I really need to start checking my expectations at the door when it comes to books I read for review. I expected Reluctantly Royal to be a cute, fish-out-of-water story about a commoner thrust into the royal spotlight. Instead, I received a story about a funeral, an alcoholic, and a tepid romance.

The story begins with Meredith Thysmer onstage rehearsing for a singing gig when Maxwell Trevor, royal prince of the fictional country of Lilaria, shows up to deliver tragic news. Her grandfather, the recipient of a recently bestowed ducal title in Lilaria, has passed away. Meredith is understandably distraught at the news and plans to return to Lilaria immediately. Being the gentleman he is, Max offers to accompany her and her young son Marty on their journey home.

Thus begins a cycle of Max taking over for Meredith in the guise of helping her, and Meredith getting ticked and snotty with him for his efforts. Once Max discovers Meredith’s father is an abusive alcoholic, his protective instincts go into overdrive. He inserts himself into her life and family at every opportunity to do so. She in turn resents him and pushes him away until she’s forced to admit that she does need his help to cope with the upcoming funeral.

So much of the story revolved around making funeral arrangements and Meredith’s father Arthur being generally awful to everyone in general that the entire book was maudlin. Arthur is horrid, attempting to hit Meredith and calling her and Marty terrible names. While Max’s high handed treatment of the situation would probably annoy me in a different novel, Meredith quite obviously needs someone to take charge as she is incapable of standing up to her father, though he clearly presents a physical threat to her and her son in addition to the years of emotional abuse he has heaped upon them. She doesn’t appreciate his interference though, and wants to argue about every tiny detail. The conflict was understandable initially, but the author dragged it out for far too long. It grew so tedious that I would wilt whenever the argument cycle began all over again.

But lots of arguments with a bossy alpha male should translate into sparks flying, right? Except not so much. The leads had zero chemistry. I never felt emotionally invested in the romance. Other than finishing the book for review, the only reason that compelled me to continue reading was to learn the outcome of Meredith’s grandfather’s will.

Overall the writing is okay, but I’m not a huge fan of the dual first person point of view. In this book the narrator alternates between chapters, yet the narrator is not identified at the beginning of each. I found it jarring and had trouble remembering whose head I was supposed to be in. Otherwise, the story flowed well giving readers scenes with both families as well as the main couple. Marty was a cute plot moppet and a nice distraction from the heaviness of funeral planning.

Ultimately, this was a middling book. The plot, the characters, and the setting were all bland. It was not terrible, but lacked any spark that would cause me to grant it a recommendation. Give this one a pass if you do not want to be bored to tears. This is the final book in the Royal series, but may be read as a standalone.