Right
off the bat, I have to say that as much as I loved Royally Screwed, I honestly loved Royally Matched a little bit more than Royally Screwed. Having listened to Royally Matched on audiobook two times, I have to admit that I
actually loved this book even more than I originally did after listening to it on
audiobook a second time. The main reason I would say that I liked Royally Matched a little bit more than Royally Screwed is because as much as I
love Nicholas and Olivia as a couple, I honestly found myself liking Henry and
Sarah as a couple even more than I liked Nicholas and Olivia as a couple in Royally Screwed; which I’ll talk about
in much more detail later on in this review.
When
it comes to the overall plot of Royally
Matched, the tone of the book as a whole definitely felt a little bit
lighter and less angst-ridden than Royally
Screwed often did, which is something that I really liked about this book.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really have too many problems with the overall tone
of Royally Screwed; I simply thought
that the tone of Royally Matched felt
very different compared to the overall tone of Royally Screwed. Regardless of whether or not Emma Chase was consciously
trying to write Royally Matched in
such a way that the overall tone of the book felt much lighter compared to the
more angst-filled tone of Royally Screwed;
I personally like that they felt very different in tone, because I feel like
it’s a great way to set Royally Screwed
and Royally Matched apart from each
other, while still having them be a part of the same series. After noticing a
difference in the overall tone for Royally
Screwed and Royally Matched, I’m
definitely really interested and excited now to see how the third book, Royally Endowed, turns out from a
tonality standpoint.
It
was definitely interesting to see Henry struggling with adjusting to his new
role as the heir to the family throne at the beginning of the book, especially
since it was a role that he had never expected that he would have to fill.
While I understand that Royally Matched
and the Royally series as a whole is
supposed to first and foremost be about the love lives of a royal family,
something that I felt Emma Chase should have explored in this book more than
she did, was Henry carrying out his new responsibilities as the heir to the
throne, and his struggles with adapting to his new role in his family.
Ultimately, the fact that Chase didn’t explore that aspect of Henry’s life very
much in this book wasn’t really detrimental to my overall enjoyment of Royally Matched; but I still wish that
she had done more with that aspect of who Henry is as a character now,
especially considering the way he was written in Royally Screwed.
Sarah
Mirabelle Zinnia Von Titebottum was also a really great and fascinating character
in a lot of ways. I thought that the whole backstory with Sarah’s father was
very interesting, while also being very sad in terms of how it contributed to
her suffering from a medical condition where she experiences temporary fugues that
are brought on by loud noises. When it comes to Sarah’s personality, I think
that Sarah’s mild-mannered, reserved and shy personality served as a great foil
to Henry’s personality since he definitely has a very flirtatious and playful
personality, as well as somewhat of a wild streak. In a lot of ways, I feel
like Henry and Sarah falling in love with each other made them a couple that’s
a great example of opposites attracting. At the same time, I felt like Chase did
a great job of writing Henry and Sarah’s relationship, as well as Henry and
Sarah as individual characters, in such a way that they’re still completely
believable as a couple.
Sarah’s
love of classic literature, particularly her love of Jane Austen’s book Sense and Sensibility, really added a
very interesting element to Henry and Sarah’s interactions with each other
throughout the book; as well as the book as a whole. I thought that Chase did a
great job of incorporating all of the references to Sense and Sensibility into the story without them ever feeling like
they were being shoehorned into the book. Plus, I feel like Chase making
Sarah’s love of classic literature such a big part of who she was as a
character, and a big part of the book as a whole, ultimately had a really great
payoff when Henry shows up at the event where Sarah was giving a speech on Jane
Austen, and asks her a bunch of questions about Sense and Sensibility that clearly had a double meaning to them, and
also applied to their own relationship.
One
of the countless things about Fifty
Shades of Grey that I’ve always thought was beyond ridiculous is definitely
Ana’s tendency to blush at the drop of a hat. I’ve always thought that E.L.
James handled that particular quirk of Ana’s absolutely horribly, because James
played it up to an overly excessive extent. That being said, when it comes to
how Emma Chase handled Sarah’s tendency to blush fairly often, I felt like she
handled it perfectly throughout the entire book, and never took it to an extent
that seemed ridiculous to me. I also love the fact that one of the ways Sarah
had influenced Henry’s behavior by the end of the book was that he developed a
tendency to blush when he’s feeling embarrassed about something, which he did
in the epilogue when Lenora complimented him on a speech that he had given.
That was definitely a very small moment, but I thought that it was really cute
to see Henry blush over something, especially considering the fact that he had playfully
teased Sarah about her tendency to blush fairly often throughout the book.
One
thing that really surprised me about this book is how little Chase actually showed
Henry interacting with the women who were participating in Matched: The Royal
Edition. Sure, throughout the book she briefly mentions details about some of
the dates that he goes on with the women who’re participating on the show (Both
one-on-one dates, and group dates) in the narrative for the chapters that are
written from Henry’s point of view; but for the most part, we don’t actually
get to “see” his interactions with the women. I felt like he ultimately seemed
to have a lot of free time when the cameras weren’t filming him and trying to
get footage for the show, which seemed rather odd to me, and he was subsequently
able to spend time with Sarah. To be fair, I should probably point out that the
reason he started spending so much time with Sarah in the first place, was
because the camera that had been installed in his bedroom so that the producers
of Matched could get footage of him was established as being so loud that he
couldn’t sleep at night. He asked Sarah if he could sleep in her room with her
since there weren’t any cameras in her room, which is ultimately what led to
them spending a lot of time together and falling for each other.
A
part of me can’t help but think that Chase should have shown Henry actually
interacting with the women on the show just a little bit more than she did. Chase
only featured a few of women who were appearing on the show, and by not really
featuring very many of the women who were also appearing on the show, I feel
like she wasn’t taking full advantage of the part of the book’s plot that
involved Henry starring in a reality show that was essentially a knockoff of
The Bachelor. That being said, based on the small number of the show’s female
competitors that Chase did feature throughout the book, I think she did a great
job of capturing the whacky, and sometimes disturbing personalities that the women
who appear on reality TV dating shows can have.
When
I was reading the book for the second time, one of the things that I kept
wondering about was whether or not Penelope and the other women noticed that
Henry was spending a lot of time with Sarah, and that he was falling in love
with her. If so, how did they feel about that? To be fair, at one point in the
book one of the women does tell Henry that she had noticed that he seems to be
falling in love with Sarah. That really made me wonder if any of the other women,
aside from the woman that confronted him about his relationship with Sarah,
noticed that he and Sarah were spending a lot of time together. If so, why
didn’t more of the women confront him about it? I was honestly surprised that
the women for the most part didn’t seem to pick up on Henry’s relationship with
Sarah, and his feelings for her.
Much
like I thought that it was odd that Henry seemed to have so much free time
where he was able to spend time with Sarah, I was also really surprised by how
little Sarah and Penelope interacted with each other throughout the book. After
all, the reason Sarah went with Penelope when she agreed to participate on the
show Matched was to keep an eye on her, so I really feel like Chase should have
shown Sarah and Penelope actually interacting with each other just a little bit
more than she did to help add some legitimacy to the explanation that she
(Chase) gave as to why Sarah would join Penelope when she went to participate
on Matched. Plus, if Chase had shown Sarah and Penelope interacting with each
other more than she did, I think that she could have used some of those
additional interactions between Sarah and Penelope to explore the idea of the
other women on the show noticing that Henry was more interested in Sarah than
he was in any of them.
Perhaps
the reason Chase didn’t actually show more interactions between Henry and the
other women who were participating in the show Matched: Royal Edition, or more interactions between Sarah and
Penelope is because she was trying to keep Royally
Matched from being an extremely long book. Plus, at the end of the day, the
romance between Henry and Sarah is supposed to be the main focus of the book;
so it makes sense that their relationship got more focus and development than
the fact that Henry was participating in a reality dating show, or Sarah’s
relationship with Penelope got throughout the book. Ultimately, the fact that
Chase didn’t focus on those aspects of the book more than she did isn’t
cripplingly detrimental to the overall quality of the writing for Royally Matched, but I still wish that she
had at least done a little bit more with those particular aspects of the book.
When
it comes to the writing for Henry and Sarah’s relationship, I absolutely loved
it. I really loved the way Henry and Sarah’s personalities both complimented
and contrasted each other’s, with Henry initially having a tendency to be
rather cocky and outspoken, and Sarah being very mild-mannered and reserved in
a lot of ways. I really enjoyed seeing the influence that Henry and Sarah had
on each other throughout the book, with Henry gradually becoming more humble and
more mature, and Sarah learning to take risks and not be nearly as reserved as
she originally was at the beginning of the book. Ultimately, the fact that both
Henry and Sarah both undergo a very noticeable and clearly defined arc
throughout the book, both as a couple and as individual characters, contributed
a lot to me liking this book even more than I liked Royally Screwed.
Don’t
get me wrong, both Nicholas and Olivia also had good character development in Royally Screwed. Nicholas, in
particular, underwent some phenomenal character development throughout Royally Screwed. It’s just that in
retrospect, I think that Olivia’s story arc and character development
throughout Royally Screwed is
incredibly subtle to the point where it’s kind of hard to know what her journey
throughout the book is supposed to be about. If I had to say what Olivia’s
character arc in Royally Screwed is
ultimately supposed to be, it would be that she needed to learn to not be so
selfless that she would sacrifice her own happiness in order to take care of
her sister, Ellie, and their family’s restaurant since her dad had pretty much
emotionally checked out after her mother died.
Henry
and Sarah, on the other hand, underwent well-written and clearly defined story
arcs, both as a couple and as individual characters, throughout the course of Royally Matched. I think that Chase
ultimately did a great job of executing Henry and Sarah’s character arcs in
such a way that I was able to very clearly understand what their journey was
supposed be, both as individual characters and as a couple. At the same time, I
never felt like Chase was beating the reader over the head when it came to showing
the ways in which Henry and Sarah both grew and changed as characters
throughout the course of the book.
Despite
the fact that Henry and Nicholas’ grandmother, Lenora, wasn’t featured in Royally Matched all that much, I feel
like she also got some really good character development in this book. When it
comes to the way Lenora was written in Royally
Screwed, I felt like she was written with the intention of her serving as
an antagonist for the book, and an obstacle that Nicholas and Olivia had to deal
with on their path to getting a happy ending. However, when it comes to what we
learn in this book about what Henry’s relationship with Lenora was like before
he took Nicholas’ place as the heir to the throne; I feel like the fleshing out
of the backstory for their relationship really humanized Lenora. Plus, I love
the reference to the Beyoncé song “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” that Lenora
makes in the epilogue when she suggests to Henry that he and Sarah should get
engaged. I thought that was a subtle, yet fun, way for Chase to show the reader
that Lenora is capable of loosening up a little bit at times.
While
I loved Royally Matched the first
time I read it, I really did love it even more after reading it a second time. That
being said, I have to admit that I definitely had a lot of issues with the whole
thing regarding Henry’s decision to reenlist in the military when I read this
book the first time. After reading this book a second time, I feel like Chase
did a much better job of explaining Henry’s reasoning for reenlisting than I
probably would have given her credit for if I had written this review and
posted it back around the time Royally
Matched was released. Henry’s motives for reenlisting actually make a lot
of sense to me now, and I feel like they contribute a lot to the aspect of the
book that focused on Henry needing to learn how to be a good leader now that
he’s the heir to the throne, as well as how to be a better person in general. That
being said, a big part of why I couldn’t help but question Henry’s thinking
behind in reenlisting in the military when I read this book the first time was
first and foremost due to the fact that it was pretty clear in Royally Screwed that serving in the
military for the amount of time that all citizens of Wessco are apparently
required to serve had been a very traumatic experience for him that had
launched him into a major downward spiral. That’s ultimately the main reason
why it really baffled me that he actually chose of his own free will to potentially
put himself through that kind of trauma again by reenlisting in the military
when he didn’t have to do that.
The
other issue that I had with Henry reenlisting in the military the first time I
read this book is that considering the fact that he’s the heir to the throne of
Wessco now, I think that would make him a prime target for the enemy to go
after. That could potentially not only put himself in even more danger than he
would already be in, even if he wasn’t a part of the royal family; it could
also increase the amount of danger that the other soldiers that he would be
serving with would be in as well, simply because of his association with them.
That being said, I think it was pretty smart of Chase to have both Henry and
Sarah actually acknowledge how risky it could be for Henry to reenlist in the
military, given the fact that he’s the heir to the throne now. I’m also pretty
sure that I somehow missed the part where Henry mentions that he was
reenlisting under a different name when he was explaining to Sarah the various precautions
that were being taken in order for him to serve in the military again when I
read this book the first time; which is another reason why I don’t have as big
of a problem with Henry’s decision to reenlist in the military after reading Royally Matched a second time.
Sarah’s
decision to join the Blue Coat Association, which is apparently the Wessco
equivalent of the Red Cross, definitely made more sense to me in terms of being
able to understand her reasons for wanting to work for them. It was also easier
for me to see how it ultimately contributed to her overall character
development. However, the first time I read this book there was definitely a
part of me that thought it wasn’t a very smart idea for Sarah to sign up to
work for the Blue Coat Association, given her medical condition. That being
said, much like I’m really glad that Chase acknowledged the riskiness of Henry
reenlisting in the military now that he’s the heir to the throne; I’m also glad
that Chase made a point of having Henry and Sarah both acknowledge the fact
that Sarah’s medical condition could potentially be a problem for her if she
worked for the Blue Coat Association. Plus, Sarah did tell Henry that the Blue
Coat Association was apparently willing to make accommodations for her. The
fact that Chase acknowledged that there were definitely a lot of risks involved
for both Henry and Sarah in regards to him serving in the military, and her
working for the Blue Coat Association definitely made it easier for me to go
along with those particular plot developments.
Based
on the epilogue of the book, I was really glad to see that things ultimately
worked out for both Henry and Sarah in terms of Henry’s decision to reenlist,
and Sarah working for the Blue Coat Association. Henry seemed to have handled
serving in the military a lot better the second time around, and he didn’t seem
like he had been traumatized by it like he did in Royally Screwed. Plus, there wasn’t any mention of anything bad
happening to Sarah during the time that she worked for the Blue Coat
Association.
As
for Henry’s marriage proposal to Sarah, I thought that it was incredibly sweet
and romantic. It was definitely a very fitting way for Henry to propose to
Sarah, given what we saw of their relationship throughout the book, and Sarah’s
love of classic literature.
Personally,
I really enjoyed the parts of the book that featured Nicholas and Olivia,
either as a couple or individually. I feel like Chase did a great job of
shifting the focus of the Royally
series away from Nicholas and Olivia, and over to Henry and Sarah in this book.
At the same time, it was nice to see that we weren’t completely losing Nicholas
and Olivia by having them appear here and there throughout the book; giving fans
of the Royally series a glimpse into
what was going on in their lives now that they’re married. I also like that
Logan St. James, the male protagonist of the third book in the series, Royally Endowed, made a very brief cameo
appearance in this book as well. Although, I have to admit that I completely
missed the part where Chase namedrops Logan in the epilogue the first time that
I read Royally Matched. That being
said, I thought that was a really nice touch, and an effective way of very
subtly setting things up for Royally Endowed.
All
things considered, as much as I loved Royally
Screwed, there’s no denying that I loved Royally Matched even more. I’ve actually already listened to Royally Endowed on audiobook several
months ago, and I think that it’s pretty safe to say that Emma Chase is an
author whose writing just keeps getting better and better with each book series
that she writes. As for my final thoughts on Royally Matched, it’s definitely a book that’s full of superb
character development for Henry, Sarah, and even Nicholas and Henry’s
grandmother, Queen Lenora, despite the fact that she’s not featured in the book
all that much. The progression of Henry and Sarah’s relationship, and the
writing for their relationship in general is simply fantastic. A big part of
what makes Henry and Sarah such a fun couple to root for is the fact that their
respective personalities serve as a great foil to the other’s personality;
which leads to interactions between them that range from being fun, romantic,
and some cases dramatic moments that are sure to remind people why they love
Henry and Sarah as couple, and want them to get their happy ending.
While
a part of me wishes that Chase had devoted a little bit more time to the part
of the book’s premise involving Henry starring in a The Bachelor type of reality TV show, it ultimately wasn’t truly
detrimental to the book as a whole that she didn’t do at least a little bit
more with that aspect of the book’s plot. Most of my reasons for wishing that
Chase had done more with the part of the book’s overall plot that involved
Henry participating in a knockoff of The
Bachelor, is simply because I thought that the parts of the book that actually
showed Henry interacting with the women who were also appearing on Matched:
Royal Edition were really entertaining. As I said earlier, I also think that there
should have been a little bit more interaction between Sarah and her sister,
Penelope, since the whole reason that Sarah went with Penelope in the first
place was to keep an eye on her during the filming for Matched: Royal Edition.
Thankfully, I didn’t think that the book suffered too much from Chase not
having Sarah and Penelope interact with each other more throughout the book,
though.
Ultimately,
Royally Matched once again really
reminded me why I think Emma Chase’s books are so addictive that I pretty much
always finish them within a couple of days, if not in less than a day. Chase
continues to prove that she’s really becoming quite the master at writing fun,
steamy romance novels with really great characters, and swoon-inducing
romances, that always leave me feeling excited for more of her books.
