The Royal Family Just Got a Little Bigger….
My name’s Baily King and I’ve always considered myself different—liking dead roses, cemeteries, reading fully clothed in the bathtub, and howling at the moon whilst dancing naked under it. But, when my grandma, a woman I scarcely remember, comes for a visit, she opens her mouth and my weird world crashes down all over my combat-booted feet.
See, dear Gram is dying and wishes for me to accept my royal name. Turns out she finally left a small village south of Ireland—a village that her and her husband rule. Pfft. No pressure.
Bam, you’re a Princess. Wear your tiara and shut up.
Publication date: March 14th 2017
Baily King, a semi-normal teenager. Normal because she has to go to school, and is not yet at the age of being referred to as an adult. ‘Semi’ because, other than that, she is not at all normal. She is an outcast who loves being one, with her group of friends, there is nothing else she wants.
Baily thinks things are changing dramatically when she decides to start trying to be a nicer person, and manages to get through several school days without talking back, or being told off. In the grand scale of things, though, things barely changed at all. When her grandma turns up, telling Baily that she is a princess, and needs to accept her position, being a nicer person at school seems insignificant.
Baily struggles to believe it, let alone accept it. She is technically the princess of a small village. Why didn’t her Dad tell her anything about it? Baily has lives with her step-mother, Tina, since losing her father years ago, but still. There was plenty of time for him to have told her they were royalty.
Something I absolutely loved about this book is that Baily is not your typical YA main character. She is absolutely a perfect depiction of a real, angsty, teenage girl. She is sarcastic, grumpy, hyper… she loves coffee, has sugar highs, and is definitely not a morning person. Baily’s depiction made me fall in love with her character. For her to be the leading voice in this book, for it’s written in first person, so you get to see inside Baily’s head as you read, really made this book incredibly entertaining.
There is definitely a bit of everything in this book. When Spring break rolls around, and Baily finds herself moving into her grandmother’s mansion, she meets new people, in particular, Dimitri. Dimitri is supposed to be her bodyguard, but, along with Ian, her grandmother’s godson, she finds new best friends in Dimitri and Ian. In Dimitri, maybe more. Their relationship was an absolute joy to read about. I think everyone needs a Dimitri in their lives. I would very much like one!
It is difficult to remember, sometimes, the real reason Baily’s grandmother showed up after so long, to finally tell Baily about her royal title – Baily’s grandmother is dying, and needs Baily to accept the title so there is someone to step up to take the crown. As much as Baily is opposed to the idea to begin with, she ends up spending a lot of time with her Gram, and although she has never been the kind of person to talk about her feelings, she finds a family with her Gram that she has been missing. Even with her friends, Baily has felt lonely, and going to stay at her Grams has filled that empty void. So much fun happens that it is easy to forget Baily’s Gram won’t be around forever, and the end is coming sooner than anyone wants.
This book almost has two different stories within it. The first, Baily at school, with her friends, trying to figure out the whole ‘being nice’ thing, and helping her newest friend, Cat, deal with bullies. The second, Spring break, when all her friends travel away for the holiday, and Tina has to go away on a business trip, and Baily’s grandmother doesn’t want her to be home alone, so she moves into a mansion with her grandmother and various other people instead. This is a very long book, and the ‘first’ part of this book in particular dragged a little. It almost seemed like there were too many subplots, especially with Keith liking Baily, and Cat’s trouble at school, for the book. I completely understand that they were there to add an extra dose of reality, and to show Baily’s life before royalty arrived, but I couldn’t really get into the book properly until the ‘second’ part started.
I was a little confused at some aspects of this book, such as how Dimitri, who is supposed to be working as a bodyguard, is allowed the freedom to hang out with Ian and Baily, and how there is a royal family for an Irish village, but I did enjoy reading the story, so I let those things slide as I read.
While looking up this book online, I have seen several people compare it to The Princess Diaries. Now, I have never read or watched The Princess Diaries, so I can’t make a comparison, but if you want an honest, sassy, teenaged narrator, and plenty of fun and drama, this is the book for you.
Ashley’s favorite things in life are mythology, history, things that go bump in the night, and everything mystical. One day when she was a teenager, she couldn’t find a book she wanted to read, so she decided to write it herself. And, so it began because she’s twenty-six now.
You’ll most likely find her with her two dogs, bringing something to life, a world through a story, a creature through art, or …something else. Like strong coffee.
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