Nick in a local bar, she relishes the chance to be a normal woman for a change. But just as she thinks she’s found her Prince Charming for the night, he reveals his intentions are less than honorable: he’s the brother of her former fiancé, a British spy, and he’s not above blackmail. As Thea reluctantly joins forces with Nick to find out what happened the day her fiancé disappeared, together they discover a secret that could destroy a centuries-old monarchy and change life as they know it.
Funny, fast-paced, and full of more twists and turns than the castle Thea lives in, The Royal Runaway is a fresh romantic comedy that will leave you cheering for the modern-day royal who chucks the rulebook aside to create her own happily-ever-after.
Why You Should Read This…
While this is a lighter read, there is definitely a lot of suspense in it- a refreshing change! It’s not terribly scary or anything, but you spend a lot of the book with Thea and Nick, trying to find out where her fiance ended up. As a result, it really feels like you get to explore Drieden, one of the highlights. I obviously love and appreciate the UK, but I’m always excited for a different setting. If you loved The Princess Diaries books when you were younger, you will love The Royal Runaway!
Note: There are two books that I didn’t include, Red, White, and Royal Blue and the American Royals series. They are both quite popular, but I didn’t connect with either of them.
What books would you include in your best royal chick lit books?
Cheers,
The Historian
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I really enjoyed “Red White & Royal Blue” by Casey Mcquiston. Short summary: a female Amercan President (the author wrote it during & after the 2016 US election) has a son who hangs out with & ends up dating the Prince of Wales. It starts as a set-up (don’t you love PR stunts?) and goes from there.
Another one (don’t remember if you’ve mentioned either of these before) is:
“American Royals” by Katharine McGee. It’s a trilogy to my knoweldge (first two books are out. Instead of a republic, the US opted for the Washingtons to be royalty after the Revolutionary War. Present day, the eldest, Beatrice, is female & will be the first Queen. Then there’s the twins- Smaantha is the rebel because she’s the spare and her brother is oggled at by everyone- & two girls are after him. Plus you know other love triangles & Beatrice having to do her duty. The foccial synopsis on Goodreads is better.
I actually didn’t really enjoy either of those 🙁 The concepts of both were really interesting but they fell flat! RWRB ended up being FAR too much politics for me, and I felt that the American Royals series was under-developed. I think having an LGBTQ-accepting aristocracy is wonderful BUT the author didn’t flesh through the specifics of the world. Ie. How do you denote the hereditary Duke vs the one that married in? Both seemed good in principle but didn’t work for me.