2.5 stars

So we did this series a little backwards. We first read Royal Court and loved Bea plus the relationship between her and George’s which is why we read this one. Clearly, the author has become a better writer in the latter book.

Read the full review @https://www.bestlesficreviews.com/2019/01/a-royal-romance-by-jenny-frame.html ( )

So… „A Royal Romance“ by Jenny Frame is a somewhat strange novel. It’s not bad, it’s quite entertaining, but it’s also just somewhat strange – and that was an impression I couldn’t shake throughout the entire book.

The story of George and Bea, which the author tells in her novel, takes place in a future version of Great Britain – about 40 years from now. That’s nothing that is easily noticable throughout the novel, it’s mostly details like the everyday use of technology (voice controled PCs, tablets and TVs, cars driving on autopilot and some such, nothing new, just more prominant than today) and some medical possibilities, especially with regard to reproductive techniques.

I think, my biggest problem with this story was George, who, at the end of the day, could have just been a real George instead of a Georgina. Sure, that would have lessend the potential conflict, but since George’s homosexuality is not that much of a reason for conflict throughout the plot – it’s part of one of two conflicts -, that wouldn’t have changed much – surprising, consindering that she is supposed to be the first lesbian queen of GB. Bea’s family/working class background is the real conflict thingy here – something I just couldn’t really understand.

Additionally to that, there are some pacing issues. In my opinion Jenny Frame just hasn’t really figured out the whole pacing stuff yet and while there are some parts where the story borders on boringly slow, there are also ones where everything just happens too fast. That also resulted in some problems I had with following the characters‘ development – the time jumps that happen here and there just confounded me.

But nevertheless, all in all „A Royal Romance“ by Jenny Frame is a somewhat sweet story, not very deep, not something with a very dense plot, but quite entertaining and easy to read and thus something to read for some nice reading hours. My real wish for this novel would have been George to be more feminine because the way she is you could have just switched her for a guy without losing that much of the storyline.

Diese und weitere Rezensionen findet ihr auf meinem Blog Anima Libri - Buchseele

Okay… „A Royal Romance“ von Jenny Frame ist ein wirklich irgendwie etwas stranges Buch. Es ist nicht schlecht, es ist ganz unterhaltsam, aber es ist halt einfach irgendwie strange – und dieser Eindruck hat sich das gesamte Buch über gehalten.

Die Geschichte von George und Bea, die die Autorin in ihrem Roman erzählt, spielt in Großbritannien und in der Zukunft – etwa 40 Jahre. Das fällt so beim Lesen nicht weiter auf, es sind lediglich ein paar Details in der alltäglichen Nutzung von Technik (Sprachgesteuerte PCs, Tablets und Fernseher, selbstfahrende Autos, nichts, was es nicht schon gibt, nur dass es in der Geschichte nicht mehr die Ausnahme sondern die Regel ist) und die medizinischen Möglichkeiten, z.B. in der Fortpflanzungsmedizin.

Ich denke, mein größtes Problem mit der Geschichte war, dass George im Grunde genommen wirklich ein George statt einer Georgina hätte sein können. Sicherlich, das hätte das eine oder andere an Konflikt aus der Geschichte genommen, allerdings ist Georges Homosexualität sowieso nur Teil von einem von zwei Konflikten und stößt, dafür, dass sie die erste lesbische Königin Großbritanniens ist, auf relativ wenig Kritik. Der eindeutig größere Kritikpunkt sind Beas familiärer Hintergrund und ihre Arbeiterklasseabstammung.

Dazu kommt, dass Jenny Frame meiner Meinung nach die Sache mit dem Tempo noch nicht so ganz drauf hat, denn an einigen Stellen geht alles einfach etwas zu schnell, während die Geschichte an anderen Stellen ein wenig zieht. Das ist schade, denn es stört einfach beim Lesen. Das hat teilweise auch einfach zur Folge, dass ich die Entwicklungen der Charaktere nicht immer so richtig nachvollziehen konnte, weil mich die Zeitsprünge, die es zwischendrin auch noch nicht, ebenfalls etwas gestört haben.

Trotzdem, „A Royal Romance“ von Jenny Frame ist eine irgendwie süße Geschichte, ziemlich seicht, nicht unbedingt mit einem dichten Plot gesegnet, aber ganz unterhaltsam und schnell zu lesen, sodass man ein paar ganz nette Lesestunden geboten bekommt. Ich hätte mir aber vor allem gewünscht, dass George irgendwie weiblicher gewesen wäre, denn so hätte man sie ohne große Verluste gegen einen Mann austauschen können. ( )

I will say that this wasn't the worst book I've ever read, not by a long shot. My problems with the book were also more with the art of it than the specific words or combos of words as well.

It's the story of Queen Georgina. She's just become the Queen and in the months before her official coronation she becomes a patron of a faltering (funding wise not organizational vision wise) hospice organization. That's where she meets Bea, the Organization's regional manager and a woman who comes from a working class background. They get to know each other while Bea takes the Queen around the country to the various sites of the hospice over the course of six months. It was a pretty standard lesbian romance plot in that way and with how the back and forth went.

My problems with the story were varied. To start, it was predictable, but, I've read predictable before and enjoyed it. This was slightly different. I felt like the narrative was flat. There was a Julian subplot, but there was no tension to the subplot, it never felt like a real obstacle on the page.

I also didn't feel like it took place in the future (and I was a bit creeped out by Intelliflesh) and maybe it was just me (a US American) but except for Cammy a little bit, I didn't really feel like it was set in Great Britain either. It felt like it could have been happening any place in the world.

Then there was the character of Georgina. The whole 'she's a naive virgin' when it comes to love didn't seem to fit with the rest of her character either. And also it seemed to me, just my opinion, but it seemed that a lot of the story was original written with Georgina as a male George. Just my feeling about it, and I'm probably horribly wrong, but that was the jibe I got from the novel.

And then there was something that had nothing to do with the story. Skeptical kept being spelled sceptical (I'm assuming it's a British vs. American English spelling thing going on), but still, by the end of the book it started to drive me insane. Nothing against its use, just my own stumbling block.

Anyway. I love fairy tales which is why I picked this to read, but I guess I'll have to keep looking for a 'modern' setting lesbian fairy tale.

I got this advanced galley through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books. ( )