What Are You Reading Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by It’s A Reading Thing. To participate, open the book you are currently reading to page 34 (or 34% in your ebook) and answer these three questions.

The Questions are:

1. What’s the name of your current read?
2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a complete sentence. (or two!)
3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?

Right now I’m reading The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan which is kind of like a fanfictionish imagining of Kate Middleton and Prince William. That sounds ridiculously cheesy but like every woman who has come before me admitting to having read this, I have to admit, it’s awfully well written and the characters, especially Bex, are wonderful and easy to cheer for. It’s split into several parts, comprising about ten years of their relationship – from meeting to wedding – and I’ve just finished the first part which is just shy of the 34% mark (because the story is nearly 500 pages long)  so I’m giving myself some spoilers, but here goes…

“…Do you know what it’s like to never, ever be asked what you want to be when you grow up? Or being told not to bother about it because it doesn’t matter?”

“No,” I said softly, wanting to hug him and hating that I couldn’t.

This quote from Prince Nicholas struck a chord with me, being a parent, it’s crazy to think about the fact that his life’s ambitions were decided at birth basically. I know this isn’t an earth shattering revalation, but the way he describes it puts things into perspective perfectly. A couple of pages later, Bex and Nicholas are found out by a reporter (they’d been keeping their relationship a secret for years) and Bex and her friends begin a plan of attack for how she’ll handle the spotlight’s eye. Too good not to share at least one anecdote from that as well:

“They’ll start going through your rubbish, Bex, so take it out in the wee hours and change up the bins you use,” Bea went on. “And for God’s sake, shred anything interesting and divide the pieces into separate bags: credit card bills, prescriptions, receipts. If Nick is in the habit of writing you love letters, burn them. Or bury them, I suppose.”

I wouldn’t mind being a fly on the wall in this story, or a friend of Nicholas and Bex who is rooting them on and helping them succeed, but as much as the idea of falling for a prince has a certain romantic charm – just reading about their relationship is exhausting enough. From having to contemplate even pursuing it, to keeping it secret, to dealing with constantly being in the public’s eye. I’ll pass on that one. Nevermind the end game where you find yourself running a country. I don’t think I’m qualified.

What are you reading right now?