Earlier this year, I saw Falling Hard for the Royal Guard by Megan Clawson on multiple lists with most anticipated releases in the Dutch book community. The book didn’t sound like something I wouldn’t enjoy at first, but after reading rather positive reviews I decided to give it a go. Being able to get the book for a discounted price admittedly helped me in this decision though. However, I never saw this book on English blogs and that should have been a warning sign for me. Because, I’m sorry, but there’s a rant review ahead.

About the book

• Title: Falling Hard for the Royal Guard
• Author: Megan Clawson
• Publish date: May 2, 2023
• Publisher: Avon
• ISBN: 9780008554415
• Number of pages: 368
• Genre: Contemporary, Romance

Love is in the heir in this royally good rom com – perfect for anyone who likes relatable heroines (with great hair), hot and aloof book boyfriends (with great hats), near misses, almost kisses and a corgi or two. Despite living in an actual castle, happily ever after is evading Margaret ‘Maggie’ Moore. From her bedroom in the Tower of London, twenty-six-year-old Maggie has always dreamed of her own fairy-tale ending. Yet this is twenty-first century London, so instead of knights on white horses, she has catfish on Tinder. And with her last relationship ending in spectacular fashion, she swears off men for good. And then a chance encounter with Royal Guard Freddie forces Maggie to admit that she isn’t ready to give up on love just yet… But how do you catch the attention of someone who is trained to ignore all distractions? Can she snare that true love’s first kiss… or is she royally screwed? A right royal rom com, perfect for fans of Red, White and Royal Blue and The Royal We.

My review

I didn’t start this book with many expectations except for the fact that this would be such an easy story to read and an enjoyable romance in an interesting setting. Well, none of these expectations were met. The story was not easy to read at all and the romance was….. terrible. I can’t say anything nice about it and here’s why.

Let’s start with the characters. Our main character is Mags, who is just super clumsy and awkward. She just left her boyfriend and he wants her back, so he appears everywhere constantly, in attempt to win her over. Mags is quite lonely and talks to ravens. They are literally her only frinds. One day, she stumbled into Freddy, one of the royal guards. And she madly falls in love with him? Nope, not realistic. She is not enjjoying her work much and that shows, she appears late EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I mean, It’s okay you’re not enjoying your job, that happens. But why don’t you make an effort to show up on time? And why are you always hungover? Nope, just stop it already. That’s the whole problem I have with mags and this entire book, nothing is realistic or funny. I found Mags terribly annoying, she’s too clumsy to be real. Also, she lacks personality, a cartboard box is even more interesting.

Because of my annoyance with mags, the book didn’t read smoothly. The writing was okay, but the plot itself wasn’t. The characters should be supported by it and it didn’t work well. Also, the romance was horrible to say it as nicely as I can. It was just inherently flat and I had to put the book down so very often. The novel didn’t intrigue me in the slightest. Why should I want to read about several stupid Tinder dates? No, no, no. The only interesting part was the setting, the Tower of London. Clawson has experiences living there and it shows. The history of this famous building in London has been woven into this book and that was really interesting. That’s literally my only reason for my rating.

Unfortunately, Falling Hard for the Royal Guard by Megan Clawson was not my cup of tea. Everything fell flat except for the setting. I like reading romance and I don’t mind a bit of cheesyness, but this book didn’t have all of it. The romance was horrible and I just couldn’t enjoy it.