MaryJanice Davidson - The Royal Mess

I picked this up from the library last night and couldn't resist starting it, even though I'm in the middle of John Connolly's Nocturnes. The Royal Mess didn't take me long to go through and I finished reading it before I went to bed. Don't take that as a sign that it's a good read though, because it wasn't great. It definitely wasn't horrible, but it sure was lacking in substance, even for an MJD read. The first book in the series, The Royal Treatment, was interesting with the premise of a parallel world where Alaska is its own country with a ridiculously good-looking royal family ruling the nation and its subjects. David, the Crown Prince, falls in love with Christina, a commoner (and American!), and despite a few hiccups, the story ends with happily ever after. The Royal Pain that followed featured David's younger sister and her own love story. In the The Royal Mess, MJD throws in an illegitimate daughter, which for me, just didn't work. I felt that the dynamics between Nicole and her new family felt forced, and MJD's writing was repetitive and there wasn't much distinguishing Nicole from her previous characters -- they all come across the same. This book could have been so much better if the plot was more developed with more care given to the characters. While it was a fun and lighthearted read, ultimately a tad disappointing, especially for a book that is supposed to mark the end of this series.