Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: Royal Crush
AUTHOR: E.M. Lindsey
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 257 pages
RELEASE DATE: April 15, 2025
BLURB:
As an actor, there’s nothing more humbling than crawling my way back into the spotlight after a vicious spiral that nearly ended my career. But I’m determined to do it. Especially since the role of a lifetime was just dropped into my lap: the chance to play Camillo Soriano, the stone-faced, unflappable, second-born Prince.
This is my chance to make it, to prove to the world that I’m not the mess the media wants everyone to believe I am.
But things get complicated when the studio decides to hire a wheelchair consultant to ensure I’m doing the job right. And not just any consultant, but the Prince himself…
…and Camillo is not thrilled about the casting.
Now have a babysitter on set, and with Camillo’s standards, the infuriatingly gorgeous Prince isn’t making it easy on me.
The man is an absolute royal pain, but the more I get to know him, the more I realize how much we’re alike. It’s becoming increasingly obvious he’s the only person who truly understands me, and the longer we’re together, the more I start to believe in fate.
Royal Crush is an enemies to lovers, actor/prince standalone with a snarky wheelchair using prince, a bitter former child actor, secret dates, tons of snark and banter, the inglorious realities of doing spicy scenes for a camera, a secret romance and a swoony, steamy happily ever after.
REVIEW:
Aleric has one chance to prove that he isn’t what the media portrays him as and return to acting. This role, portraying the SCI wheelchair user Prince Camillo in his memoirs, is his chance to show his true acting stills and regain a part of his life that was stole from him by those that were suppose to watch out for him when he was a child. But the Prince is a bit a of pain in his butt and things are rapidly becoming more and more difficult. Can he make peace or is this all just a futile wreck waiting to happen?
The care that Aleric took with Camillo when he had the first set of leg spasms showed that Aleric wasn’t some washed up, has been, child actor that was a spoiled druggie and alcoholic. His letting the prince know what he had been through and wanting to help the man in pain touched me. I loved that Aleric wanted to learn what helped Camillo and then do what he could to help. These guys started out rough as sandpaper but they learned to trust and develop a seemingly impossible relationship because of their standings and background. But love has a way of doing that. I know trust was extremely hard for both men because of what they endured as preteen and teens. They both had nasty demons in their lives from people who were suppose to care. But finding each other was what they both needed to be able to finally start enjoying the rest of their lives together both happy and loved.
This gave me some insight in how a life once lived can be tragically and completely changed in a moment. The fact that paparazzi attempting to get a picture of a royal preteen that had chosen to indulge in a moment of self exploration completely altered his reality forever. A Spinal Cord injury like Camillo had is a permanent and life altering disability. One moment he was a boy stealing a sweet kiss with another boy and the next moment he is waking up paralyzed from the ribs down. But learning all that resulted from that injury was startling and not things we hear about. Robbing that boy from future new experiences boys his age do daily. I hadn’t thought about what his body now had to go through to function daily. With the high point on which his spinal cord injury occurred meant that loss of core muscle strength and development was impossible. The toll that put on only his upper body strength and development was huge. Add in bodily functions that needed special care now and the life threatening infections that are not just possible but guaranteed no matter how diligent he was with self care. What really struck home was how much strength and what Camillo sat in to remain sitting up and that it resulted in pressure sores that would require surgeries to repair. The author gave us a full glimpse of what these injuries result in for future life of those patients.
RATING: 
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