Go Fug Yourself Book Club discussion
This topic is about
The Royal We
Past Book Club Discussions
>
The Royal We!!!!!!!!!! Discuss!
date
newest »
newest »
I'd like to hear from anyone who's reading this who's NOT at all interested in the royal family~~ these are the sections of GFY I skip (unless baby George is in them). I'm open to reading it if it doesn't involve having to be enchanted by the royal family as a prerequisite. Please let me know if there are any of you out there and what you think :)
Mod
Mod
So, I meant to only read it while I ate lunch yesterday. And then somehow it was suddenly time to go pick up my kid from school. How did that happen?
I loved it! And I do love royal family news so it was definitely fun for me in that way. The characters were all so layered and the research and references were amazing.
Yesterday was PERFECT TIMING for me for The Royal We to finally arrive. I started the morning by the pool in Florida, and ended the day back in Seattle. This book was just perfect to make a long day of travel pass so quickly. It was an easy and enjoyable read that left me wanting to spend so much more time with Bex, Nick, Freddie and their friends. It also rewards GFY readers with so many references to the things Jessica and Heather and Fug Nation love to love and some things that they love to hate (Breton shirts! Diet Coke! Harry Potter! Mischievous Princes! 'WORDS'(in italics)! All things British! Jumpsuits!)Obviously there's already been a spoiler warning, but I want to add a secondary spoiler warning here: don't read further if you don't want to know anything before you've read it....
seriously, I'm warning you...
Okay, I do have a couple criticisms. First, it seemed like Nick as a character faded out after the first couple of sections. Obviously Bex is the main character, and as such the book focuses on her, but I'd really have loved for him to be more involved. The counterpoint to my complaint was that things get so bad for Bex because he isn't present, so perhaps I reacted to his absence as it was intended for me to as the reader. Also, I felt a little unsure of Lacey as a consistent character. She's obviously supposed to be smart and self-assured, but then she does some really dumb stuff. For example, I didn't find it quite consistent with her character that she would have actually enjoyed the negative attention in the press (The Ivy League, and all that).
As for the positives: I LOVED that Heather and Jessica managed to surprise me, many times, with plot twists. Usually books like these are so predictable to me, so I really enjoyed not feeling like I knew every last thing that was going to happen. I was totally surprised by the kiss(es!) with Freddie, Clive being the worst, and Mr. Porter's death. Speaking of which, he was probably my favorite character, and I was so so sad during that part of the book. The writing centering around his loss was particularly touching and lovely.
Overall I really enjoyed the book, and I will have to make a second, slower, pass though it, because I have a feeling I missed a bit on my first read-through.
Sarah wrote: "Yesterday was PERFECT TIMING for me for The Royal We to finally arrive. I started the morning by the pool in Florida, and ended the day back in Seattle. This book was just perfect to make a long da..."I've been thinking about Lacey. She was so driven to become a doctor at the beginning of the book, and her own desire to be smart and driven seemed to disappear once Bex moved to London. It was definitely a dynamic shift between the two of them - Lacey used to be the star twin while Bex was in her shadow and at the end Bex was the star while Lacey was in her shadow. I don't think Lacey dealt with that well, to understate things. Did Lacey forget how to be her own person? I kind of wanted to smack her a couple of times. I'm definitely still processing that whole dynamic.
I read it over a month ago so it's not as fresh in my brain as for others, but these are my thoughts:I really liked it! I loved all the Fug Nation in-jokes, and it was so breezy and clever and such a fun read. I do agree with Sarah about Nick's character -- at times as the book went on I found myself kind of frustrated with him, whereas at the beginning of the book I was SO invested in his and Bex's relationship. I think part of it, though, was the shifting focus from the happiness of them falling in love to all the ways this totally changed the course of Bex's life.
I also really appreciated that Bex didn't feel like Kate Lite to me -- I was worried I was going to be visualizing her as Kate Middleton the whole time I was reading, but I thought her voice was strong enough to make her feel like very much her own person, which is impressive under the circumstances. There were a FEW too many similarities to Kate for my liking still -- little things like the identical wedding dresses -- but in general I was able to separate fiction from the real Will and Kate, which, again, I found impressive.
I agree about the chapters when Mr. Porter died being very touching -- I wondered how many of those sections were written by Heather, since I know her own dad died a few years ago, but regardless of who wrote how much of them, they were so well-done and the perfect amount of sad.
I think if I could change anything about this I would compress the time frame; it was a lot of time to cover, and the huge jumps in time kept me at a slight emotional distance from the characters at times. But these are really my only complaints about the book; I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and will be recommending it to everyone who crosses my path at the library. To people asking about whether you need to be a royals watcher to enjoy it -- read the first 7 chapters, like Kris said. That will probably clue you in to whether you will like it or not. There is lots of humor and wit and lots of memorable characters, but it's also about royalty sooo...there's a lot of that. So it's hard for me to say whether someone not interested in the royals will enjoy the characters enough to balance out the royals stuff.
Anyway, the gist of this overly-long ramble is: super good!
Also, my favorite character in the whole book was Lady Bollocks -- please tell me I'm not alone? I LOVE HER.
Re: Lacey, I wasn't that shocked by her behavior. She was the one who liked to win everything, and relished any attention she got for her achievements. I took it as she felt anything Bex had, she should have too, even a prince. If she couldn't have one she wanted the notoriety.
I also read it a while ago - thanks Netgalley! - so I'm checking back to my review to see what I thought at the time.My main thought was that if there was a Fug Nation in-joke drinking game, we'd all be dead. Even so, I'm sure there were a ton of pop culture references that I didn't get. FugCon needs to happen!
My review says at times I felt very overwhelmed and helpless on Bex's behalf. TRW definitely demonstrates the downsides to the celebrity lifestyle.
I would like to get hold of a hard copy, as I don't enjoy books as much on my ereader.
LOVED Lady Bollocks <3 I could read an entire series about her and G.Lacey seemed right to me- from the beginning you could tell that she just wasn't her own person. That she was the star because she was determined to win.
I read this so fast, and I usually like to savor my books, but I DEVOURed (eh eh eh) this one.
I also read it crazy fast, and really enjoyed it.Did not expect to cry, much less twice - first, I got misty during Bex and Nick's break-up about halfway through. And then I full on SOBBED during the passage following Mr. Porter's death. The writing there was so beautiful and moving, and I not only felt for Bex, Lacey, and Nancy, but also for Heather, who I know lost her dad not too long ago, and my friend who just lost his mom. That passage really stuck with me.
I felt like the characters - at least in Bex's inner circle - were really well drawn (as absolutely frustrating as I found Lacey most of the time). I loved Lady Bollocks, and Cilla is SUCH a good friend. I did lose track of all Nick's relatives a few times (Emma v Elizabeth v Agatha v Eleanor) but by the end I think I had all the royals figured out.
I rather enjoyed this book. I breezed through it, which is not unusual for me, but I couldn't put this book down! I loved Bex and Nick and really enjoyed the other supporting characters as well. I'm not going to lie that I felt a LITTLE disappointed with the ending and wished to know more of how everything really turned out....However, the ending was still perfect. If that even makes sense.
Alisa wrote: "I'd like to hear from anyone who's reading this who's NOT at all interested in the royal family~~ these are the sections of GFY I skip (unless baby George is in them). I'm open to reading it if it..."I deeply don't care at ALL about the royal family; I skip it all, always, and couldn't stop rolling my eyes at the world the week William and Kate got married. I am 288 pages in and really loving it. If that helps. :)
Mod
A ton! Thanks.
Oh that's great!! I'm definitely going to give it a shot :) Thank you.
Lady Bollocks was THE BEST. I thought it was great although Nick got on my nerves starting in the middle - maybe just because Bex was so awesome I wanted him to realize it much sooner than he did! But now I think we need Freddie book, amirite?
Katy wrote: "Lady Bollocks was THE BEST. "yeah, the moment we met her I thought "she is either going to be the best part of this book or the worst" she may not have been my favorite (how could anyone be better than Freddie or Earl?) but she was definitely so great.
Sarah wrote: "Yesterday was PERFECT TIMING for me for The Royal We to finally arrive. I started the morning by the pool in Florida, and ended the day back in Seattle. This book was just perfect to make a long da..."Thanks for helping me figure out why I liked the second half of the book less than the first (with regard to Nick kind of not being in it). Esp. after their engagement, I was like, "Garh, why are you bothering with this guy? I barely believe you when you say you love him!"- but when he came back I felt better about him (I've had some relationships where I felt meh about it when he wasn't around, but then totally into it when he was there. They all ended badly, which I'm glad this didn't!)
I think there needs to be a series of mysteries starring Bex and Nick. Or Bex and Lady Bollocks. (ETA) upon further reflection, it should be Bex and Lady Bollocks, and the first mystery should be Who Stole Freddie's Pet Goat? Obviously.
And Lacey should go back to the U.S. and get herself attached to the Kardashians, somehow.
Just finished the book today and I really liked it. I really got into Bex's story and I was actually surprised by a few things along the way. I can't imagine what it quotidian be like to be hounded by the press and have entire blogs devoted to people hating you and cataloging your every mistake. With the age of the Internet every troll can have a voice and hide behind anonymity the way Clive did. This is one book I knew I'd read again even before finished it.
I finished TRW last week and loved it! So glad to find a place to discuss it without worrying about spoilers. I'm not sure which character is my favorite, but possibly Freddie. Which is funny, because in real life I'm more interested in Kate & Wills than Harry.I grew to dislike Clive by about halfway through and worried that his personal issues were setting him up for a stupid move, so I wasn't terribly shocked when he went from mopey jerk to full-on betrayer (although I didn't exactly see it coming). Kind of wanted to see Joss go down with him, too. Couldn't stand her!
But despite my love for TRW and the Fug Girls, I still have a few quibbles.
1. How on earth did Bex, a random cute American, get assigned to live on the same hall as Nick? All the other dorm-mates are Royal insiders with tight family connections to the House of Lyons, and there's Bex just tossed in there. I realize she's in Ceres's old room, but there must have been at least *one* more Royally-connected student who could have taken the room near the prince and let the new American exchange student bunk someplace safely removed from him.
2. I had a hard time accepting that Queen Eleanor would suggest excluding Lacey from the wedding party, barring her doing something truly awful like a felony conviction. Talk about feeding the gossip rags! "Bitchy Bex Boots Salacious Sis from Wedding Walk" (!)
Neither issue kept me from completely enjoying the book, of course, but I did want to see if I'm the only one those things occurred to.
[One other thing...even though Prince Dick earned his name pretty well, his character still gave me my first glimmer of sympathy for Charles. I've always been Team Diana and haaaaated Camilla, but I can finally see how Charles was trapped and stupid rather than evil. So thanks, Fug Girls, for helping me grow up a bit on that front.]
--SaraNoH on GFY
I really liked the book (as I think we all did). I did read it really fast though so I will have to go back and really take my time when I read it again--so I'm sure there are little things that I missed.I agree about Nick being absent a lot. I understand it drives a lot of what Bex is going through. Having the person you love away for a long time is hard, but having that person away when you are navigating a whole new world where you feel as if parts of yourself are being taken away must be SO much harder. So I think it created a lot of empathy for Bex-- when Freddie first kissed her I felt, as a reader, that I was able to really understand all of her confused feelings and not be judgy. HOWEVER, Nick NEVER told Bex "Hey btw, that wedding I said you couldn't go to? Yeah, I'm taking an ex. Ta Ta." When that happened I screamed, "NOOOO! DEAL BREAKER."
I REALLY loved Gaz & Cilla. Maybe I just relate to the peppy best friend role more in my own life, but I enjoyed their flirty arguments leading up to them realizing they were perfect for each other. Plus, Gaz always made me laugh--and who doesn't love the guy who is always thinking about food?
I agree about the comments about Lacey. I do think it's plausible that she also wasn't handling Bex's sudden fame very well. Instead of letting Bex have some attention she wanted it all for herself. It was a role reversal she wasn't ready for. I do think that her reactions to being arrested were a little strange. Instead of admitting fault she just gets mad that Bex won't make it all go away. I think she redeemed herself at the end, but I like how the book acknowledged that Bex & Lacey still had a lot of work to do on their relationship.
What does everyone think of the end? Do you think that the story was printed? If so, do you think that the Queen let the wedding happen? I liked that the end was happy, but not too sugar coated. These two still have things to work out, but now they get to do it as a team.
Oh, I also loved all of the pun headlines. The press DO love a good pun and it seemed like Jess & Heather had a good time coming up with those.
I'm not a royals follower and I loved this book. SPOILERS BELOW.Heather and Jessica wrote an intricate plot full of great twists, well-developed characters (even secondary characters), and lots of drollery and sly humor. How funny is it that all of Freddie's past girlfriends are party planners? And as a former graphic artist I got a huge kick out of the Garamond gags and the font joke in Gaz' and Cilla's vows.
What most surprised me after the initial seven chapters, mostly light and frothy, was how serious and poignant the book became, with heartbreaking struggles, and some wrenching moments. I really felt like I knew these people. Even Prince Chilli Willi (aka Dick) was given some emotional depth. I saw Dick as a combination of Prince Philip and Charles, because I don't believe that Charles is that cold.
I wanted to and really tried, but could not like Lacey, ambitious narcissist; ditto Clive, as time went by, for the same reason (I wasn't shocked at his turn, although surprised he was behind the blog). It's a real credit to the authors that I had such strong feelings about these characters.
I thought Emma's story so sad, and I loved how Nick and Bex interacted with her and on her behalf.
My two nitpicks:
1) I didn't like how Bex and Nick spent their initial break apart, and therefore wasn't too fond of them, either, during this time.
2) Once back together (and what a sweet, romantic reunion!), I felt that the very independent Bex gave up everything for Nick, but he gave nothing up for her. Given his life in the fishbowl, how could he leave her to dog paddle alone amongst the sharks? I felt it unbelievable and cruel.
Other than this, I so enjoyed the book and look forward to reading it again. I recommend it to those who haven't read it.
And I do think the wedding went forward.
I agree with you about not much liking Lacey, Deborah. BUT I also really want a sequel from Lacey's perspective. She seems like she's having a severe case of being in her 20s and being confused about who she really is and wants to be, and I would love to read about her figuring out her own path and getting her act together somehow. Ditto Freddie. And of course more Lady Bollocks.
I did really enjoy this! I particularly appreciated that Bex felt different than just Kate-lite, as Martha said. (Although reading one of the Fug Girls' links this week, I was reminded that Will similarly said something like "talk to me in 10 years" about getting married at Klosters, which was a bit too close to tracking the story for me).I also struggled with Lacey because she really never seemed to have many redeeming qualities - she was kind of a lousy jerk from the beginning. I also struggled to get over her moving to London (especially because it was very unclear when/whether she got a job until she actually lost it).
I also found Nick really unpleasant leading up to the first break-up and wasn't really sure he did enough to make up for how crappy he behaved.
I was very surprised by the Freddie storyline, but ultimately found his reactions very moving. Like others, I actually found myself tearing up several times during the book.
Mod
I loved the book. I thought it was realistic to expect changes, and then MASSIVE changes, when opting for the Royal Life. I can't imagine how commoners ever really reconcile the before/after when they marry into royalty. (Grace Kelly and Princess Sadface come to mind.) And there is the (sad) fact that you will never ever be truly accepted by those who were "born that way."
Deborah wrote: "2) Once back together (and what a sweet, romantic reunion!), I felt that the very independent Bex gave up everything for Nick, but he gave nothing up for her. Given his life in the fishbowl, how could he leave her to dog paddle alone amongst the sharks? I felt it unbelievable and cruel."
I felt this was pretty believable, because given his role, what was he going to give up? He was already constrained and he (and others) had advised Bex that she would and should be ready to give up everything she ever knew in order to become his wife. Not that I think he wanted her to suffer, but I also think he didn't really have a sense of HOW MUCH suffering it would be, having been born to it.
I loved all the plot twists. I suspected that Clive was actually Xandra at first, but then when The Royal Flush was introduced, it didn't occur to me that that was actually Clive. Between him and Joss... eesh. But, I'd say that that was also pretty true to form. Have a major life change and there will always be some people there who want to take advantage of what you can do for them.
Mr. Porter's death was so well done. I loved all of that, and the way that they all slept in the same bed, in their grief. Should my own dad depart, I can see that happening. My dad is the lynchpin, like Mr. Porter was. I think Bex's family was such an important part of the story, and that Lacey's behavior was pretty true to form. Regrettably so, obviously, for all involved.
I can't imagine growing up on the world stage, much less now when everything is blasted through the internet all the time. There really is no privacy and no mistake made without potentially global repercussions. At 40, I'm glad I grew up without all that pressure and distraction from what's important in life.
I loved Gaz and Cilla and their relationship.
Loved Bea and Gemma.
Oh, I have to mention the trepidation I felt, as a reader, when Bex went to Eleanor's private rooms to try on the tiaras. Oh my. I was holding my breath the whole time.
While I did picture Eleanor as QEII, I didn't really picture the rest as Kate/William/Charles. I did see Freddie totally as Harry, though.
I LOVED every single name for Freddie's girlfriends. I think Santa was my favorite. I actually laughed out loud at that one... and Fallopia, of course.
Oh yes, those names--truly hilarious! You must have had fun thinking of them. Wonder what the rejects were. ;-)
Well, I downloaded The Royal We the very day it was available, read it ALL NIGHT! & loved it, will happily read & re-read for a long time!! A delightful read, thanks Fug Girls!! That said...I was glad to hear that other readers struggled with Lacey. I really didn't like her much, thought what she really needed more than anything else was a good hard slap, administered at various critical points in those eight years; but... I don't have sisters, maybe I am missing some essential girl-sibling perspective? All I know is that if any of my brothers acted towards me like she did towards Bex, they would get pounded just as soon as I could manage it...
Loved Bex & Nick - wonderful, charming characters & I could believe everything they went through to get to the We. Gaz & Cilla; Gemma; even Lady Bollocks was likable once you got to know her. Totally bought Clive being a good guy until later on when he started feeling sorry for himself - okay, one of those, nice, handsome, whiner - never thought he would be such a toad as to resort to blackmail. Eleanor was properly regal & Queen Marta had the same naughty twinkle that I always thought QE The Queen Mum hid under those preposterous hats of hers...
...& Freddie was pure joy from start to finish! Would love to see a sequel with his story - as long as he doesn't end up with Lacey, she doesn't deserve him!!
This was the BEST way to come down from my post-vacation high (and we went to London, so I was excited to have seen a lot of the places mentioned in person and they were fresh in my mind!) I also wasn't expecting to cry as much as I did with this, but I bawled multiple times, including Gaz and Cilla's wedding -- and at Bex's breakdown, which no, I've never had a wedding-induced hysterical breakdown, no siree, I don't know what you're talking about. Even though the general plot of the book is unfathomable to me (please, as much as I love Harry, I will never marry him, although if the fates want to prove me wrong, please feel free), I appreciated that it was grounded in so much reality and even though I could never identify with a weekend rager at a historic estate with royal-adjacent friends, I could identify with all the relationships and friendships and the breakdowns, bad decisions made in your 20s, etc. I wanted a little more anger and bitterness during the breakup though -- the breakup itself didn't seem so bad, so it surprised me a little that Nick and Bex both turned into such hot messes afterward.I LOVED that they threaded in the whole "Harry is secretly in love with Kate" plotline, as those tend to be my favorite Fug slideshows :) Freddie is my favorite, and sorry, Bex, you totally should have run away with him when you had the chance.
There HAS to be a sequel, right? Because yes, yes, the ending was great but I need to know whether or not the story ran and what Marj's and Eleanor's reactions were, if the official wedding happened, and I definitely need more Freddie and Gaz and Lady Bollocks.
Fancasting? Obviously I pictured Wills/Kate in the main roles while reading, but if this was adapted to screen, who would you cast in the lead and supporting roles?
Mod
I just finished and I am glad I am part of this group, I need to talk to someone about this book, now I need to catch up on this thread!
Ann wrote: "Fancasting? Obviously I pictured Wills/Kate in the main roles while reading, but if this was adapted to screen, who would you cast in the lead and supporting roles?"I pictured Eva Amurri Martino as Lady Bollocks solely because her eyebrows are always arched up high in the pictures she posts with her baby. The Hot Chrises (Evans, Hemsworth, Pine, Pratt) could be the PPOs but I don't know which Chris should be which PPO. Michael Nouri for Earl Porter.
EmVic wrote: "My main thought was that if there was a Fug Nation in-joke drinking game, we'd all be dead. Even so, I'm sure there were a ton of pop culture references that I didn't get."Agreed. My fave was the mention of Edwina! Of course there was Diet Coke, a wine cardigan, Harry Potter, the Breton stripe. But what else? I think I need to go back and re-read while making notes for the drinking game.
Mod
I'm a bit later to this one but just wanted to agree with all of you that it was a fun read. I caught a lot of the FN references, but I still somehow missed the wine cardigan! Someone should make a list. :-DBea was my favorite.
I did have trouble removing the mental images of Kate, William, and Harry from the story - everyone else was distinct enough, but I had trouble replacing those three.
I also thought it ended in the perfect spot, not too soon or too late.
Just finished today! Oh my god, how are they so FUNNY. The part where they're at the Ascot and Paddington shows up all "we had a very spiritual connection, now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go talk to my sex partner" and then Eleanor was yelling at the horses and then Gaz made a font joke, I couldn't deal with it. SO MUCH HILARITY. Also, any time Queen Mum Marta is around.I have a huge crush on Gaz now, btw. A man who cries through his own wedding AND makes font puns is a man after my own heart.
Not sure how I feel about the Emma thing. I get why they went in that direction with the character, but I don't really like the "mysterious mental illness with no diagnosis" thing. Characters "going mad" without reference to an actual mental illness really bugs me, because I feel like it takes us back a step in our understanding of mental illness. Like she's a character in a Dickens novel or something. I have trouble articulating this. Does anyone else have thoughts?
Also, re: the ending, I thought it was a bit rushed. If I could change something about the book, I'd have Freddie and Bex tell Nick soon after the thing happened, to give him time to process his anger and move on. Then the Clive blackmail thing would be about the public finding out, which would still be enough of a disaster to ramp up the tension. Nick finding out and forgiving Bex all in the space of A DAY seems like not enough time for that emotional arc.
I totally called Clive's betrayal, although I thought he'd just go ahead and print something. Blackmail is a better plot twist.
I like the tiny private wedding at the end. Reminded me of Jim and Pam from The Office.
I know people are talking about a possible sequel (with babies!), but what I'd like to see is historical fic about the previous Lyons. Georgina, especially. I kept getting distracted whenever they mentioned previous monarchs because I really wanted a bigger family tree so I could see exactly where the Fug Girls' timeline diverged from ours. (After Queen Victoria, I think, but I WANT MORE DETAILS.)
Does anyone know if the secondary characters--Gaz, Cilla, Bea, etc.--had counterparts in real life?
I finally finished! I loved how it ended, but another part of me was really really hoping for an epilogue in which Clive got what was coming to him and Bex and Nick got married and lived happily ever after.I did not see the Clive storyline coming at all! And I think Cilla and Gaz were my favorite characters, other than Bex!
And I'm one of those people who totally skips over most of the Royals Recaps, and I thought this book was so much fun and I could not for the life of me put it down!
So I love the "common girl becomes a princess" trope as much as the next girl who grew up on a steady diet of Disney and I thought this was delightful. I read it a lot faster than I intended to because you get so pulled into Nick and Bex's lives. So much of that had to do with the characters being so relatable (I mean, aside from the obvious). Bex wanting the girl whose hair became her extensions to know that she was taking good care of it absolutely cracked me up and I felt like the Fug Girls did such a great job addressing the dark side of the makeover montage. The Bexicon and everyone involved debunking it was hilarious too. I never loved Lady Bollocks more than when she was trying to teach Bex how to exit a car. Speaking of Lady Bea, I couldn't help but picture Selma Blair in her Legally Blonde role, at least until she started being #TeamBex. The thing that bothered me about Gemma (I loved her with Bea and would definitely want more of them in a sequel) is that she had to know that she was causing problems for Nick and Bex, since she and Bea were the only ones who knew Gemma didn't actually want Nick. The big reveal of "oh it was ok all along since she wasn't really making a play for Nick" was disappointing because even if that's the case, you're letting everyone (including Nick) think that's a possibility. I called Clive or Lacey as Royal Flush, though like Kris, I initially thought Clive was Xandra. Lacey's narcissism bugged me from the get go but you could totally see where Bex helped create that particular monster by enabling Lacey's competitive streak and then didn't know what to do when cheating on a math test spiraled into a drug bust in Paris. Papa Porter's death was brutal and I liked that Nick needed to grieve him too, I felt like that small moment filled in some of the gaps that the time jumps caused. I feel like a companion book with Freddie and his hilariously named harem would be awesome, Heather and Jessica clearly had a blast writing him.
I finally got the book and read it! And I'm finally venturing back into this club!So, first off, I don't cry at books. I don't! But it may have been that I read it over a really tough weekend, or that it was clearly written by people with whom I consider myself friends (even though we don't know each other) so it didn't have so much fictional remove... but anyway, I teared up a few times in the second half. High marks for wringing emotions from my icy cold heart.
I loved all the Easter Eggs for Fug Nation. I loved the headline puns and the girlfriend names.
I also BLAZED through the book - I'm a fast reader and because of that I usually ration myself, so I don't crush new books and wind up with nothing to read again, but I wound up holing up on the couch for like an hour straight on Saturday and reading a huge chunk of the middle, then constantly dipping back at spare moments for more, even though I "shouldn't."
I think if I was a character in the book, I would have had a huge crush on Gaz.
I wasn't seeing QEII as Eleanor - the fun factor does not match up between those two. Eleanor seems much more stern. Not that Queen Elizabeth is a party machine or anything, I'm sure she's strict, but she does show her fun side (photobombing those athletes last year), her rebellious side (that whole story about her driving the Middle Eastern dignitary around at high speeds), and we all can safely assume she is much more relaxed when she's hanging with her dogs. Tough, yes. But Eleanor was a straight-up hardass.
I'm interested to see whether my husband reads it or just skims it. We always pass our new books to each other once we've read them, so it's up next for him. He isn't a royals-watcher in the least, but this is a good STORY and it's funny and it's smart, and I hope he gives it a shot.
AND NOW, THE SPOILERY BITS
I loved Lady Bollocks, although I was a little surprised at the whole "lol did I turn her gay" thing - first off, there was no indication that she's ONLY interested in women (or, for that matter, that Gemma is). They could have enjoyed their past rolls in the hay with the fellas and are currently dating women. Reasonable.
I knew one of their friends had to be the leak since one of the stories that came out could only be known by the people present... I was unsure, though, whether someone was being a humongous asshole or whether they were just careless with their talk in front of OTHER people. Clive came as a surprise.
Loved this book! Thoughts:- Bea is the best. Was picturing Michelle Dockery the whole time.
- I knew Clive would be trouble from about 25% in. What an asshole, thinking he should get a medal for not betraying his friends. I think he is fundamentally a coward, though, so once presented with Lacey's recording he would capitulate. I imagine Pudge bringing in his brothers to help 'persuade' him. That would mean no one but Marge would ever know, and the wedding would go on.
- LOVED their circle of friends. So well fleshed out.
- I also missed Nick in the later parts of the book, but I think that was the fundamental driver of the plot.
- this book seemed to me extremely realistic and well thought out and made me very glad I am not dating any royals.
- I thought they did a great job with Lacey - her arc made sense to me. She needs a smack, then a hug, then a lot of therapy (and probably a fulfilling career?)
- definitely saw Eleanor as distinct from Elizabeth, but I was picturing Kate, Wills, and Harry.
- I am amazed that they got me feeling sympathy for Prince Dick.
- I'm guessing the reason why she got slotted into Nick's dorm was because she was switching out with Ceres for only a year - it seems like people keep their rooms all four years, so switching the exchange students would make some sense, rather than uprooting someone else. I kind of buy it.
- the fug girls like to make jokes about Wills and Kate watching tv together, and I could never picture it, but now I totally do.
- oh, Freddie.
This finally became available on kindle in the UK (and cheap!) so I read it yesterday. In my defence, I can't walk very well at the moment so was holed up on the sofa with nothing else to read.I really liked it and I am far from a royal watcher!
I agree with Sophie's point above about Emma's mental illness being poorly handled. I can *definitely* see the Windsor's hiding a family member with a mental illness, but on the other hand, this alternative version of the family seems much more ruthless. They would've had a pillow over her face a long time ago. And the whole "undiagnosed" thing - we really do know quite a lot about mental illness now, that didn't work for me at all.
I think Michelle Dockery is a great choice for Bea, Erin! I was picturing Rose Leslie as Gemma - have you heard her real voice? Properly posh.
Loved the shout-out to Sweet Valley High and Fugnation with Bex's lavalier.
As a dissection of the making of a princess and the unrelenting slog of The Firm, I thought it was brilliant. And it showed such a fantastic understanding of the relationship of celebrity and the media.
Mod
Tweet tweet! I love this time of year, I think I added 3 books to my to read list from this nomination list alone!
Mod
Me too! Lots of great ideas. I just need more time to read!
I will not be moderating here because I will not have time to read this right now. Talk amongst yourselves. For all those who, like me, will not be reading immediately ASSUME SPOILERS and do not pass this point unless you are cool with that.