Royals (3) - Twisted Palace by Erin Watt
And now to the last part of the trilogy: Twisted Palace (not translated). I read it in English where it contained 370 pages. Originally published 2016.
Everything is falling apart, and this time, it’s for real. When Reed is charged for a crime he didn’t do, he’s unconcerned. His last name is Royal, after all. But something’s off with the murder… all evidence points his way. While Ella tries her best to find the real killer and keep the Royal household intact, something else is happening… because when someone comes back from the dead, he’s likely to bring lots of other ghosts with him.
This book was disappointing.
In the previous two books, Ella was strong, kick-ass, the avenging angel of Astor Park. There wasn’t a problem this girl couldn’t handle. Sure, she had her problems, but she never ever let herself be treated like crap.
Spoiler:
Now her father comes back from the dead, and she lets him rule her, just like that. I’m not exactly a rebel. I love harmony and usually do as I should, follow rules… but even I wouldn’t let Steve do that! Seriously! Ella has been the adult for her entire life. Her mom was easy-going, then she fell ill and died. Ella had to work hard, pay the bills and support herself for two years while running from social service. She was used to being all alone and to do everything to survive. Then, she comes to the Royals. Still she has to fight for survival, but she manages to fight & win the Royals over. She is the Queen of Astor Park, the one person everyone is afraid of, she has all the Royals in her palm and if a person tells her to do something she doesn’t want to do… heck, no one ever does that, because she’s to freaking independent and everybody knows this. But suddenly, she has a family, she’s found six people who truly care about her – and whom she loves.Now, Steve O’Halloran comes into her life, pulls her out of the piece of heaven she built for herself, and she doesn’t fight him. He treats her like a whore and a toddler, he makes stupid rules she doesn’t need, and instead of blowing up in his face… she just lets him do that! Out of no reason at all! Ella has seen first-handedly how destructive people like Steve can be. She saw how her mother was fooled and mistreated again and again and again, but she lets Steve get away with this? Could someone please be so kind as to explain me who the heck has abducted the Ella Harper / Royal we know? She would have fought for all she was worth, especially due to the stressful situation she was in!
It’s not even that important for the story, her living with her dad! The final clue was her finding a freaking letter. She could have done that while being over to visit! And even if they had to live together – why isn’t there a real reason for her to put up with this crap? If it was Gideon’s plea, why didn’t she bite her tongue, hold back, and remind herself over and over of the deal they made? Add to that a few slips, like when he changed her name without even asking, and this would have made sense. This would have shown that this girl is made of more than steel. This way? Not so much.
Now to Steve.
According to whom you ask, Steve O’Halloran is either the best and coolest person ever, or a cruel jerk. But he sure as hell is fascinating, charismatic and can make people love him.
Spoiler:
This Steve is so flat and so obviously evil it ruins the book. He’s just selfish, nothing else. And he’s exactly the kind of person Ella should know to instinctively stay away from. From experience alone.
Plus, why does he never even attempt to explain why he went kiting or whatever it was he and Dinah were doing after he found out he had a daughter?! He wasn’t in shock. He managed to give the letter to Callum, as if he’d known he wouldn’t be there for a while.
Spoiler:
By the way, the plot with Maria? This doesn’t make too much sense. That she slipped and slept with him and felt guilty as hell for that? Yeah. That she killed herself after she saw in what mess her sons were? Nope. Seriously. No. She killed herself with a mixture of different pills! This sounds like someone wanted to kill her! How about that Maria wanted to divorce Callum because of what she did (which would explain her comment to the boys). Brooke decided that she a) wanted and b) would have the power to seduce Callum into a new wedlock and saw Maria take half of “her” fortune away from her – why she killed her, with Dinah’s help. She then waited six months so Callum wouldn’t get suspicious, then made her moves. But meanwhile, Steve grew tired of Dinah and wanted to divorce her, too – she blackmailed him with the evidence of his affair with Maria. But then, there’s either an accident or Dinah or Brooke get nervous… Steve blames the fall on Dinah and wants to kill her. Period. But nothing with this… jealousy-thing he did!
Apropos Dinah.
It makes sense that Dinah sees the light and her relationship to Ella in the end is explicable… up to the point where she burns all evidence without putting up a fight? Seems ooC.
Plus, where is actually the connection between Dinah and Brooke, how did they meet? I’d love to know.
Apropos “bad guys”.
Jordan.
Seriously, no. Just no. She gets a friend and good person out of the blue. She goes out of her way to help Ella with something. She offers her the perfect solution… and then for a favour like that? That’s not messed up, that doesn’t make any sense. Plus, she doesn’t go out of her way once, but twice for Ella. Not. Realistic.
Apart from that, I’d a) love to know who the girl is who got Easton’s heart (I’d have thought of Valerie after her fight), b) what happened to Rose and Ruby in the end and c) why Ella didn’t change her last name to Royal for real. Her last name’s now O’Halloran. And that’s not acceptable! It would have made sense to accept the Royals as her official family, since her mother is dead. And because she’ll be marrying Reed sooner either way. Plus, I’d love to know Savannah’s development.
Oh, and just one other thing: Ella was always so down to earth, about an education and a job that are way more than a hobby. She loves dancing, but she always said that that wasn’t her future. That she didn’t want it to be her future, even outside of striping. Plus, she simply never really had classes. If you want to be chosen by such a college for such a future, you either practiced your entire life, or you simply have no chance at all. Ella is far too down-to-earth to even seriously consider this. She mentioned in Paper Princess (Paper Princess) that she wanted either business or law. Why not try to be a judge? She could protect people from the richy-rich jerks, which no one else would do. And she has seen through the Daniel-Reed-affair how important this is.
Apropos Reed: Actually, this book should have been called “Broken Prince” and the prequel “Twisted Palace”. Because here, it’s about two broken princes, before it was about all the secrets in the palace. Plus, Reeds development and the way he acted, the way he struggled with his problems, is one of the few real positive things in this book. That and the relationship between Ella and East, Callum, Seb & Sawyer.
To the case in general: Why didn’t the officers they never check Steve’s alibi? And why isn’t there a camera in the servant’s elevator? That’d be the place through which criminals actually would enter, no? The place where a bunch of different faces enter and leave, without anyone really paying attention? This whole case, the whole situation was too over-dramatized.
As you can see, this book was the worst in the series. What bugged me, too, was the ending. So much crap happened to Ella and Reed, their entire family, really. Still, the ending doesn’t balance this out. Sure, Easton and Reed and Gid get their shot at a happy ending. But this… this is just not enough. It’s what, two pages to show the family can have a happy ending? No. There should have been more space, more… more simplicity. Maybe through a bigger jump in time, not a week, but a month, or maybe even a year. To show how the wounds have healed, how everything is playing out. This way, it just doesn’t balance it out for the characters. There too less hope. This isn’t a real happy ending.
And we don’t actually get to know the biggest secret of the book: What the hell is happening between Lauren & the twins!
In brief:
The idea okay. The characters didn’t make any kind sense and the content was too over-dramatized and there were mistakes. The ending sucked, but the style was alright. So, +1 -1 -1 -1 +1 = -1. Thus, this series has one book with the best rating possible on this blog, and one book with the worst. Talk about extrema.
Prequel: