A SERVANT blackmailed into becoming a princess’s decoy.A BODYGUARD determined to keep her alive. A PRINCE forced to execute his father’s brutal laws.A PRISONER used to keep him compliant. A WORLD on the brink of war.In one horrible night, Clare goes from kitchen maid to royal decoy. She has three months to become the princess’s perfect double so she can ensure her betrothal to an enemy prince. … her betrothal to an enemy prince. Desperate to survive, Clare throws herself into self-defense training, taught by her distractingly attractive bodyguard. The danger increases when a ruthless assassin begins stalking her, intent on ending the tenuous peace.
Across the northern mountains, Prince Grayson is his father’s ultimate weapon. He carries out the king’s harsh orders because the one person he cares about is his father’s prisoner. Grayson’s silent obedience is tested when his father plans to exploit the marriage alliance between two of their greatest enemies. If Grayson submits, the blood of thousands will spill. If he resists, the girl who means everything to him will die.
The fate of Eyrinthia hangs in the balance. Some want peace. Some want war. All will be thrown into chaos.
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Blackmail, castles, intrigue, and romance? Yes, please!
I was lucky enough to read an advanced copy of Royal Decoy, and I absolutely loved it! The story is exciting (and 100% clean), the characters are pure gold, and the writing just transports you straight into Eyrinthia! Right from chapter one, this book sucked me in and refused to let go until the final page. It was so easy to lose myself in this intriguing new world, and it was downright painful when I had to put it down for any reason. Now I don’t know how I’m going to survive the wait for book 2!
Clare works in the castle kitchen, and one night she is caught in an ambush and ends up saving the princess’s life. But instead of getting a reward, she is blackmailed into becoming a decoy for the princess, so that assassins will target her instead of the princess. Her entire life changes pretty much overnight, but even with rebels and assassins trying to kill her, and lies and hidden agendas all round her, things aren’t all bad. There are new friends and opportunities she never would have had otherwise, and, of course, there’s Bennick–the kind, protective, and endlessly charming bodyguard in charge of teaching her to defend herself.
In another kingdom, Grayson is the youngest prince in a seriously sadistic and power-hungry family. It’s a wonder he’s managed to retain any level of humanity throughout his tragic life. Luckily, he found Mia, a girl who’s been a prisoner almost her entire life. Their friendship saved Grayson as a child, but she’s also the leverage Grayson’s father uses to make him obey any command. Grayson hates who he’s forced to be, but he’s not willing to risk Mia’s life by disobeying.
I won’t spoil the story for you, but I can sum up a few thoughts as follows: I am officially in love with Grayson, and cannot get enough of him!!! His family is so incredibly creepy and terrible, but I loved every moment from his POV! Clare is strong (in a way that didn’t annoy me, which is a feat) and smart and good. I really loved seeing the ways she grew and am excited to see where she will go as the story progresses over the next books (and with Bennick. I definitely need some more of that!). And then there was Venn. I can’t count the number of times I laughed out loud when Venn was present! Action, humor, and romance–this book had it all!
Brimming with Frost’s signature swoon-worthy romance, unforgettable characters, and twists that just blow you away, Royal Decoy delivered in every way imaginable. A must-read for anyone who’s looking for adventure and wants to be swept up into an amazing book!
Wow! Where do I begin? I definitely feel this is a YA novel young adults would love to read. The plot is so engaging; this is a book I did not want to put down. The pacing is excellent … so much action and intensity. I love how some of the mystery is solved here in book 1, but I definitely want to get book 2 asap so I can get answers to some of my unanswered questions. The characters are well crafted. I love Clare and Bennick. They’re my favorite in this book. They have great chemistry and their relationship develops very realistically over the course of the story. I also really love the supporting cast of characters … Venn, Vera, even Princess Serene. They are all well-written and breathe such life into the overall story. One of my most favorite aspects of this story is the world-building. The tension between the various kingdoms is fierce. There’s a great sense that relations between the kingdoms is so fragile war seems pretty inevitable. I really like how different and unique each kingdom is. It’s almost like the kingdoms become characters in their own right. Royal Decoy by Heather Frost is a seriously good read. I’m so glad I discovered this book, and highly recommend it!
Disclaimer: I checked this book out via the Kindle Unlimited program on May 19, 2021 in order to enjoy and review. This did not influence my opinion. The opinions stated in this review are my own.
Hold the phone. Someone get this author a book deal STAT. I mean it. This was indie? YA fantasy romance indie?
I kid you not good sirs and madams, for I do not make a habit of lying when it comes to book reviews. This was, hands down, the best YA royal romance I have read in I have no idea how long. And I have read, or at least tried to read, a lot. Some traditionally published, and they were travesties; crimes against characterisation and plotting and… Well, just treating the reader like they have a brain. The only travesty here is that being indie published means more people won’t find this one first before reading so many undercooked ones that they feel jaded enough to give up on the whole caboodle. There are echoes of so many things in here: Poison Study and Throne of Glass come to mind. It’s different from them too, and all the better for it (and I mean so much better).
I’m not going to say it’s absolute perfection in all things – because who believes a 5 star review that’s purely full of praise like that – but gosh darn it, this was UN.PUT.DOWNABLE.
So let’s get to the point: The Plot. You standard poor girl ends up amidst royalty? Check. Forbidden love? Check. Twisty-turny political machinations and never being sure who to trust? Check. But everything – everything – is pitch-perfect, paced just right so there’s no dragging or niggling feeling that things are progressing unnaturally. I did have a moment of concern at the very beginning when the foiled assassination attempt occurs. Why was a kitchen maid walking the same corridors as the Princess? How could she have lived in the city/worked at the castle for so long without ever once having clapped eyes upon any of the royals? Urgh, I thought, too fast, too furious, too YA… But honestly that felt like the only perceived misstep in the whole thing. After that slight awkwardness I felt, everything slotted into place.
The rest of the plot is complex enough to tease and intrigue, confident enough in your reader ability to think things through yourself, without being needlessly convoluted. It is YA, but it’s YA with brains. The world building is just the right amount of detailed. Can we get a chef’s kiss?
The characters are great. I mean that. All of them. Clare is sensible and not a raging hormone ball. Bennick walks just the right line between cinnamon roll and tough guy (as in, he’s sweet without being sickly, protective without being freakishly possessive). Side characters like Venn, Wilf, Dirk, Vera, Eliot, Serene, Grandeur… Well, there’s actually a huge cast, and I felt they all had distinct personalities and features that made them memorable. I especially loved Venn for his mild brand of comic relief.
The secondary plot line featuring the far-away Prince Grayson, his cruel family and the mysterious Mia added so many more faces and yet they’re all so well done I could pretty much keep up with everyone who had some screen time. Their little side story is just as gripping as the main one, and the link between them becomes obvious towards the end.
My usual bugbear about YA is the romance, but fear not, for there is zero insta-love here. It’s slow to build, blindingly obvious in that YA way but not so much that it hurts. Yes, there are some moments that had me eye rolling at the usual romance writing cliches (hard muscled chests and checking out how someone fills out a uniform), but bear in mind I’m not much of a romance fan. I can’t fault how it was written, only note the style. I really felt for the characters who come together, and that’s the important thing that so often doesn’t work in YA. The other important thing: arguments for the sake of tension. You know, those “I was just coming to trust him/her and then they destroyed it!!!1!” moments? This book doesn’t go there, or at least not in the infuriating drawn-out and downright horrible way. Whenever characters get heated over hurting each other, they don’t drag it out. The reasons also aren’t chuffing stupid and are 100% plot relevant. This is YA romance done right.
My nitpick (there has to be one, for the sake of balance): throat bobbing. Trust me, you cannot unsee – I counted 14 in total (are all YA characters actually turkey-human hybrids these days? Thanks Sarah J Maas). Not to mention quite a few swallows – hard (for when just swallowing isn’t enough).
The ending is open and just right. Imagine my horror at discovering this will be a 6 book series, and book 2 isn’t out until next year. Can I remember for that long? Can I afford 6 books? Can I not with writing this engaging? Urgh, dilemmas. I hope that we get to know some of the side characters better (I mean, Serene is actually interesting), discover more of the 4 kingdoms and just… Let the writing stay this good. Dear author: you got this.
TL;DR: YA royal romance done right. Read it if you dare. You may just fall in love.
I’ve been so excited about reading this book. From the blurb alone, I knew this was a book I wanted to read. I’ve been craving a book like this.
This is a story that completely captured my attention from the very beginning and didn’t let go the whole way through. The pacing is fast and exciting, the plot is full of intrigue and danger. There are a lot of characters in this book but the author did a great job of bringing everyone to me in a natural way and giving them all very distinctive personalities and roles so I could easily remember each one.
There are two developing plot lines completely separate in location and with different characters but I can see they are going to collide at some point. It makes me anxious and excited.
Clare. Poor, brave Clare. I love her. How can you not love her? The author did a fantastic job of creating characters that care about and like. Clare is easy to love. She is the definition of love and sacrifice. She is also kind. I am a big fan of kind characters.
Grayson is a more complex character and my heart nearly wretched out of my chest for him. His tale is a sad one but somewhere in there I have hope that something good will come to him. Please, please, please.
I was so sad to get to the end of this book. Obviously this is a series and more books will be coming but not nearly fast enough for me. I wish I had book two right now. Sigh. Waiting is going to be hard.
Content: violence is high in this book, some graphic in nature. Peril, kissing.
I received a complimentary copy of this book but have since bought my own copy.
Original Review:
I’ve been excited about this one for a little while now, and upon reading it, I am so happy I found this story! Filled with intrigue and danger, questions of fate, and a dash of romance, this book had a little of everything I want in this kind of story, and I can’t wait to see what happens next in this series!
This book focuses on two stories, that of Clare and of Prince Grayson. Both are caught in a fate that neither of them wanted. Clare gets caught in an assassination attempt on a princess, and while proved innocent Clare is forced to act as a decoy for the princess, or face assured death. Grayson is in one of the enemy kingdoms mentioned, forced to deal with his horrid family in an attempt to protect the girl he loves. Both stories are thrown together in the aftermath of cataclysmic events! Filled with twists and heartache, this story kept me hooked from the start, and I loved all the new turns as the story progressed!
Updated Review:
While all the above still stands, I wanted to share a little more about my thoughts and what I enjoyed about this one. Royal Decoy has been on my TBR for a while, and I’m so happy that I can finally read the sequel as well, as I’ve wanted to catch up on this series since Royal Spy was first released! I honestly picked Royal Decoy up a few times recently, and yet over the last couple months I always seemed to be pulled away and ended up only reading a couple pages, then restarting each time as I never really got far enough to be pulled in (I honestly never left the first scene each time!) and wanted to bad to read it but was never free to enjoy it as life always kept me too busy to focus on the story. Ugh, fun times, haha!
So I was thrilled when I finally actual has the chance to sit down and enjoy this one, and I know now that this time was the right time for this one! I’ve been rather listless about reads lately, enjoying a few good ones each month, then realizing I have finished (or caught up) on the series and if there are sequels, they aren’t out yet. So I finally circled back to this one after another such series, and while I knew the basics about this one, knowing about the princess’s decoy, the the warring/enemy kingdoms, I didn’t know much of what to expect from the story and characters themselves! And actually, I liked it that way. This one plays heavily on mystery and ‘reveals’ throughout that push the plot forward as new info or details are presented, so I won’t say much there.
I can (and will) say that I was surprised by how quickly I came to like some of these characters, as well as the odd feeling of ‘I really like you…but don’t fully trust that your (either A: who you say) or (B: Not just there trying to kill XYZ) which, okay I’m weird and may be alone in this, but I love when stories do that! Too often I can guess or predict plot twists and even from the moment I met them I often can tell if a character is friend or foe, and if they are hiding something or flat out lying. So it’s rare that I like them, but end up unsure as to where they stand, and I had that happen several times in this one, with a handful of different characters! (Sure I also pegged a few exactly, but know what? I’m cool with that too! 🙂
I also really enjoyed the fact that not only the MCs and POVs we see in this one (there ends up being 4 POV characters by the end of Royal Decoy) but also their friends/companions also had interesting personalities and even a couple who were clearly driven by more than ‘I’m just here to fill a gap’ but actually had their own thoughts and additions to Clare’s story and to the story overall. A kind word or act from one of Clare’s guards, a word (or threat) from one of Grayson’s rivals it didn’t have to be much but the fact that these little gestures and extra thought was added to the details in the story, and I loved the feel and time taken to really breathe life into this one! It’s one of those stories that I could picture as the scenes played out, and almost picture myself there, standing next to Clare as she’s being fussed over and trained for her new role, or as a spectator while she spars with Bennick, or with Grayson while he fights to survive all his never ending battles.
I loved the mystery and intrigue, the friendships and the betrayals, this story had a little of everything, and I’m so excited to read Royal Spy and find out what happens next!
This was such an entertaining story of politics, betrayal, romance, and oh so many heart throbbing s scenes. I was surprised with the multiple POVs since that’s a different writing style than I am used to. It was still immensely entertaining and I just love Bennick and Clare!! Some of their scenes sure got my heart racing.
I loved all the action and am excited to see what happened on their next adventure.
Royal Decoy is a captivating, page turning adventure. There were many times while reading this book, I had to hold my breath, waiting to see what would happen next. Well written and excellent characters and I appreciated the author giving them a voice by switching point of views throughout the story. And wow, there are some evil things going on. I really loved this book, but be prepared, it is contains some violence, but I felt it fit in the story because of all the craziness that is taking place. Clare is a strong girl who is thrown into a very hard situation but adapts well with those around her who care. I appreciated one relationship especially, I hope it develops more in the next book. (I can’t say who without spoiling).
All I can say is just…WOW!!! This is an action-packed fantasy story, totally worth the read. It was amazing, fantastic, great, phenomenal, and superb. Never thought I would ended up enjoying the story. Before I read this book, I didn’t have any expectation at all. Just went in blind and came out feeling so satisfied. What an incredible experience.
Royal Decoy is about a girl named Clare who had a very big responsibility which is to play as a decoy of Princess Serene in order for the real Princess Serene to be safe all the time. Being a decoy is tough and through her experience playing as the fake princess, she discovered the untold truths and secrets about the royal family of Devendra. Things started to take a darker turn the moment she was attacked by an assassin.
Stories like this one usually put me on the edge all the time. There are so many things happening in this book and it was tough to predict what will happen next. I liked the mystery in this book. A lot of things that happened in this book are related to one another, so it was not that hard to understand. The whole decoy thing thickened the plot even more which made it hard for me to figure out who was the attacker and which character is the real villain. The story doesn’t have a very predictable plot which is why I really enjoyed reading this book because the more I read it, the more I want to know what will happen next and who was behind the chaos. As for the storyline, it was incredibly amazing and it had a very smooth flow too. The pacing was just nice, it wasn’t too slow so I really liked how fast the pacing was the whole time.
As for the decoy concept, it can either turns out good or bad but luckily for this one it was good. I admit that at one point I pictured the concept can be too complicated and that it will cause a major confusion when other characters are interacting with either Clare or Serene alone—the confusion are mainly on the other characters since they had no idea about the decoy. I was intrigued by the concept to be honest, and had been waiting to see how it will play out. What I’m most worried about is how will this whole decoy thing affects Serene and Desfan’s relationship, and Clare and Bennick’s relationship. I just hope there is no love triangle or relationship drama between these characters, and I also hope they would inform Desfan of the whole decoy thing so that he wouldn’t mistake Clare for Serene. The decoy concept had me thinking a lot of things and it seriously made my head spin.
Clare is actually one of the servant who worked at the castle but one night changed her fate. The misunderstanding in the first two chapters was frustrating to me, but glad to know that she was given the chance to be free but with a price. I liked her character a lot more better because of her development throughout the book. What she had to go through changed her in a good way. I liked how at first she was scared but then she slowly became braver, stronger and more than capable of defending herself against those who tried to harm her. All those training really paid off, and she really put major effort into learning everything that she can so she knows what to do and what to prepare herself for. She had the best character development in the story and I cannot wait to see what more will she do next considering she will be spying on certain people.
Bennick is Princess Serene’s lead bodyguard who’ve spent his entire time protecting and guarding Clare. He’s so charming, so protective, but very secretive. There wasn’t much to learn about him other than a little bit about his past and what his role is in the present day. The fact that he was about two years older than Clare and is already been made captain of the royal guards really showed how good he is as a royal guard and he definitely inherit a great leadership skill from his father. What truly shocked me was learning who his father is, and I do wonder if he will ever need any help from his father even though they weren’t on good terms with each other. There is so much potential that can be done to Bennick’s character, and I hope the opportunity to turn him into one of the best character in this series didn’t go to waste. I would love to see more of him being the true leader he was born to be, and to see more of what he can do other than guarding Clare.
As for the bad guys, well there are a lot of them; the rebels, the Mortisians, the royal family of Ryden, the King of Devendra, and an assassin. I wasn’t even sure who is the main villain since these people seems to have the same end goal and giving off a major villain vibe. I want to learn more about these bad guys and why they did what they did. As for the assassin, well that was an unexpected surprise and I was shocked to know the identity of the person. It was a good kind of surprise anyway.
Overall, it was a great book. Not easily predictable and not like how I pictured it. I loved the surprises this book gave me. This is exactly the type of book that make me so eager to read the next one. I’m looking forward to read the sequel because I just can’t get enough of this sinister world full of secrets. I can sense that war is coming, and since this book already showed Devendra and Ryden, I wonder what the other two kingdoms will be like; Mortise and Zennor. And how are Bennick, Clare, Grayson, and Mia become the most important characters to play a part in deciding the fate of Eyrinthia. So many things still left unanswered, and I can’t wait to see how the author will continue this story. This series has the potential to go big and I hope a lot more people would read this book.