Playing Through Every Choices Book, In Order (Part 71: The Royal Romance, Book 1)

Hey! Today, we get sweeped away from our waitressing to compete for the Prince's hand in a foreign land! Will we beat out the other ladies, or end up a lonely dame?

Next time, we attempt to clear our image after a photo scandal rocks our chances with the Prince. Can we find out who sabotaged us?

Link to previous reviews: https://www.reddit.com/user/stresseatingdog/comments/sj3s3m/all_choices_reviews_megapost/

The Royal Romance, Book 1

M/C: Stella Valentine

Final LI: Multiple (Drake, Liam)

Favorite Chapter: Beach Chapter (Drake CGI lol)

Favorite Character(s): Liam, Drake, Maxwell, Hana, Olivia, Bertrand, Penelope, Kiara

Least Favorite Character(s): Madeline

Overall Rating: 9/10

Review:

Here we have the series that, next to The Freshman, has the largest amount of books in the app. This first book is…honestly a really lovely beginning! Right off the bat, I adore all three LIs. They all are such fleshed out characters beyond just being LIs that they are simply enjoyable to interact with. I love Hana’s struggles with family, insecurity, and feeling like she belongs. I love Drake’s struggles with class, identity, and trust. As for Liam? I love how charming and genuinely “princely” he is. Beyond just the LIs, the rest of the cast is equally loveable. Maxwell is your typical GBF type of character (though that will change drastically in the next book and onward lmao), but I love him and his vivacious, fun-loving personality. Bertrand is gruff, yes, but he has his charm. Olivia is meant to be this book’s antagonist, but she’s the type of antagonist you love to hate, and the end of the book marks the start of her wonderful redemption arc that will span the rest of the series. Madeline, on the other hand, is quite insufferable here in the first book, but she gets more likable later on! Penelope and Kiara are funny side characters too. The Queen and King are…tolerable, I suppose. The plot of the book is also really fun. They turned the typical “competition” thing every Choices book seems to do and made it feel more like an actual social court. The cliffhanger at the end with the photo getting leaked was a great hook for the next book too. One thing I don’t enjoy is how Liam is somewhat forced on you throughout the book, which can get annoying if you don’t plan on romancing him. My main critique, however, is the genderlock. I don’t think this series needed the genderlock. I just wanted to romance a prince as a guy...or his buff best friend lol. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in this series, even if the genderlock prevented me from giving it a perfect score.