For The Royals by Erin Watt, begin with Paper Princess and follow the five original numbered novels in this order: Paper Princess, Broken Prince, Twisted Palace, Fallen Heir and Cracked Kingdom. The first three follow Ella Harper and Reed Royal; the fourth and fifth shift the central romantic attention to Easton Royal and Hartley Wright. This is a family connected by wealth, conflict and a powerful surname, rather than a literal reigning dynasty.
The author name also separates the books from two screen works called The Royals. The 2015 drama includes Queen Helena, Prince Liam and Princess Eleanor. The 2025 Indian series introduces Prince Aviraaj Singh and entrepreneur Sophia Kanmani Shekhar. Neither cast identifies Ella’s story. This guide concerns Watt’s novels, with brief directions for those other titles below.
Erin Watt is the shared writing name of Elle Kennedy and Jen Frederick, as the publisher’s author biography confirms. Their Royal family offers a contemporary romance reading commitment across installments: entering a grand house does not settle belonging, and being attracted to someone does not remove the surrounding family conflict. The following guide uses official descriptions and the authorized opening of Paper Princess, while leaving the later secrets and romantic outcomes undisclosed.
The five original novels and their relationship arcs
The Penguin Random House series page numbers the main novels from one to five. Its displayed list may put the most recent title first, so follow the printed book numbers rather than the visual position on a shop page.
- Paper Princess introduces Ella Harper, Callum Royal’s household and Reed Royal.
- Broken Prince continues Ella and Reed’s developing relationship and its repercussions within the family.
- Twisted Palace keeps Ella and Reed central as family secrets and threats to their future intensify.
- Fallen Heir turns the central romantic focus to Easton Royal and Hartley Wright.
- Cracked Kingdom continues Easton and Hartley’s story.
The useful shape is therefore three novels about one central pair followed by two about another. Five books do not mean five separate introductions to five different couples. In particular, moving from Paper Princess straight to Twisted Palace would skip part of the relationship you have begun. Moving from Fallen Heir to another family member’s presumed standalone would miss its actual continuation.
For a first encounter, the numbered route is the clearest recommendation. A new focal pair is a change of emphasis within the existing family, and does not by itself establish that all earlier context has been reset. The general guide to romance series reading order explains that distinction; here, the concrete titles make the commitment easy to remember.
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Royal is a surname, and belonging is contested
Ella’s mother has died when Callum Royal enters her life. The official Paper Princess description places her in his wealthy household among five sons who resent her presence. Reed is especially determined to reject her. That arrangement gives the opening a specific conflict: the adult who offers a place and the young people already living there do not want the same thing.
Money changes Ella’s material situation without automatically making her welcome. The distinction matters because a mansion can look like an answer from outside while presenting a difficult social world from within. A person may have somewhere to stay and still be made to feel that the place is not theirs. Reed’s opposition makes that difference personal rather than simply decorative.
The royal vocabulary around the titles reflects the family’s status and name. A prince or palace on these covers does not establish a constitutional role, a throne or a succession system. The powerful institution in the advertised opening is a wealthy household, alongside an elite school. Understanding that makes the series easier to choose accurately.
If literal monarchy is what interests you, the contrast is useful. The conflict here begins with access to a family, its resources and its approval. Ella is not introduced as a princess learning public duties. She is an outsider trying to retain a sense of herself within a social arrangement controlled by other people.
What the opening sample reveals about Ella
The authorized Penguin sample of Paper Princess opens with Ella being sent to the principal’s office. She is seventeen. The prospect of a guardian does not initially arrive as a dream fulfilled: she sees an unfamiliar adult, official documents and a threat to the independence she has maintained. The scene gives a more precise first impression than a glamorous cover can.
Her thoughts about school and a stable future are particularly revealing. She wants qualifications and ordinary material security. That ambition offers a useful contrast with the wealth waiting in the premise. Ella’s starting wish is not simply to enter a more impressive social circle. The sample establishes why control over her life matters to her before the household becomes the main setting.
The first-person voice also lets the reader encounter her judgments directly. She watches the adults, resists their assumptions and calculates what she might do next. That does not establish the entire novel’s pacing or every later point of view. It does provide an honest way to test whether her mixture of suspicion, defiance and practical thinking interests you.
Read that opening if the outsider premise attracts you but the fantasy of sudden luxury leaves you uncertain. The question is not only whether you want the house. It is whether you want to follow the person being asked to surrender familiar forms of control in order to enter it.
Paper Princess makes attraction part of the household conflict
The first book’s specific romantic invitation is Ella and Reed, rather than an open contest among all five brothers. The official synopsis names Reed as the person whose appeal matters most to her and whose rejection makes her new position harder. The family is an ensemble, but that does not make the central romance a relationship with every brother.
An outsider-versus-insider dynamic gives their attraction a social dimension. Reed’s hostility concerns whether Ella belongs in the family space; her presence is connected to decisions his father has made. The opposition therefore has consequences beyond an argument between two people who can easily leave the setting. They are placed within an arrangement where home and family approval already carry weight.
This is a useful distinction for a reader attracted by hostile beginnings. You can be curious about how antagonism changes while still noticing the unequal resources available to each person. Ella’s need for stability and Reed’s existing place in the household create different starting positions. Attraction does not make those positions identical.
The opening is worth sampling for that combination of private feeling and contested access. It is less helpful to assign a heat level or a complete redemption story from the premise alone. The published setup establishes resentment and attraction, while the actual progression and the consequences of particular choices belong to the novels.
Broken Prince continues the relationship; Twisted Palace raises the stakes
Broken Prince is book two, and its publisher description explicitly carries forward Ella and Reed. The new question concerns the consequences of a rupture rather than the introduction of a replacement pair. Reed’s standing, his investment in his family and the need to prove something through action all appear in that advertised continuation.
That is why even reading the second synopsis can disclose changes from Paper Princess. A reader who wants to preserve every development can record only title and number for now. You do not need the cause of the rupture or the identity behind every secret to know that the first relationship spans several volumes.
Twisted Palace is the third novel. The publisher presents pressure on Ella and Reed’s future, family revelations and consequences attached to Reed’s use of violence. Its role is to continue an established struggle, not to begin an unrelated palace romance. The exact mystery and its resolution are unnecessary for identifying the correct book.
The distinction between attraction and consequences becomes a useful reading question across these two continuations. Someone can care about another person and still have conduct to answer for. Similarly, wanting to protect a loved one does not make every proposed solution sound. Those questions follow the published stakes without assigning unverified motives or outcomes.
If you like spending several books with a central relationship, the three-book Ella/Reed route gives that preference a concrete home. If you want a different pair and a fresh emotional start with every cover, recognize the longer commitment before choosing the opening.
Fallen Heir and Cracked Kingdom turn toward Easton and Hartley
Fallen Heir, book four, changes the central pair. Easton Royal has money, status and a habit of pursuing enjoyment without thinking through consequences. Hartley Wright’s refusal to respond as he expects challenges that position. The publisher makes his need to grow up part of the premise, rather than presenting the Royal name as sufficient to secure her interest.
The contrast with Ella and Reed is specific. Ella begins as the newcomer whose place in the household is contested. Easton begins with the family’s advantages already available to him. His difficulty is not gaining access to the name but confronting the limits of what it can obtain. Hartley’s independence from his expectations supplies the relationship’s advertised pressure.
That is a reason to become curious about Easton’s arc, but it does not turn Hartley into a lesson with no concerns of her own. When reading, keep the difference between his desire to win attention and her reasons for choosing or refusing closeness in view. A refusal is not automatically an invitation to persist until it changes.
Cracked Kingdom is the fifth novel and continues this pair through the consequences of the fourth. Its description includes later circumstances that a newcomer need not learn yet. Keep it beside Fallen Heir on your list without using the final synopsis as an introduction to the whole family. The focal change is real; the two-book continuity is equally important.
Original titles, Italian titles and new editions
Use the original five titles as stable reference points when switching editions. The Italian publisher Sperling & Kupfer identifies Paper Princess, Paper Prince, Paper Palace, Paper Heir and Paper Kingdom for the corresponding five-book route. Thus Paper Prince corresponds to Broken Prince, Paper Palace to Twisted Palace, Paper Heir to Fallen Heir and Paper Kingdom to Cracked Kingdom. These title changes do not add four more novels after the English sequence.
The publisher pages for Paper Heir and Paper Kingdom also confirm the Easton/Hartley focus. That is especially useful when a familiar English-looking title tempts you to assume that the language or original title is unchanged. A title can retain English words and still belong to an Italian translation.
The present guide counts the five original numbered novels. It is not an inventory of every companion, bonus scene or collected product. The US publisher advertises special editions with bonus material, but that label alone does not identify the exact contents of every copy or create a new numbered installment. Check the contents of the edition you actually want.
For a set, compare the included titles against your chosen arc. A three-volume set might meet the Ella/Reed commitment only if it contains those three novels; the number of physical books alone cannot establish that. Likewise, a new release date on a reissue does not move Paper Princess to the end of the story.
Separate the two shows and American Royals
Netflix’s official introduction to its Indian The Royals identifies Aviraaj Singh, Sophia Kanmani Shekhar and the fictional city of Morpur. Its palace-and-business premise gives a precise recognition point: a prince and an entrepreneur work on the future of a royal property. That is the screen title to investigate if those are the names you remember.
The Apple TV record for the 2015 drama instead identifies Queen Helena, Prince Liam and Princess Eleanor. Those characters belong to a British-monarchy drama associated with Lionsgate. Shared words in a title do not establish that either show follows Watt’s plot. This identification does not promise a particular streaming service or regional access.
American Royals is another separate book series, by Katharine McGee, involving the fictional Washington monarchy. The existing American Royals reading-order guide supplies its own novels, prequel and boxed-set distinctions. Use that page for Beatrice and the Washington family rather than mixing its titles into Watt’s sequence.
A useful comparison across the two arcs is who starts with an unquestioned place. Ella must respond to a household that disputes her presence. Easton already belongs, yet that advantage does not secure the relationship he wants. The same family therefore supplies two different problems, rather than simply repeating the outsider story with new names. Keep that contrast in mind when deciding whether to continue after the first three novels.
Choose the family drama and the reading commitment
The US publisher shelves Watt’s books under contemporary romance, while its descriptions explicitly refer to teenage characters. The authorized opening makes Ella seventeen. Reader category, character age and content intensity answer different questions. A school setting does not establish gentle content, and an adult romance shelf does not establish that every character is an adult.
For a reading group, begin with the conflict between receiving material security and being made welcome. Compare Ella’s wish for control with Reed’s power to challenge her place. When you reach Easton, ask what changes when the central character has always possessed the family’s advantages. These are questions tied to the actual premises, rather than a competition to select the most appealing brother.
Start with Paper Princess in a confirmed reading-language edition, keep the next two titles with the same pair, then decide about Easton and Hartley’s continuation. The guide establishes identities and sequence, not a complete warning list or particular romantic ending. If you prefer a single standalone relationship for your next read, the Alisson Bento book catalog offers a separate browsing route based on individual premises.
