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.
