The Royal We: Romantic Fan Fiction

I was a big fan of Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan's (a.k.a. the Fug Girls) first YA novel, Spoiled. Therefore, when I heard they had branched out into adult fiction, I couldn't wait to lay my hands on a copy of The Royal We and see what delights lay in store. A sprawling tale about an American woman who falls in love with the heir to the British throne, this is a splendid novel to curl up with on a weekend and greedily devour.

The novel tells the story of Rebecca "Bex" Porter, a woman from Iowa who goes to Oxford's Pembroke College for a year as part of a student exchange program. When she shows up at Pembroke, she is greeted by Nick, a.k.a. Prince Nicholas, the future King of England. They happen to be living on the same floor and as Bex gets to know her fellow floor mates, who are all Nick's close childhood friends, she becomes a part of the royal entourage. Bex has no designs on Nick, but of course, that's not going to stop true love.

While the premise has all the salient features of Kate Middleton fan fiction, i.e. commoner meets Prince in college and they fall in love, break up, and then get back together again, The Royal We is so much more than that. It isn't some lazy re-telling of a Cinderella tale but a very meticulously detailed chronicle of a relationship that takes place over nearly a decade. We are introduced to Bex and Nick's families and all of the skeletons in their closets. Their siblings (Bex's twin sister, Lacey, and Nick's younger brother, Freddie) become integral parts of the story as they try to support and chivvy along this improbable relationship. The cast of characters that make up Nick and Bex's inner circle is filled with vibrant and bizarre characters who all struggle between loyalty and jealousy when dealing with their famous friend. And of course, there's both the hilarity and danger of being in the public spotlight and how that can test relationships beyond all endurance. As writers of the Go Fug Yourself blog, Cocks and Morgan are well attuned to the dangers of paparazzi invasion, putting on a public persona, and losing your true identity in the process.

The Royal We isn't just a fluffy romance novel. The authors have delved into these characters' heads and tried to figure out the intricacies and absurdities involved in this situation. The entire novel is rooted in genuine human emotion, and even the characters who initially seem cartoonish are developed and become much more complicated as the story goes on. Of course, this is still a very fun novel and there are a number of laugh out loud moments and spectacularly silly setups that will make you giggle. Altogether, this is a very enjoyable summer read, so indulge your Anglophilia and princess fantasies, and pick up a copy as soon as you can.