The Royals Next Door

By: Karina Halle

Narrated by: Cassandra York

One of PopSugar's Top Summer Reads of 2021!

An ordinary summer goes royally awry when a prince and princess move next door, bringing their handsome bodyguard with them, from New York Times best-selling author Karina Halle.

Piper Evans: elementary school teacher by day - avid romance reader and anonymous podcaster by night. She has a quiet, reclusive life, taking care of her mother, who lives with mental illness, avoiding her regrettable ex, who bartends in town, and trying to make inroads in the tight-knit island community that still sees her, five years in, as an outsider.

And she's happy with how things are - really - until British royals rent the property next to hers and their brooding bodyguard decides she's a security threat. Piper quickly realizes that one person's fairy tale is an ordinary woman's nightmare as a media frenzy takes over the island and each run-in with Harrison Cole is hotter and more confusing than the last. But beneath Harrison's no-nonsense exterior lies a soft heart, one that could tempt a woman who's sworn off attachments into believing in white knights.

But when Piper finds herself smack in the middle of a royal scandal that rocks the island, she'll need more than Harrison's strong arms to shield her - she'll have to do a little rescuing herself. With careers, hearts, and friendships on the line, Piper and Harrison will have to decide what they're willing to give up for a chance at their own happily-ever-after.

©2021 Karina Halle (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Karina Halle always charms.” (Christina Lauren, New York Times best-selling author)

"Prepare to fall hard for The Royals Next Door." (PopSugar)

"A romance brimming with tension and fun, while putting mental health and trauma recovery at its center." (Library Journal)

This “smutt” is so good!

I felt like I had the teenage girl crush feelings, but in an adult setting I could relate to! My only complaints is that it was all over to soon! I absolutely LOVED listening to this!!! Fantastic narration and story!

Disappointed that I wasted a credit in this…

SPOILERS!! I thought this was going to be a cute rom com and couldn’t be more wrong. I don’t think it was funny at all. The main character was really unlikable. I think part of it was the way she talked. I tend cuss as much as the next girl but it really caught me off guard in this book and it seemed so unnecessary… she was really crude. I felt the whole storyline of the stigma related to reading romance novels was stupid, especially the big scandal at the end. The scene with the school board was just infuriating to me as a teacher. She shows them no respect after doing something totally inappropriate at the lake but she’s so brave because she talked about romance novels. Nope! Narrator did well with the accents.

Loved it

Really liked the development of the characters and the pace of the book. Very Harry/Megan story but really enjoyed it.

I don’t know how I waited so long

I love it!

I purchased this book so long ago I forgot what was it about, so it was a nice surprise when I start listening and the characters weren’t what I was expecting.

Sweet romance. I love it

Good book to relax too

A good read with out a lot of ups and downs. A nice constant story line is a good break from the conflict resolution found in many other books. Nice the just listen to and drift off… plus a little something extra in it of course ;)

Wonderful!

I never got lost or bored. This book kept me captivated and focused! It was my first Karina Halle book. I will be looking for more!!

Talk about preachy

This story is fine - but it’s beyond preachy and predicable for it to be good, even for this type of novel.

Cheesy - Anticlimactic

The story overall was just cheesy. I couldn’t get behind it all that much. It started off pretty promising, but increasingly got worse. Additionally, the performance for a fake British accent was cringeworthy - please don’t have a female do a British male voice. It’s already bad when a female does a regular male voice.

3/5 not mad I read it, but wouldn’t recommend either

Not for me.

Not a fan of the sex scenes. I failed to check on this before purchasing.

OK

This is a quick and easy read. Nothing major happens, but its sweet and fun.
Narration is done well. There just wasn't anything that wowed me. But still, not a bad read.