Photo from amazon.com
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of The Royal We. That deliciously fun book about an American marrying into the British Royal Family came out in 2015, years before Meghan Markle was even a twarkle—er, sparkle—in the eye of the royal landscape (landscapes have eyes!) Are Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan ancient sea witches risen from the waves to tell the tales of royal scandals yet to come? Clearly. I’ve read the Royal We a good half dozen times, both on audio and on the page, and it’s just such a comforting favorite book. Great for any royal lover or anyone who wants a fun story. I recommend it all the time (including right now, to you! Go read it!)
So naturally I was STU-HOKED to hear that they had a sequel coming out! And I couldn’t believe it when The Heir Affair finally popped up on NetGalley and my request was granted! It was the perfect pandemic treat and was such a joy to spend time with these characters again, hearing what happened to them in Happily Ever After. (Spoiler: Happily Ever After is not all it’s cracked up to be. But we knew that.) It has all the funny, absurd, heartwarming characters and plot lines you loved in Royal We, with a few things you probably didn’t see coming.
The Royal We is one of my all-time favorite books for being fun, topical, warm, and feeling like it’s pulling back the curtain (I know it’s fiction!) But it isn’t perfect (nothing is!) and neither is its sequel. I don’t want to spoil it, so I’ll just say I had two small quibbles: 1) there are a couple of brief things that took me out of the moment with their absurdity and 2) both The Royal We and The Heir Affair use a plot device that’s a personal pet peeve: characters don’t talk to each other about their problems, and if they did, some things could be resolved. There’s a bit of that here, and it’s not my favorite. But I also don’t care? And if you liked the Royal We, I don’t think you will either. You’ll love spending time with these characters again. Each moment with them makes it worth it and these books are such a comforting joy. Also, the poignancy of their timing and the topics in the book are yet again clearly the work of their ancient sea witch magic. Heather and Jessica, you’ve done it again!
If you want to support authors, pre-orders of their books go a long way. Here’s a primer on why and here’s another primer on why. In short, it creates buzz, helps the printer plan ahead for how many to print thus potentially putting more money in the authors’ pockets, and also increases the chance of hitting the best seller lists as all preorders count toward the first week’s sales. Best seller lists are calculated on a weekly basis, and who doesn’t want a bestseller?
If you want to preorder The Heir Affair, you can of course do so through Amazon or wherever you normally shop. But I’d also recommend your local book store, and bookshop.org. In fact, I made you a handy list of books you might like if you liked The Royal We and are excited for the Heir Affair!
Happy reading, all you clairvoyant royal sea witches.