HER ROYAL HIGHNESS

A Texas teen enrolls in a Scottish boarding school in this fresh spin on the commoner/royal romance.

Keen geologist Amelia “Millie” Quint is spending her senior year in the Scottish Highlands, at the prestigious Gregorstoun school. It’s a dream come true (hello, local rock samples) until Millie’s roommate arrives. The gorgeous and glamorous Princess Flora of Scotland is rude and condescending, and the two girls can barely co-exist. Flora repeatedly tries to get kicked out of school, and Millie often finds herself dragged along for the ride. During the annual wilderness challenge, Flora sends their camping gear downriver in another scheme to get sent home. During the resulting trudge through the woods, the girls each admit to an attraction to girls (Millie is bi and Flora is gay), and they reach a turning point, starting to fall for each other. Can Millie hack it as a princess’s girlfriend? What will Flora’s mother, Queen Clara, say? Millie narrates in the present tense with funny, smart, and sarcastic observations of the posh people around her. The short chapters are interspersed with chatty gossip articles about events as they unfold, and character relationships come across clearly in dialogue that is at turns witty, awkward, and romantic. Millie’s new friend Lady Sakshi is biracial Indian/white, while everyone else is white.

Light and sweet.