Cracked Kingdom
NA Fiction; By Erin Watt (Royals #5)
~ “Because he’s Easton Royal and I have zero self-control, because my sore heart needs all the sun it can get, because I love him back, I throw myself into his arms and kiss him.” – Hartley Wright ~
Letter Grade: B (75%)
In the aftermath of a terrible accident, the Royals are reeling. Their empire might come crashing down after all. Ella is dealing with her birth father while the twins are mourning more than one loss. And Easton is being berated for his choices, again. He can’t get the girl, and he can’t get his family. But Easton Royal will not let his kingdom become cracked.
I thought the book stuck to its level of dramatics while playing on a continuous theme from the previous books. I only wished that, it being the last in the series, old characters would become more relevant. Like, I think Reed was present for a few pages, if not only mentioned. But again, the dynamics between characters were well-explored and at this point in the series, I truly did care about every single member of the family. The plot was all right, if not a little weak – but I could follow along and see the train of thoughts that the authors had in mind.
I was also struck by Easton and Hartley’s characters. Easton did a whole 180 between Book 4 and Book 5. You could see and feel him growing up (and he didn’t lose his snarkiness!), but also see him struggling with things that he has had to deal with in the past (i.e. alcohol abuse and the rumours about him not really being Callum’s son). Hartley was also such a sweetheart, and it was sad to see people take advantage of her the way they did. But above it all, Easton stayed by her side, and Ella came around, and they made it work. I only wish Ella hadn’t been mean to her in the first half of the book. Which brings me to Callum. I actually really liked his role in Cracked Kingdom. Not because he was absentee in Dubai selling planes for most of the book, but because of the actions he took toward the end. He promised Easton and Hartley to set her father right. He promised to keep the Royals together. Honestly, I think Callum is the glue that’s keeping everyone together. Because no matter what, Easton could rely on Callum, despite him not being his biological dad. Which makes me think it’s kind of cool that Ella and Easton are actually half siblings? But eww on the fact that they did kiss once. What I mean is – the reveal about Easton’s real dad was unexpected, but welcomed. It came at the right time and I appreciated his reaction to it.
But I need to address the elephant in the room. Where was the hot-and-sexy that was ever so present in the other books? Where was the angst? I love me a good story where bad boy Easton grows up and makes Hartley pasta (literally my fave scene, I’m dying <3), but I felt like the book lost a bit of its adult-quality with the almost fade to black scenes, oh wait I should correct myself, scene. I wish that Hartley made more first moves once she realized that of all the falsified things about her memory fed to her by Felicity, Easton was always the pure and honest one. It just felt like there was a lot missing in that department. Which is where the overbearing drama took over. I also like me a good high school drama with mean girls and rich boys, but it felt a little too much. And it you weren’t looking hard enough, you might’ve thought it enveloped the plot and made it disappear. This was super disappointing to me after all the fun I had in previous books…
On the bright side, I loved Hartley’s development, as mentioned above. The way she re-discovered, as we all did, what her father was up to, and how Steve O’Halloran figured into the picture. It was a diabolically perfect arrangement of bread crumbs. And seriously – Easton making pasta for her because that’s the only thing that he really knew how to make? Golden. I really liked Easton’s character there, maybe a little more than Reed in those moments. But no one will trump Reed in the sex department (because also *cough cough* Easton barely does anything lol).
All in all, I thought the ending was satisfying, with Ella and Reed’s wedding (after a 1 year time-jump when they’re still not in their 20s – idk how to feel about marriages in your teens). The little morsel we get with a healthy Dylan flirting with Sebastian and Sawyer was great – I’d love to see a polyamorous relationship with them! The pride you feel in both Easton and Hartley that things are finally over and that they can relax and be satisfied with their lives and where they’re going. It made me feel all warm inside. But I can’t deny the drawbacks that came along with Cracked Kingdom. The last book of the Royals series went from 4-dimensional to 2-dimensional real quick, and I just wish I got more, more, more. More sexy, more angst, more heated drama and heated tears. I’m all for it, y’all.
But best of all, I think my overall feelings on the series are a solid A- (83%), and can perfectly be explained with this last quote, so eloquently put by Hartley:
“I’m a Royal because I’m loved by Easton Royal”
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