Your Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins Book Review

“It is vast oceans of weird, my friend, for sure.”

For a moment, we just stand there, staring at all the people milting around. And then Daisy nudges me with her elbow, nodding towards Miles as he stands near the bar with Spiffy and Dons.

“But sometimes,” Daisy says, “you meet someone who makes it all worth it.”

(pg 244)

About

Author: Rachel Hawkins

Genre: Contemporary Young Adult

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Other books by Rachel Hawkins: Prince Charming and the Rebel Belle Series

Synopsis

Millie Quint is devastated when she discovers that her sort-of-best friend/sort-of-girlfriend has been kissing someone else. And because Millie cannot stand the thought of confronting her ex every day, she decides to apply for scholarships to boarding schools . . . the farther from Houston the better.

Millie can’t believe her luck when she’s accepted into one of the world’s most exclusive schools, located in the rolling highlands of Scotland. Everything about Scotland is different: the country is misty and green; the school is gorgeous, and the students think Americans are cute.

The only problem: Mille’s roommate Flora is a total princess.

She’s also an actual princess. Of Scotland.

At first, the girls can barely stand each other–Flora is both high-class and high-key–but before Millie knows it, she has another sort-of-best-friend/sort-of-girlfriend. Even though Princess Flora could be a new chapter in her love life, Millie knows the chances of happily ever afters are slim . . . after all, real life isn’t a fairy tale . . . or is it? 

Review

Spoilers Contained Below

To all the royal highnesses and male highnees (gosh that sounds wrong 😂),

Reading Prince Charming was such a cute read, and reading this book was just as fun. It was like reunion where we got to see everyone again but also focus on the other royal of the hour: Flora.

From the first book in this series, Flora comes across as your typical rebellious teen who just wants attention from her family. But with this book you get to see Flora in a new light and really see her bring down her walls and put aside her rebellion in the sake of love. I enjoyed that we got to know Flora as a person and understand how the way she talked and the way she acted was just how she was; She didn’t come across rude most of the time on purpose, but she was just a very straight forward no jokes kind of person. I think that was because of how she was raised where she had no filter around her family and the people around her, so she it’s natural for her to speak that way around everyone. As a princess, you can literally say anything to those around you and they had to take it because what were they going to do, talk back to you? 😆 As rude Flora could be, there was something also very refreshing about her honesty to know that she would just tell it as it is.

Another thing I loved about Flora was her whole heartiness. Whatever she set her mind to, she did it and did it fully. In the beginning she was very reserved and came across like a real priss to Millie or “Quint” if you will, with the whole the turf war in the room and calling her a witch. The whole putting the tape as a divider in the dresser was a tad bit too much if you ask me. I was also kind of surprised that Flora wasn’t that opposed to rooming at a school considering she grew up at a luxury palace her whole life. Her dorms were probably nicer than my college dorm, but still, palace to shoebox is a big downgrade, so considering she wasn’t that fussy about the dorm itself was it’s own type of win.

At the same time, Millie called her Veruca Salt, which I didn’t get at first because it has been a hot minute since I’ve watched a Willy Wonka movie. But the first time Millie met Flora, she had goo-goo eyes of attraction for her. I can’t blame her either. She just met a princess and she didn’t even know it, but I could only imagine how pretty Flora must have seemed to her. It’s kind of like when you’re in the presence of your celebrity crush and you see them and you’re like “Wow, they’re soooooo pretty!” So I don’t think at the time Millie felt attracted to Flora, maybe more admiration at how pretty everything in Scotland was, including Flora

And what a difference that must have been for Millie, to go from Texas to Scotland. In general, I want to go to Europe to explore all the rich history and culture, and Scotland is definitely up there. I mean how cool would it be to see all the castles, the kilts, the rocks 😉. I loved Millie’s sense of drive and wonder when it came to Scotland. It kind of reminded me of Sasha Alsberg when she talked about going to Scotland and her Scottish heritage. Shoutout to Sasha Alsberg, who’s a Booktuber if you didn’t know. I’ll link her below so you can check out her videos. But besides that, I liked that Millie saw her “break-up” with Jude as an opportunity to start fresh in a new country. If she didn’t go to freaking Scotland, her dream travel destination, because of a GIRL, than I would have slapped her upside the head and tell her to not base your decisions on a GIRL. Lesson to you all, do what you want and chase your dreams and don’t let others hold you back from achieving it. It’s kind of like that idea of only going to college because you’re girl/boyfriend is going there. At the end of the day, it’s your life, not theirs.

So when Millie chooses herself, I was beyond happy for her! Scotland was her dream and as much as I know she must have cared for Jude and would miss her if she left, going to Scotland for school was a once in a lifetime opportunity that she had to take. Millie then worked hard to get the only full ride scholarship by the school and was jetted off to Scotland by the end of the summer.

Things were left unresolved with Jude when she left though. Jude was her best friend, turned romantic summer love interest until Jude’s ex-boyfirend and her got back together, which can I say was such a lead on for Millie. Jude did her dirty!!!! Millie was going to give up Scotland for Jude, but Jude had to go and break her heart! But you know, things happen for a reason and if Jude hadn’t kissed her ex in front of Millie, Millie would have still been stuck in Texas, unhappy when things fell apart.

Good heartbreak, comes better triumphs, am I right?

Millie wanted everything to do with the school, while Flora wanted nothing to do with it. So in an attempt to get kicked out, brother Seb takes roomie Quint and the sister to the pub. It was so nice to see Seb again. I truly love his character and his complexity! If Rachel Hawkins wants to write another book in the Royal’s series with Seb, by all means I would read it. The bar fight was kind of interesting to me because it was the first time Flora showed any hint of kindness to Millie in defending her honor when a guy went up to Millie and kept asking her to dance. Then Flora whispered to the Royal Wreckers minus Miles, and they assembled like the Avengers to cause a ruckus. I don’t get why they needed to start a fight when they literally could have just gone home, but I guess it wouldn’t have been Seb if there wasn’t some scandal that circulated about them. I also found it weird how during the fight when Perry, Saks, and Millie were trying to exit the bar, Flora chucked a glass their way and was like “duck.” I don’t know if she was playing around in the spirit of the pub fight or if she really wanted to hurt Millie because they weren’t friends at this point. But still, she didn’t need to throw a cup at Millie. Seemed discordant with everything that was going on.

Then came the Challenge where all the students got dropped into the woods for 48 hours with nothing but a backpack each. If I’m being honest, the Challenge sounds highly irrational and dangerous. You don’t just dump a bunch of rich people in the forest and expect them to know how to trek back to the school; they’re not boy or girl scouts. The school didn’t even teach them camping or survival skills, only basic physical education. So I don’t know how logical it really would be to do this. What happens if the students get lost in the forest and the teachers can’t find them? I think maybe a group camping trip would be a better idea overall.

That’s just my opinion though. I know I could never survive in the woods for two days? Would you?

So Flora was paired with Millie because they were roommates. From the get go, lready Flora isn’t having a great time and wants to just “get this over with,” and Millie’s not that eager to be paired with her either. Millie actually was very excited about the prospect of the Challenge when she signed up for school because she liked rocks and nature, so the Challenge was straight up her alley. Then they come to this river they had to cross and Flora acted all casual and was like hand me the backpacks so you don’t fall when you cross. So Millie did. I thought that Flora would pull something surprising on us like how she was a secret expert camper because maybe as a princess they trained her to survive in the woods. So when Millie turned around to get the backpacks from Flora, I thought Flora would be right behind her with the backpacks like the secret girl scout she was. But gosh darn, no!

She threw the backpacks down the river!😱

WHO DOES THAT?

Her royal highness that’s who?

She thought she could play the guilt card to everyone at the school that they got attacked in the woods. And part of her grand plan was to call someone to pick them up and take them to some place nearby to not be in the woods. But of course, her royal highness didn’t know that there’s no cell service in the gosh darn woods? She couldn’t have thought of that before throwing everything down the freaking river? The least Flora could have done was tell Millie the plan.

I would have been beyond mad at Flora! And freaked out! They literally had nothing and they were in the woods by themselves. To make matters worse, they ran into a stag. Flora the ‘stag’ tamer tried to get the stag under control, claiming some absurd theory that since the stag was the animal of Scotland, she had a special connection to the stag. Yea, right *rolls eyes*

It’s funny how they bonded over nearly being attacked, but I guess traumatic experiences can do that to you. And good thing they found Saks and Elisabeth in the woods while they did or who knows what would have happened to them. Wouldn’t that make for an interesting story?

The principal never really believed their whole “I got attacked” story, which was partially true, so they get put on laundry duty together where they bonded even more. I liked how they started to open up to each other, but I would have liked to understand from Flora’s point of view why she let down her walls so quickly. She didn’t necessarily hate Millie, but it just seemed very rushed in a way how after they got attacked by a stag, Flora instantly started being more amiable to her and that’s when their relationship grew. Maybe Flora being mean to Millie in the beginning had to do with her secretly liking her all this time, but never confronting her feelings because she didn’t want them to be true, so she tried to push Millie away. So when those feelings from Millie were made clear, maybe that’s when Flora decided that it was okay to actually be nice to Millie because she was just a normal person. I don’t know, but going inside Flora’s mindset would have been interesting and would have added depth to their growing relationship.

It would have also been interesting to see Flora’s perspective too because of how she showcased her love with every fiber of her being, which goes back to the wholeheartedness of Flora I admire. I also loved how Flora took Millie to Skye as her friend and how she purposely chose the nicest room in the castle for Millie to stay at. It’s the little details that mean the most, right? 😆

It was cute.

I also liked how Flora went so far as to learn Millie’s dress size and to get her the perfect dress to wear to the royal dinner at Skye. Part of doing that was strange, but that’s okay because it was mostly sweet. I also loved the whole orangery scene where they danced by the orange tree. This was the moment where they really showed their interest for each other and it was so cute. It was kind of like their secret runaway Cinderella moment and I was here for it. Flora just kept coming with the surprises and I loved when she arranged the Thanksgiving dinner in the art studio because Millie was homesick, but couldn’t fly home to see her family. As much as Flora has her bad parts, she is an all around good person and the love and care she had for Millie was just beyond cute. Get you a princess who treats you like a queen, ladies and gents 😉

When they came back from their Skye’s trip, it was kind of weird how they switched rooms unexpectedly. It was weirder that Flora was okay with it. I thought she would put up a fight or something to keep rooms with Millie, but I guess Flora felt like she couldn’t trust herself to be in a room with Millie anymore as much as her mom didn’t either.

Since things were heating up between them, Flora invited Millie to the palace for the wedding party of Elle and Alex. I love Elle and Alex! At the palace we also see Daisy and Miles there all being lovey dovey and it was so good to see them! Isn’t it just the best that all these royal people are falling in love with normal everyday people? Gives me hope 😆

I loved the whole chit chat between Millie and Daisy and how they related over being out of their element, but learning to handle it as best as they could. With this book, Seb and Miles aren’t friends any more so much to the point Seb was like Miles is dead to him and that just makes my heart hurt! They were like Woody and Buzz—–the pair that kept each other grounded. I swear, Seb needs his own book not only so he can find a love of his own, so that he can rectify his relationship with Miles his best bro for life. Honestly, it could be novella about their relationship and I would be fine with that.

At the palace, they have this big rooftop scene where they fight and it was kind of blown out of proportion. It was the situation where Flora lied to Millie about being the one to break up with Tamsin and not the other way around. Millie was also mad at Flora for paying for the rest of her tuition, which I could understand why she would be angry with Flora for that because Flora did it without telling her and it made Millie feel like all the hard work she did for the scholarship didn’t pay off——like she didn’t get into the school for handwork but because someone funded her. At the same time Flora did it out of the kindness of her heart and so I also respected that. I personally would have been mad like Millie because I couldn’t accept that big of a gift from someone.

Part of the whole fight was Millie’s insecurity. She was hurt by Jude who only liked her for the summer until Jude’s boyfriend came along so Millie was kind of receptive to falling in love with Flora fully because she didn’t want to be hurt again; She didn’t want to be someone’s love for the summer only for their real love to come back and for her to be second best. I could get why Millie was so mad at Flora and didn’t want to believe that Flora actually loved her more than Tamsin, but I think Millie was also just scared.

I really liked that heart to heart she had with Saks back in their dorm room about her making a big mistake because Millie loved Flora and still did. Everyone knew she made a big mistake except Millie until Seb actually went to talk to her about how down Flora was. Say what you will about Seb, but a bad brother isn’t one fo them. Well, maybe to Alex he was at one point, but not to Flora.

So in a grand gesture, Saks, Perry, and Millie go to this parade thing where all the royal people are at. Millie sees Flora in her poised princess role and admires her from afar. I loved how Saks gave a little girl her Gucci purse in exchange for flowers. What a great deal for a kid! It was every romantic book ending where Millie proclaimed her love for Flora with the flowers in her hand.

“I love you, Flora . . . And yes, sometimes you make me crazy, and we’re definitely going to have to talk about the whole high-hand thing, but . . . it’s worth it. You’re worth it.”

(pg 273)

We love a full circle moment!!!

The ending was hilarious in a teasing sort of way. I found it funny how Millie brought out her favorite rock and put it in Flora’s hand as if she was giving Flora her heart instead of a rock. Another thing the rock could be a symbol for was a ring 😉 I was like NO WAY was Millie proposing!? What a tease! It was cute when the man was like, “Kiss her, lass!” and then Flora was like “Is he talking to me or you?” Beyond cute. Then the last words of the books were I do. And I WAS SHAKING MY HEAD. First a rock, then an I do, I think Rachel Hawkins was onto something 🤔

Even though they weren’t married by the end of the book—-not that expected them to be—–I liked how they both got back together. I wonder what the rest of the school year will be like for them or if Flora’s going to stay closer to home now. I wonder how they’re relationship will work if that’s the case. Maybe Flora will go back to the school. I think that would be super fun.

If you read this book, what was your favorite part? Least favorite part? Would you read another book in the Royals series about Seb? Who’s your favorite royal? Let me know below in the comments! I love hearing from you! 💕

I hope you have a wonderful day whenever or wherever you are reading this!

And as always, with love,

Rating

3.67 Full Bloom Flowers

Characters: I liked getting to know Flora more and to see qualities of her that we didn’t get to see with Prince Charming. I also liked Perry and Saks who were such great friends to Millie.

Plot: The plot was simple and cute that anyone with a love for royal life and romance is bound to love.

Writing: Such an easy, fun read

Romance: Flora and Millie make each other better and isn’t that what love is all about?