Reviewer Ekta Garg: Ekta has actively written and edited since 2005 for publications like: The Portland Physician Scribe; the Portland Home Builders Association home show magazines; ABCDlady; and The Bollywood Ticket. With an MSJ in magazine publishing from Northwestern University Ekta also maintains The Write Edge- a professional blog for her writing. In addition to her writing and editing, Ekta maintains her position as a “domestic engineer”—housewife—and enjoys being a mother to two beautiful kids.
Author: Elizabeth Hart
Publisher: HarperCollins Children’s Books
ISBN: 9780063441118
Author: Elizabeth Hart
Publisher: HarperCollins Children’s Books
ISBN: 9780063441118
When a maid is unexpectedly named the heir to the throne by a dying king, the rest of the royal family is up in arms. Worse, the king leaves behind a note for the maid saying he was probably murdered, and she may be next.
Author Elizabeth Hart debuts with a standalone novel that is a realistic look at court intrigue while also satisfying diehard romance fans in Red as Royal Blood.
Ruby has spent her entire life in the castle of the kingdom of Lumaria. She doesn’t remember a time outside of serving the royals. The official story is that her family died in the war, and she was dropped off in the castle kitchen to keep her safe.
Since then, she’s learned to clean and fetch and make herself known only when the royals need something served to them.
Despite the trouble she would encounter, Ruby has struck up a longstanding friendship with Prince Rowan. The two sneak out to play games of chess and get into all sorts of mischief together.
Ruby’s best friend, Sara, thinks Ruby and Rowan are more than friends, even though Ruby denies it. Not that she would mind; like his brothers, Rowan is so good looking it’s almost a crime.
But Ruby is an independent thinker, and she doesn’t want to be tied down to anyone or anything just yet.
All of that changes when the king dies and it’s revealed that he recently changed the line of succession to name Ruby as his heir. Everyone, including Rowan, is flabbergasted, and Ruby is more shocked than anyone else.
Why would the king name her of all people? They didn’t have any kind of connection to one another, and her parents died in the war. She can’t remember a time they even spoke to one another.
Things only get more complicated on the first day Ruby enters the late king’s chambers and discovers a note he left her that says if he’s dead then it was because he was murdered.
He’s named Ruby as his successor, because he’s not sure if he can trust anyone else. Worse, he believes Ruby might be next to die, unless she can unravel the secrets behind his death.
Ruby doesn’t know if she has time to uncover a murder plot and run an entire kingdom and try to keep the rest of the royal family at bay.
Every one of them has a reason to hate her, especially Rowan’s big brother, Asher, who would have inherited the throne if his father hadn’t changed everything.
Ruby wishes Asher would understand that she didn’t want to be queen in the first place, even if it means an opportunity to live a life of luxury.
She also can’t figure out why her insides turn to jelly every time Asher gets close to her, but if she doesn’t survive the assassination attempts on her life they’ll become worse than jelly.
Author Elizabeth Hart does a great job of balancing the demands of royal life with the mystery of who killed the king and could want Ruby dead along with the budding romance between her and Asher.
As a protagonist, Ruby is smart and plucky but Hart doesn’t let her win every time. The in-built flaws and frustrations she experiences makes Ruby even more likeable as a main character, which will make readers more eager to find out exactly what is going on.
Hart leans into red herrings that are commonly found in murder mysteries and turns them around with a deft hand so that readers will be left guessing the murderer’s identity.
At one point almost everyone is plausibly a suspect, no easy feat to pull off when there are so many characters who could justifiably want Ruby dead. Hart gives all of them reasonable motives, which adds to the tension and excitement as it builds.
The romance subplot occasionally feels shoehorned into some scenes, and the world building when it comes to the language could have been more imaginative.
Seeing common-day expletives in a book set in what feels like Victorian times can feel a little jarring. Hart clearly has the writing chops to build an engaging story; doing some research on expletives from the eras or, even better, creating her own would have made the book that much better.
For the most part, however, this was an enjoyable read that will keep readers guessing to the end. Readers who enjoy books about royal life with court politics thrown in will definitely enjoy this one. I recommend readers Bookmark Red as Royal Blood by Elizabeth Hart.