Hi and welcome back to another Top Ten Tuesday post! This week is a freebie week, so I can choose any topic I like. Yesterday it was King’s Day here in the Netherlands, which meant an extra day off. It actually means that it’s the king’s birthday, so there are a lot of activities and festivities. Practically, it means that people declutter their house and sell their old sh*t on a street market and earn money. Kids often like to sell stuff at those markets. It also means different parties and festivals, with plenty of drunk people by the end of the day. When I was younger I sold stuff at the street markets too, but now I avoid them altogether. I also avoid to travel by public transport, done that once and never again. With that said, it’s still Tuesday, so time to compile a list of some sort. I chose to pick royalty as this week’s topic, so let’s take a look at books with any link to royalty.
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
- Spare by Prince Harry – This doesn’t need any introduction right? I think this is one of the most well-known royalty adjacent titles, definitely one that has been controversial. These are Prince Harry’s memoires and I listened to them as audiobook, narrated by Prince Harry himself.
- American Royals by Katharine McGee – I only read the first book in this quartet, and I thought it was okay at the time. I am still curious to find out how this story further unfolds, but it has been five years or more since I read this book. Furthermore, I read it in Dutch and the rest of the series hasn’t been translated, so I have to start over anyway.
- The Selection by Kiera Cass – One of the most famous books about royalty, especially amongst young adult readers, is this series. This was a huge success back then and when I read them back in 2016, I dared to rate these books 4 or 5 stars. In hindsight, they would have been 3 stars at best, because they definitely have multiple flaws. But hey, I was new to the YA genre, as I finally picked up reading again after years. So, I didn’t know better.
- Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard – Another obvious title and unlike many others, I didn’t enjoy this book and the rest of the series. I never finished them, quit reading in the middle of book 3 I think. The last few books aren’t even translated to Dutch, so I started them all over again in English during the pandemic as I had enough time on my hands. But no, this series isn’t for me. They even translated the characters’ names to Dutch, yikes!
- Royals by Rachel Hawkins – Are you looking for a light and easy read about royals? This YA contemporary got you covered! It’s not super deep or whatsoever, but sometimes, that’s not what you need. This book and it’s companion Her Royal Highness are great for a relaxing holiday or summer night.
- Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson – I haven’t read this book myself, but it immediately came to mind when I thought of books involving royalty. This is classified as cozy fantasy, so maybe that’s why I’m a little reluctant to pick it up. It has been somewhere on my TBR for years I believe, but I never acted up on it.
- The Windsor Knot by S.J. Bennett – This is the first book in the cozy crime/cozy mystery series “Her Majesty the Queen Investigates” and already gives away that the detective investigating the murders is Queen Elizabeth. Cozy crime is not up my alley, so I won’t pick up this book, but I’ve heard it being mentioned a lot.
- Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian – I really can’t remember what this series is about, but I do remember the title, so that counts for today. I’ve read the first book, but quit after that. The final book is titled Ember Queen, so all the more reason why it needs a spot on this list.
- The Iron King by Julie Kagawa – Many of us might have read “The Iron Fey” by now and the fact that this is royalty adjacent can’t be denied. Personally, I didn’t enjoy this series too much as I picked it up in 2019 and that probably has been a little too late. I already finished other books by the author back then, such as the entire “Talon” series and Shadow of the Fox, which I enjoyed way more.
- The Cruel Prince by Holly Black – I don’t think this series does need any explanation either. It was a huge hype at the time, but it seemed to have fizzled out by now. The books are okay, but the second book in the trilogy is the best in my opinion.
Have you read any of these books? What books with royalty do you immediately think of?
