Hi ForeverBookers,
I hope you’re all doing well :). I’ve just finished “Wild King: Sovereign: Book One” or “Cross Me,” as it’s now maybe better known) by Geneva Lee. You all know how much I love my adult romances and this one did not disappoint.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07L6RFDVK/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_b07l6rfdvk - amazon.co.uk link! (I’m British, like Alexander).
4.5 Stars!
I read “Wild King” for a few readathons...
Popsugar 2019 Reading Challenge - A book with multiple character POV’s. I go into this in the review itself but briefly it’s told from both Clara and Alexander’s perspectives.
Reading Rivalry - I didn’t finish it within the specified time for this to count, unfortunately but I got page count points.
Litwits - again, I didn’t finish it for this unfortunately.
“Wild King” chronicles the events after Geneva Lee’s first series, “The Royals Saga.” You don’t necessarily HAVE to read this but I suggest it as it lets you know the characters from the beginning! There will be spoilers for the Royals Saga in my review!
In “The Royals Saga,” we met Clara, an American girl who’d just graduated university in England. At her graduation, she literally met and fell in love with a prince. Prince Alexander Of England (obviously a fictional prince) and her have a tumultuous start to their relationship but they obviously get through it all, as this book wouldn’t exist otherwise. Are all the secrets uncovered, though? Does Clara really know what being a Royal amounts to. You’ll have to read to find out!
“Wild King” is told from both Clara and Alexander’s perspectives. The original trilogy of Royals books are only told from just Clara’s POV so it was nice to see Alexander’s thoughts throughout this book. It also changed up the pace a little. The other 3 books of the Royals series (it’s six books long) are told from Belle’s (Clara’s best girl friend’s) perspective, as she has her own romance with Smith, a character that isn’t in “Wild King” much. Belle has a role to play in “Wild King.” I’m hoping that the next books will expand and focus a little more on her character, as she has her own story progression in “Wild King” too.
NOTE: “Wild King” is an ADULT romance book so there are a few sex scenes described. Not as many as I thought there would have been, actually but still a few! There’s also swearing.
*I read the ARC copy, where all of the spellings are Americanised, even for the British King! I believe that in the published version all of Alexander’s speech/thoughts as well as those of the other English characters too (there are a lot of them) have been anglicised. Alexander says “faucet” in the arc, whereas in England we’d (yes - I’m English) say tap, for example.
Spoilers below:
“Now, despite being pregnant again, she was determined to finally rise to her public responsibilities as Queen. No amount of charm could dissuade her.”
This is Alexander seeing that Clara wants to prove that she CAN be Queen! “Wild King” has a lot of Clara wanting to prove herself. The author got the point across that Clara doesn’t think she’s good enough to be royalty because she wasn’t born into it, as Alexander was.
However, that’s until Henry and Mary, Alexander’s uncle and grandmother come and tell him that he’s got to host the Sovereign Games after the Prime Minister brings it up to him. The games were something his father wanted before he was killed in the Royals Saga.
“So, this has become her baby.”
“I suppose in a way. She feels strongly that Albert’s memory should be kept alive.”
“Doesn’t everyone?”
Alexander didn’t get on with his father at all in “The Royals Saga.” They had a bad relationship at best. Alexander didn’t agree that what what Albert wanted was right for the country. He was more focused on the duty of the job of being King, rather than the heart of it. When Alexander remarks that “this has become her baby,” he means the Sovereign Games have fallen to his grandmother Mary’s responsibility. Clara and Alexander agree to take on the role of the games, much to Alexander’s distaste. He’s being sarcastic by saying “doesn’t everyone,” as he doesn’t.
“I grimaced. That had not been on my agenda. “That was my father’s pet project.”
Alexander doesn’t want anything to do with his father’s “pet project,” or his grandmother, who he also doesn’t get on with, either. Clara therefore agrees to take on the role of the lead Royal in the Sovereign Games, much to Mary’s disapproval. Clara doesn’t like Mary either, but that’s more because Mary doesn’t think she’s worthy of being Queen. This is one reason as to why Clara wants to prove her and everyone else with that view wrong.
“Originally, Mary had wanted to start the games in March. I’d argued it would be a signal of our family’s unity to begin on Alexander’s birthday, February 26, and end on Albert’s, the 25th of May.”
Clara thinks the Sovereign Games should coincide with the family birthdays. This I believe is Clara trying to assert herself within the family, and make a difference about how things are done. Yes, Mary was in charge a long time ago but now it’s Clara’s turn and she’s not going to be told she’s in the wrong by someone who only wants to see her fail.
“I see you’re pregnant again.” Mary didn’t bother to hide her disapproval.”
The fact that Mary doesn’t think Clara is worthy of Alexander is again bought up here. Mary disapproves of Clara doing anything with her grandson, it seems, even loving him.
“There had been a time when Alexander couldn’t use the word love—a time when I’d thought a future with him was a fantasy. No matter what trials we faced, I remembered that we had chosen each other.”
This is Clara later in the novel telling us that long ago she thought her future with Alexander was a fantasy, and that nothing would come of her dreams. No matter the tests that are put in front of them they’d chosen each other at every turn. That’s what Clara believes true love is, I believe. In “The Royals Saga”, Clara had been the first to say “I love you.” Alexander was scared to put his feelings into words. He didn’t want Clara to have the life of a Royal, even if it was by marriage only. He wanted and still wants for her to be free. Here, Clara is also comparing her love life to that of Brex and Georgia, her bodyguards. This romance isn’t really expanded on at all in “Wild King.” It hopefully will be expanded on in the next novel, “Wicked Queen.”
“Love is fighting and compromising and choosing one person over and over again. No matter what.”
This is what Clara believes makes up love. This is what Clara and Alexander did throughout “The Royals Saga.” They chose each other again and again, even though their parents and friends weren’t sure it was what was right. It was what was right for them. That’s what love truly is, I believe. It’s different for everyone. No one will experience exactly the same love story as anyone else.
“I love you. I wish I could go back and tell you as soon as I realized it. I wish I could go back and tell you every time I’ve thought it since. Your love is a gift I’ve never deserved. I’m honored to love you.”
This is one of my favourite quotes in “Wild King” because it shows the love that Alexander has for Clara and how significant that love is. Above I quoted how Alexander couldn’t say that he loved Clara in the previous series. He didn’t think their relationship would work. Here, however he plain as day tells Clara that he loves her and that no matter what, he always will. He says it’s an honour to love her. I don’t know about any of you but I’d like my future husband to tell me that.
“You deserve to feel nothing but love and peace. Our children deserve that. If I have to spend every day of my life fighting for it, I will.”
Alexander is reinforcing how strongly in love with Clara he is. He only wants love and peace for his wife and children, which for me is pretty much perfect husband material. Yes, there are parts to Alexander’s character that are bad or that need to be changed as there is to anyone in reality, but he loves and wants what’s best for those most important to him. I think that because of those things Alexander makes it somewhere near the top of my ideal fictional boyfriend list!
A lot of Alexander’s lines have a comic edge to them.
“Once the baby was born, I was going to have to institute monthly pregnancy tests. This was the second surprise baby we’d been blessed with, and, in the future, I wanted to worship for every second of her pregnancy.”
Here, he’s partly joking and partly thinking what he’d really wish to happen, I believe. Both him and Clara have a lot of sex so it would make sense to have monthly pregnancy tests, even if the idea is a little extreme. Clara has issues that I don’t want to spoil more later on in the story, though so there may not be any need for more pregnancy tests.
“he couldn’t keep me here forever,” is what Clara thinks about feeling trapped in her marriage. She loves Alexander but at the same time she doesn’t want to be ordered around. She’s her own person. This demonstrates and no one has rule over her life except her. She’s not going to play sitting duck. She’s going to do what she wants to do as an independent young woman. I appreciated this. Being a young woman myself, it’s good to see representation for women or people, I guess who don’t want to be told what to do or who to be. In this day and age there shouldn’t be any of that.
“I was as committed to Alexander as ever. I loved him and nothing would change that. But things weren’t exactly smooth sailing.”
This is what Clara is thinking as she discusses her marital relationship with Belle and Edward, her two best friends. Edward is also Alexander’s brother and so knows him better than anyone, except maybe Clara. Clara knows that her marriage is in trouble at this point. She loves Alexander but is that enough? You’ll need to read to find out!
“Alexander and Edward were the best men I knew, and if she couldn’t see that, I wanted nothing to do with her.”
This is Clara’s view on Mary, Alexander and Edward’s grandmother. Mary is the main antagonist of “Wild King,” I’d say. She doesn’t want Clara as a part of the Royal Family. She thinks that while Alexander and Edward are surrounded by Clara they won’t make the right decisions and they’ll lead the monarchy into disrepute. Can Clara prove her wrong? You’ll have to read to find out!
Lastly, I quickly feel I need to mention Anders, a new character. I don’t want to exactly reveal his role but there’s a love triangle that I didn’t love or hate. It was pretty much just there to rial the characters up.
“Meanwhile, my daughter was throwing her body toward Anderson. “I think she likes you.”
“She just misses her daddy,” he said.”
Elizabeth likes Anders and wants to play with him. This of course makes Alexander angry because he feels he should be the only man in his baby girls life. Is there a connection between Anders and Elizabeth? You’ll have to read to find out!
“Anderson Stone was falling in love with my wife...I wasn’t blind. Anyone could see it.”
The love triangle didn’t really do anything to further the plot but it wasn’t boring to read, either. Alexander isn’t happy about this love triangle, obviously. I find that adult love triangles are much more interesting to read than YA ones because an author can go anywhere with an adult book. There aren’t any filters, like there is with YA. An author can write how annoyed a character is without having to limit the level of vulgarity. For example in “Wild King,”
“Did he just go around oozing sex appeal and charming women and children.”
When Anders coos at Elizabeth and calls her a “beautiful girl” it makes Alexander cross. That’s his daughter that Anders just said that to. Clara just thinks it’s a part of his character. She’s unaware of the secret that Alexander is keeping about Anders at this point. Is Clara attracted to Anders? You’ll have to read to find out!
At the end of the novel, things take a turn and we see that things could go drastically wrong for Clara.
“I don’t have any secrets from Clara.”
“Not anymore”
shows that Alexander has made a decision, to include his wife on all future decisions. Will she be safe until the next novel, though? That is the cliffhanger we’re faced with.
Well, after all that I can tell you that I really enjoyed “Wild King.” The reason I’m only giving the first book in this new series 4.5 Stars, which is still a great rating, is that I think I need to read more of the story to fully be able to judge this book. That might not make sense but I just thought that there were a few too many open endings. Other than that though, I loved this new book and I really hope I can have “Wicked Queen” very soon!
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