ARC Review: "The Education of His Royal Highness" by Marissa R Conklin (Kingdom of Lehavre #1) ★★★

ARC Review: The Education of His Royal Highness by Marissa R Conklin

A heartwarming tale about love conquering all obstacles. The story gives a beautiful reminder of showing kindness even in the most troubling times.

I wasn’t sure what she would say, but turns out she didn’t say anything, merely pulled me into a hug. And I clung to her like she was my life line in the world’s largest storm. Even though she was petite, I could feel her inner strength helping me to feel a sense of calm.

PLOT SUMMARY
It is 2023. In the Kingdom of Lehavre, the greedy and tyrannical King Henry has ruled up until this point and now his son is about to take over. The people have gathered to hear what he has to say, including 22-year-old school teacher Caroline Hart who travels from where she stays in the rich province of Langford to Langley to teach the poor children.

Caroline’s goodness of heart and generosity is evident through her vent to her newfound friends expressing that she hopes the new king will make the Kingdom a better place. Little does she know the man himself, King Ryan, is listening to her. Having been through a lot and determined to rule better than his father’s ever was, Ryan decides to offer Caroline a proposition: she will become his royal advisor as well as teach the schoolchildren at the palace.

The more they work alongside one another, the more sparks fly between them though Caroline initially considers Ryan off-limits. But when threats from Henry himself arise, as well as rumours, and attempted murders, Caroline and Ryan must not only find the traitor in their midst but also keep a united front and show that love will prevail... or will it?

This is told from the first-person past-tense POV of Caroline and Ryan.

OVERALL OPINIONS
I have not read a contemporary royal romance in a while, so this was a refreshing change for me. Being the first book of a series, it will be interesting to see where this goes and whose storyline will be covered next.

Marissa Conklin deserves much praise for this story. She has presented a world akin to ours with many relatable and indeed modern issues. This particularly included racism, classism and misinformation. This is through secondary characters such as Caroline’s best friend Donyelle (racism) and the mistreatment of the people of Langley (classism). It is lovely that these areas are improved by the end of this book.

Conklin also deals with emotional and physical abuse, which is handled with the utmost sensitivity and care. I like that both Caroline and Ryan have been through both aspects of this with their narcisstic parents (Caroline’s mother and Ryan’s father respectively), and they share these pains with each other and help each other to overcome it. There were also very touching and emotional moments with Ryan’s mother and the relatable helpless feeling when a family member no longer recognises you, and feel them slipping away from you. Another thing was the encouragement of men letting out their emotions:

There’s something so attractive about knowing a man isn’t afraid to feel his emotions. I hate that most boys grow up being told they are supposed to be tough and not feel or show their emotions.

All of this was done very well!

Overall, this is a gorgeous read, I only wish it were shorter. It would have been more enjoyable then!

<< Positives >>
🠚 The overall plot was great. A lot of sweet, wholesome, touching moments as described above.
<< Negatives >>
🠚 The thing that I really didn’t enjoy was the length of this story: 700 pages is far too much, especially for the type of book this is. I feel if it was around half this amount, that would help. A lot of conversations felt unnecessary and reminded me of Wattpad stories, and could have been cut down, such as when Caroline talks to all her students and friends at parties. I actually mistakenly assumed that this was 358 pages, as I had a PDF version of the book. You can imagine the surprise when I found one page contained 2 pages joined together!
🠚The storyline is predictable in a lot of places.
🠚There were a lot of characters, which I found confusing. Some of these were not really delved into such as the twins at the beginning, Rita and Ariana. In fact, I thought they were going to appear more often as they were introduced so close to the beginning. I am sure if this series continues, characters will be explored in more detail later.
🠚 A more minor thing: for each Chapter, its subheading contains whose point of view it is told by, for example “Caroline’s POV”. I think, to make the book even better, this should be changed so it just says “Caroline”.

CHARACTERS
-ˋˏ ꒰ Caroline꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ I love Caroline’s character, much like nearly everyone in the kingdom does. She is so, so kind despite all the hardships she has been through, the epitome of a heart of gold. She always puts others before herself and looks for the good in people.
🠚I think everyone should strive to be like Caroline.
🠚She overthinks, just like me!
🠚It’s funny how Caroline tries to play matchmaker and set her friends up with Ryan’s staff! My favourite is when Caroline notices that Dante, Ryan’s bodyguard, has a crush on Whitney who is looking after Ryan’s mother – adorable!

-ˋˏ ꒰ Ryan꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ Ryan is very sweet, he has my heart!
🠚 He has also been through a great deal of pain and wants to shield people from receiving the same treatment. I love how strong and protective he is of Caroline.

FAV QUOTES
• I felt a little embarrassed at how ragtag everything was, but the memories attached to these things as well as the hard work and loving care put into each were worth keeping.
• She is entrancing. I just have this feeling that I have never seen anyone like her before, and I highly doubt I’d ever meet one like her again. I don’t know exactly why she is so unlike everyone I knew. She is beautiful, yes. Objectively so. But I have been surrounded by models and other extremely attractive women all my life. So it can’t just be looks. But something about those eyes…somehow, she just seems to express herself without even knowing. But I like that she’s such an open book. Pretty much everyone else is either guarded or fake, maybe her being so real was the reason she is so intriguing. Or maybe it is her demeanor and outlook on life. She just seems so effervescent and radiates positivity. Yes, there is a lot to admire about Caroline.
• This incredible woman whose face currently rivals the sun.

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I received an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review and I’d like to thank Marissa Conklin and Reedsy for the opportunity. This has not affected my opinion in any way.

“The Education of His Royal Highness” is out now!