The Heir Apparent: A Reese's Book Club Pick

The Heir Apparent by Rebecca ArmitageFiction, Chick lit. Fairy tale retelling. Multiple timelines.Lexi Villiers is living her best life, in her second year of medical residency and a beginning relationship with one of her best friends. She made a conscious and deliberate decision to leave her royal lifestyle behind in Tasmania. Then the unbelievable happens. Her father and brother are both killed, bringing her back directly in line as successor to the Queen of England. Lexi didn’t enjoy her life in Tasmania, but feels a responsibility to her grandmother and the crown. But as she spends time with official duties, her grieving sister-in-law and manipulative uncle, she’s more disillusioned than ever. Can she wear the crown or should she walk away from the most famous position in the world?🎧 I listened to an audiobook narrated by Shakira Shute who did a marvelous job of bringing Lexi to life. Levels of British accents, and different character voices add depth and interest. There are several time changes that can be easily missed if the listener isn’t paying attention.Because of accents, I listened to this at 1.5, a bit slower than my usual.Entertaining, tragic, and feeling a bit like telling secrets.I received a copy of this from NetGalley and Hachette Audio.

I’m speechless! This book was so so good. I flew through it in two days. I didn’t want to put it down! It was so well written and such a great story. I love that the story line was nothing like I’ve read before!

The Heir Apparent reimagines the British Royal Family of today. It parallels the current monarchy in many ways with characters facing similar struggles. The main character is Princess Alexandrina (Lexi) who has to come out of self-imposed exile following a family tragedy. She is now faced with the choice of embracing the monarchy in full, or returning to the quiet life she has built for herself in another country.I found the book to be interesting and it definitely brought back a lot of nostalgia for the time of Diana and her children as I grew up 8 years ahead of Prince William. This story would be a good fit for anyone who enjoys a story of a family layered in complexity, the royal family, or a character faced with a fork in the road.Shakira Shute did a wonderful job with the narration and picking up the different British accents. The accents of the characters described as Australian didn’t quite hit the mark, but that was a smaller part of the story and didn’t detract from my overall experience.Thank you to Hachette Audio for access to a copy of this audiobook via Libro.FM’s Audiobook Listening Copy program. All opinions shared are my own and are freely given.

Couldn’t put it down! Loved the characters and the story, it was riveting and I didn’t want it to end

Many thanks to NetGalley, Cardinal and Hachette Audio for gifting me an audio ARC of the December Reese Book Club Pick by Rebecca Armitage, with the audiobook wonderfully narrated by Shakira Shute. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars!Lexi is in her second year of her medical residence in Australia and lives on a farm with her two best friends, Finn and Jack, and hoping to become more than friends with Jack. Then the news hits that her father and twin brother have been killed in a skiing accident. Suddenly, Lexi is whisked back to England, because her grandmother happens to be Queen, and now Lexi, or Princess Alexandria, is next in line for the throne. This is a role she publicly disavowed, and the public is not thrilled that she's back. Her grandmother needs an answer, her sister-in-law is grieving, her uncle is determined to oust her and claim the throne, and Lexi's world in Australia with Jack feels very far away.This may seem at first glance like just a light-hearted book, but it really delves into a lot of territory. There's loss, grief, family secrets, loyalty, and self-discovery all wrapped up in a really good story. If you are intrigued by the Royal Family (and who isn't?), you'll see obvious parallels and learn a lot about traditions and expectations. But there are terrific characters in their own right in this book, and you'll be rooting for them. The narration and production were great and I loved the accents of the different characters.

I loved reading this book. I couldn’t put it down! It was an easy, fun but deeply moving read. Highly recommend!

3.5/5 starsI found this a pretty good read, but it was not really what I was expecting based on the cover (and yes, I can be one of those).The premise here is that a black sheep ("rebellious") princess who has found a new life and new goals in Australia must return to Great Britain as she unexpectedly becomes heir apparent to the throne. The story follows her ins & outs as she readjusts to the notoriety/expectations of being the royal heir. She has decisions to make involving legacies, loyalties, and personal aspirations. Can she have it all?This story had a bit more darkness to it than I was expecting. I anticipated mostly "fluff", maybe some humor and a sweet romance. The romance is very minorly on the page, but yes, the "fluff" and humor are there at times. However, this book highlights the power and prestige behind the royal lives...the good, the bad and the ugly/evil. In this case we see how power can corrupt, and I found myself surprised by the evolution of certain characters who appeared more sympathetic in the beginning of the book but turned out to be quite different than initially portrayed...which is most likely a truism in the royalty realms. While I liked watching the thought process and evolution of Princess Alexandrina as she struggles toward her goal to be both a good steward for her people and to remain true to her own personal goals for her life.My caveat here and it was a bothersome one as my frustration with Lexi (the princess) at times. Yes, she had an impossible decision to make, but I found her easily pulled back into royal life after having been on her own for quite a few years and apparently enjoying that. She is surrounded by secrets and lies and yet (until close to the ending of the book), she feels like a doormat to me in her ambivalence in defending good from evil. She seemed too easily swayed. And I was absolutely disappointed and angry by how she treated her best friend/love interest during her reintroduction to the aristocracy. I actually found myself rooting for him to find someone more deserving of him. She does redeem herself, but that part of the story left a bit of a sour taste for me.It was interesting as a reader to see some of the behind-the-scenes maneuverings of the privileged, and there were echoes of very real stories going on in the royal family currently.All in all, a decent story with a couple of personal caveats.

I'm a sucker for a story about British royalty! Overall, I enjoyed this story. The characters were well written, there was good conflict throughout, and I eagerly anticipated to see what choice Lexi would make. I also liked the fact that we got some queer characters!The only thing I wish was different was that there were less parallels to the actual British royal family. It felt like a cop out on ways to give your characters background, personality, etc.But it's a fun read!

Rebecca Armitage’s The Heir Apparent is a masterclass in modern royal fiction, offering an utterly absorbing, fascinating, and unforgettable reading experience. From the very first chapter to the conclusion, the book grabs hold and refuses to let go, delivering exactly what a gripping royal drama promises: intrigue, scandal, love, and a heart-wrenching forbidden romance. The political maneuvering within the palace walls makes for compelling reading, providing the perfect backdrop for personal betrayals and passionate entanglements. It’s a beautifully paced thriller wrapped in a romance. Enjoy!

I enjoyed the heck out of this book! I am middle aged and still love hearing and reading about princesses. This whole story was very reminiscent of the current royal family, but that made it even better! loved the characters, loved all the secrets, loved the royal life, and love the romance(s)! Thank you to NetGalley and Cardinal books for the privelege to read this early. I honestly LOVED every minute of it (and the narrator was great!!)!

This is one of those books that, if you enjoyed TV shows like “The Crown,” you may like this book. We follow Princess Alexandrina, who had a gap year between finishing secondary school and going to university. She decided that she was meant to live in Tasmania and get away from royal life. She is in her 3rd year of residency when her dad and brother pass away in a ski accident. Lexi travels back to London and is required to spend the next year determining if she wants to be heir apparent and future Queen of England, or if she wants to give up all royal ties and live her life without any of the privileges that being a royal would afford.We go from the current time to flashbacks, alternating in each chapter. The times are not sequential and have more to do with what’s going on in the present, so we know what Lexi is thinking about. We have Lexi dealing with the fallout of leaving her royal duties to become a doctor and being basically ignored by her family. She didn’t have the best relationship with her father or twin brother in the end due to their not agreeing with her choices. So Lexi never really knew if her dad cared for her, and she couldn’t talk to her mom about it because she had also died years before. Basically, Lexi is dealing with a lot of emotional fallout while trying to determine what is best for herself and the country. She has a huge sense of duty to her father, her brother, mother, and country, but she was also the “spare” and expected to live a fairly normal life. We also the the political games that the families play, the manipulation, lies, tattling to the press, all to get their own way. It’s an interesting story, a little bit slow at times, but the decision that Lexi is going to make, duty or heart, is not obvious until the very last second. It is not a happy-go-lucky princess story; I wouldn’t call it a fairy tale either, because there is nothing dream-like or happy about the situation that Lexi is in. Even when things are good, there are so many layers of deceit. There is a very small amount of romance, though Lexi thinks about the men in her life; it isn’t a huge focal point. Overall, a bit of a slow-paced story about a young woman who lives in a family where you are there to look a part and not step out of line.

I got to page 77 and decided I can’t keep trying to like this book. Maybe something interesting happens beginning page 78. But everything I’ve read so far is just so incredibly boring. I don’t care about any of these people. At all. Someone should feel important to me by now. If you thought The Goldinch was a good book go back and read that. That was another book highly recommended that I never liked. But it was at least READABLE. Things Happen. This story not so much .

This is an excellent work. So good, that I couldn’t believe it’s the author’s first novel. It’s a challenging story about difficult choices and learning to accept the truth. Yes there are similarities to the royal family, but they make the story even more interesting and engrossing. This is one you’ll be mentally revisiting for a long time.

4 stars ⭐️ British royalty?! Sign me up! This book is drama and flashbacks. The plot had a lot of twists and turns which kept me intrigued!

This audiobook? This audiobook is what would happen if "The Princess Diaries" ran away to Australia, did a medical residency, and came back with grief, a secret, and several trust issues. "The Heir Apparent" is royal chaos served with a side of romantic longing and emotional whiplash, and Shakira Shute’s narration absolutely understood the assignment. Like, girl delivered accents, tears, sarcasm, and awkward palace tension with the finesse of someone who’s been training in Buckingham’s shadow her whole life.Our girl Lexi Villiers, sorry, Princess Alexandrina (a name that sounds like it should come with its own tax bracket), is just out here trying to survive med school, kiss her bestie Jack, and NOT get chased by paparazzi. But then boom: royal tragedy via helicopter arrival. Daddy? Gone. Twin brother? Gone. Quiet bush life? Evaporated. Lexi goes from "hot mess in scrubs" to "next in line for the crown" faster than you can say "constitutional crisis," and she does not want the job.Back in London, she’s met with the kind of cold hostility usually reserved for ex-royals and women who dare to have opinions. There’s a grieving sister-in-law whose poker face is doing the most, an uncle who’s serving full Shakespearean villain energy, and a nation waiting to see if Lexi will reclaim the role she swore she never wanted. Also, there’s this weird little plot thread about "witch marks" that had me raising a brow and whispering “what in the 'Diana' cosplay is happening here?”Let’s talk structure. The shifting timelines? Occasionally chaotic. Like, I get that we’re jumping between Trauma Then and Trauma Now, but the transitions could’ve used a royal handler. There were moments where I had to mentally scream “what year is it?” But, and this is crucial, Shakira Shute carried those shifts. Her voice work kept the emotional threads taut even when the plot was spiraling into "palace drama but make it meditative."The romance with Jack is sweet, if slightly backgrounded. It’s more of a soft ache than a sweep-you-off-your-feet story, which actually fits the tone. This isn’t a fairytale makeover. This is "you ghosted your birthright and now the monarchy needs a backup plan" territory. What makes it land is Lexi’s genuine character arc. She’s not choosing between two dudes. She’s choosing between versions of herself, and honestly? That’s where the audiobook slaps hardest, in those quiet moments where Shute gives breath to Lexi’s grief, guilt, and that gnawing feeling of “am I even allowed to want anything for myself?”Is it perfect? No. The ending feels like it put on a tiara and peaced out before answering all our questions. I wanted just a bit more fallout. A bit more reckoning. You don’t just drop a royal bombshell and then fade to credits like it’s the end of a Netflix mini-series, okay? Some of us are emotionally invested.But still. This audiobook turned what could’ve been a standard "girl gets crown" story into a messy, heartfelt interrogation of power, identity, and legacy, with just enough British shade to make it addictive. Four stars for the narration alone, and bonus points for making me yell “just say it to her face, Amira!” while cooking pasta.Huge thanks to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for letting me get my little gremlin hands on the audiobook early. I popped in my headphones thinking I was getting “royal fiction with a splash of drama” and instead got a full emotional monarchy meltdown narrated like a velvet dagger.

The Heir Apparent was really such a good read. There were a lot of really fun parallels between the existing monarchy and the functional one in the book. Including a version of the incident with Ed Sheeran at a royal party. I think that truly added to the story and I loved to see those little nods. There were a lot of elements to the overall story - love interests, reinventing the monarchy, tough decisions, stepping away from power, etc. It kept the story interesting throughout and I just wanted to keep reading.

The Heir Apparent takes a usual royal romance and throws that trope out the window because Lexi Villiers is the black sheep of the British royal family working on her medical residency in Tasmania. When she finds out that her father Prince Frederick, the Prince of Scotland had died and her twin Prince Louis was barely surviving from an avalanche and Princess (Princess Lexi) Alexandrina is the heir apparent to the throne of her grandmother Queen Eleanor.Rebecca Armitage has taken so many different random bit and pieces of royal history and made it her own with Princess Lexi needing to make a decision about her future whether she will be heir or finish her residency and being a practicing doctor.I liked reading The Heir Apparent because of the twists and turns of royal history that have a different ending and now I wonder if Princess Demelza will get a book?I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the author and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Alexandrina (Lexi) Villers is in Australia where she is doing her training to be a doctor. She is with her long-time friend, Jack, as they welcome the New Year. Just then, a helicopter lands and her grandmother, the Queen’s, assistant informs her that her father (heir to the throne) and her twin brother, Louis, have been killed in a skiing accident. In addition, Louis’s wife’s brother was also killed. It appears that Lexi is now the heir apparent to the throne. She is whisked back to England to attend the funerals and talk to her grandmother. She must now decide if she will accept her destiny or reject it in favor of her disgusting uncle. She is still reeling from the tragic death of her mother some years ago. Can she hold out to be the next Queen or will she return to her happiness of pursuing her studies of being a doctor in Australia?As we read the book, we see how the plot follows along with the past events of the British royal family and the members that we are all familiar with. It takes some concentration to keep up with it but it’s a fun ride.I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.