READING: Fallen Heir (The Royals #4) by Erin Watt

Publication date: August 18 2017
Published by: Timeout
Genre: New Adult, High School, Contemporary, Romance, Bullying
Rating: 

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.

Fallen Heir is a book about Easton, his world, his view on life. And it’s not pretty. 

This book was more real than I expected. I’d never think a book about Easton Royal, told exclusively from his POV, to be this interesting.
Easton is in a very dark place. His prespective is bleak at best and he is self-destructive. He is undoubtedly very damaged and broken by his mom’s suicide (who wouldn’t be) and he’s decided the only way to cope is drugs, alcohol and girls. And by acting like a selfish asshole most of the time, which is obviously a front he has to put up to protect himself. He says he doesn’t want to hurt anyone and he just wants to have some fun, and I believe him. He comes for a good place, but his execution, to put it indelicately, sucks ass. As soon as things don’t go his way, he becomes a spoiled, entitled child and acts out in the worst possible way. He does one mistake after another and he doesn’t get it. He keeps repeating the same mistakes over and over and never once did it occur to him to change. Why? Because he’s Easton Royal and he is already perfect, he doesn’t need to change. Sometimes he recognises what a jerk he’s being but when he tries to make it better or apologise, he makes it worse somehow. He has almost no emotional intelligence and always acts without thinking of the consequences. 
Did I like him as an MC regardless, did I root for him? Not really. And that is what I liked most about Fallen Heir. It doesn’t shove Easton down our throats and makes us like him even though he’s being an idiot, just because he’s a pretty boy. Being written exclusively from his POV helped with that, just like it helped Broken Prince. 

But Easton was not the only one in this book.
Hartley Wright is the female MC, a new girl at Astor Park not ever mentioned in the previous books. 
Imo, Hartley is bland and dull. She is not passionate or gets excited about anything. We know she plays violin but that was mentioned once and in passing. The whole thing with her dad is not believable and it doesn’t justify her whole family defying her and her being homeless and penniless (!) To be honest, she has absolutely no trait that I could see that would make Easton Royal so obsessed with her. I am sorry to always be the realistic Randy and I know that this is fiction, but guys like Easton Royal would never ever spare a second glance at a girl like Hartley. It just doesn’t happen and that is a fact of life. And I think Hartley knows it and that is why he doesn’t trust his intentions which is admittedly very smart of her.

Fallen Heir had its good and bad (Felicity crap) moments. But damned if it wasn’t addictive as hell! And what made it addictive was Hartley’s nonchalance and blasé attitude towards Easton. He was such a ball of energy always doing this and that for her and she was completely indifferent to everything. And not to make him work for it or to tease or anything, but because she was so unaffected by his antics that seem to work on everyone else. That is what made me turn the pages maniacally because I wanted to see when she will just give up and jump his bones. And I kept turning and turning and turning but I was getting nothing from her! I suspect if could read her POV, that would have been a totally different story, but I liked that the author created this whole suspense and anticipation around it. 

In conclusion, I have something I want to say to Easton and all the guys like him out there:

STOP stalking girls who very clearly tell you "no" over and over again. I don't care about your history or how much you love her and you just need her to see it. If she really wants to be with you, she will come to you and do it willingly, give her some credit. Don't insist or force it just to prove a point because it never ends well. Overall guys, please stop harassing girls because you got rejected and your ego is hurt. Boo hoo that's life.
Move on and choose to not be dicks.  🛑 🙅