These Royals will ruin you.
Easton Royal has it all: looks, money, intelligence. His goal in life is to have as much fun as possible. He never thinks about the consequences because he doesn’t have to.
Until Hartley Wright appears, shaking up his easy life. She’s the one girl who’s said no, despite being attracted to him. Easton can’t figure her out and that makes her all the more irresistible.
Hartley doesn’t want him. She says he needs to grow up.
She might be right.
Rivals. Rules. Regrets. For the first time in Easton’s life, wearing a Royal crown isn’t enough. He’s about to learn that the higher you start, the harder you fall.
So… I have to admit, I was expecting to absolutely love this book, but unfortunately I didn’t. Easton was my favorite Royal for the first 3 books of this series, I loved his relationship with Ella, and his sense of humour. He was a delight! Easton in Fallen Heir? Not my Easton… He seemed more like the Easton of Paper Princess, before any character development that happened throughout the series so far.
One thing has to be said. Erin Watt, aka Elle Kennedy and Jen Frederick, still have the gift of sucking us in within the story. This book was addicting, like all the others. That, the drama and the cliffhanger, were the only things I saw in common with the other books though.
I’m going to have to drop some minor SPOILERS. Sorry guys, but I have to, because I need to speak about some stuff.
While I truly liked the characters, Ella and the Royals, on the first trilogy, I’m not feeling that warm towards the characters on this book. Especially Easton Royal. My dear Easton… Yeah, I’m not a fan at the moment. Easton seemed to have gone back 1000 steps, I was expecting him to be self-destructive, but I was also expecting him to “THINK” better than the things he said and did, if that makes any sense. Let me explain…
Easton always acted like a little jerk, it was a call for help, that was established early on on this series. But Fallen Heir is told exclusively through Easton’s POV, so even though Easton has some deep deep issues he needs to work on, for the most part he doesn’t just act like a jerk… HE IS A JERK! And this felt like a kick in the gut.
Easton brags about how he’s God’s gift to women, he spends most of his time thinking how much money he has and how much he can spend on stupid things, how no woman can resist him, how he had Ella first. And this one is just WOW (-_-)’. “Oh poor baby me, I don’t have any real friends”. I mean, are you freaking kidding me? Didn’t we spend 3 books where it was established that Easton and Ella were GREAT FRIENDS?! And suddenly, here, he’s always hurting her on purpose, and he actually thinks and believes all the shit he tells her. Like how she has Reed’s balls, how she should be worried about Reed cheating on her, you know… good and friendly stuff. Then there’s the entitlement, the fact that he believes he has some sort of right to her, because he kissed her first. Why is this even being mentioned here? This is a girl he technically sees as a sister, who is dating his brother, and is one of his closest friends.
Why does he says so many times he doesn’t have any friends? He doesn’t even try to talk to people. Look, I get it, he feels completely lost and without a place, I get it. But Easton spends the whole book feeling something, making the same mistakes, and going around in circles. And this was maddening. There was no character growth AT ALL. There was just Easton feeling sad, drinking himself to sleep, messing up, feeling sad, drinking, …, do you see the cycle? Yeah, the whole book was like this!
Easton did something wrong, he got mad at the people he hurt, like it wasn’t his fault at all, then he went and made it worst, and repeat.
Also… Easton says all he wants is to fly again, his dad says all he has to do is get his act together and don’t drink, and he’ll allow him to get back on the planes. What does Easton do? Yeah… he drinks every chance he gets. Oh brother…
Ok, we’ll get back to Easton in a bit. But what about Hartley Wright? So, I kind of liked her at first. I liked how she didn’t give a f*ck about who Easton was, and how hard she worked for herself and her place. I liked how mature she seemed, and the contrast to how immature East is. But I just didn’t buy it. The whole situation surrounding her, is just not believable at all. Her dad is a hot shot district attorney, he runned for mayor, and his middle child lives a few minutes away from them, in a bad area, has to work to be able to eat, and no one has caught wind of the situation? Especially at school? Hmmm, no. I mean, no no no.
Now, I did enjoy parts of the romance. I liked that Easton gave a real shot at the friendship thing, and opened up to Hartley, and seemed to have her best interest at heart. I liked their banter too. But I didn’t like how on the back of his mind he was always trying for more, even when she explained why she couldn’t. I also hated how she threw on his face everything he did “wrong”, when she allowed him in her life and wasn’t fighting for herself.
But I’m gonna say again, because this really really bothered me: Easton had friends. He kept telling he didn’t, but he did. Reed tried to speak with him, Ella was supportive, even Val. But no… “I have no friends…”
Let me tell you about the villain and the drama. Ari called Felicity Jordan 2.0, and she is. But I didn’t get the whole situation to be honest, I felt everything was so darn stupid. She wants to be the queen and take out Ella, or be with Easton for appearances, whatever. But he agrees to the fake relationship to make Hartley jealous, then he tells Hartley right away – points for Easton here – but he’s still not capable to put Felicity on the line and make sure the truth is known? Aren’t Ella and him ruling the school now? What was the difficulty of actually setting things straight?!
I just thought it was so stupid… sorry, but it was. It had no real weight. It could have been handled with easily. Bahhh…
There’s obviously a major cliffhanger by the end of the book, and while I did see one of the things coming, I didn’t see the other at all, and I’m curious as to how it’s going to be solved.
As you can see, it wasn’t my favorite book, but I still have high hopes for this series and the last book. I need Easton to open his eyes to the amazing life he has, seek the help he needs and appreciate his family and friends. I need his relationship with Ella to go back to normal. I need the twins to cut Lauren loose, because she’s toxic. I need Callum to be more present again, because just replacing your booze whenever your middle child drinks the whole stock is enabling him. I need to know why Ella’s not eating, because why wouldn’t she? I need to know what the deal is with the new QB, if he’s trouble or if he’s coupling with Val (maybe?!). I need Hartley to open her eyes and fight for what she wants. I want Easton to grow up again. I need Reed a bit more present.
I really hope the last book blows my mind, and that everything I disliked on this one is explained and solved. However, a lot of people seems to have liked this one, and it is full of stellar reviews. It really didn’t work for me though, but I’m not giving up on Easton, and I have my fingers crossed for the next book.
My Tiny Obsessions 