"Falling Hard for the Royal Guard" by Megan Clawson is a romance novel that follows the story of a young American woman named Samantha who falls in love with a royal guard while on vacation in Europe. Despite the cultural differences and the fact that he's supposed to protect the royal family, they develop a strong connection and must navigate the challenges that come with their relationship. "Falling Hard for the Royal Guard" is a light and enjoyable read for fans of romance novels, particularly those who are interested in stories set in a royal or European context. ( )

FROM AMAZON: Despite living in an actual castle, happily ever after is evading Margaret ‘Maggie’ Moore.

From her bedroom in the Tower of London, twenty-six-year-old Maggie has always dreamed of her own fairy-tale ending.

Yet this is twenty-first century London, so instead of knights on white horses, she has catfish on Tinder. And with her last relationship ending in spectacular fashion, she swears off men for good.

And then a chance encounter with Royal Guard Freddie forces Maggie to admit that she isn’t ready to give up on love just yet… But how do you catch the attention of someone who is trained to ignore all distractions?

Can she snare that true love’s first kiss… or is she royally screwed?

2.5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I am quite literally surrounded by thousands of people each day, yet I feel completely alone.

Maggie is twenty-six years old and living with her dad after the break-up of her seven years long relationship. Her dad is career military and with his service winding down, he now is a Yeoman Warder (beefeater) at the Tower of London. Maggie loves history, graduated with a degree in it, but instead of getting hired on as a guide, she works at the ticket booth. Living in the Tower of London village lets her be close to the historical notes she delights in but it's also isolating. When one of her clumsy run-ins with a tower guard named Freddie leads to a friendship, Maggie might just get her life back on track.

He just winked at me!

Told in first person present tense all from Maggie, readers get an intimate look into her character. Growing up with her mom as her bestfriend, as they were on the move a lot because of her dad's career, Maggie's felt lost and unmoored after her mother's death a few years ago. She still texts her mother's number to “talk” to her about what is happening in her life. After catching her boyfriend cheating for the third time, she finally decides to leave him, a decision that was hard because of their seven years together and how he was there for her when her mother died. Maggie recounts this but readers only see the stalker tendencies of the ex, texting her all the time, showing up at her work, and emotional (calling her a slut) and physical (grabbing, restraining her) abuse. This was tagged as a rom-com but this was not the light and fluffy tone I was expecting. Maggie's constant clumsiness, falling, running into things, seems to be what the comedy hinges on but the way she was physically hurt (black eye) from these falls along with how she saw herself, causing her to put herself down a lot and, what seemed liked body dysmorphia, gave the story a tone that made me hurt for her, and want her to seek therapy for her emotional turmoil, more than laugh.

Freddie is just a friend.

The romance was too weak for me as Freddie was pretty much a haircut for the vast majority of the story. Due to his job as guard and not being able to talk (he does break this once) Maggie talks at him, not with him and then when they do spend time together in the beginning, he's still pretty silent or disappearing. The middle of the story had Maggie going on four Tinder dates and I felt like I got to know those dates more than Freddie, who had completely disappeared from the story. When he comes back in the second half, it's to break-up the only date that had been going really well for Maggie. It didn't feel romantic to me that this guy who, albeit, Maggie “just can't stop thinking about” but knows nothing about but his first name, barely spoken to, and hasn't seen in weeks, feels comfortable breaking up a kiss between the two. Maggie and Freddie's feelings felt forced as there was no development for them.

We don't only exist in different tax brackets, we live in entirely different words, and I vastly underestimated how different we are.

What I did like, probably because I am also a history nerd, was the fantastic way the author incorporated the setting. There were so many interesting and cool historical facts and stories about the Tower of London, all the different buildings, how it's a village, and a bunch of fascinating tidbits. I did like this author's voice and would read anything they had to say about the Tower of London. I just struggled with how Maggie's serious emotional turmoil, she spent the majority of this book in tears or fighting them, didn't end in her seeking therapy but “solved” by Freddie's love, yes, there was a HEA but expect only a few kisses. There's a reveal about Freddie around the 70% mark that is meant to explain away his silence and skittishness around Maggie, but it took until there was only about twenty pages left in the book to get something out of this guy, and because of that, any declarations felt extremely weak. I'd read this for the Tower of London tidbits but check my romance wants at the door. ( )