A princess in theory

Noisy Deadlines reviewed A princess in theory by Alyssa cole (Reluctant royals -- [1])

Review of 'A princess in theory' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

Light and fun romance, with a smart black woman working in STEM research. I had to use my suspension of disbelief to accept the male character being a spoiled rich prince with a good heart (and not an asshole). It has that fairy tale feel to it when some things are too good to be true. But, hey, it's fantasy, and it made me smile.

Wetdryvac reviewed A princess in theory by Alyssa cole (Reluctant royals -- [1])

Review of 'A princess in theory' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Well now, that was seriously good fun.

Jason Molenda reviewed A princess in theory by Alyssa cole (Reluctant royals -- [1])

Review of 'A princess in theory' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Is this 4 or 5 stars?? I can't tell, it was so much fun I think it should be five? There were minor niggles, there's a bad guy who is like 5x badder than needed. But I completely adored the characters of the two main characters - they felt real, especially Ledi the heroine. I love the color of her life as a STEM grad student dealing with university politics. This was the first full length book I read by Alyssa Cole and I'm looking forward to reading a lot more of her work - especially the second book in this series which is coming out soon.

Jessie reviewed A princess in theory by Alyssa cole (Reluctant royals -- [1])

Review of 'A princess in theory' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I've long been a reluctant reader of romances because the genre is so saturated with stories of cis, white, straight couples, and I've seen e-damned-nough of those. But the premise of this book--emails from a Nigerian prince claiming to be a New York grad student's fiance turning out to be legit--was too intriguing to ignore, and I adored the results. It has everything a good romance needs: royalty, mistaken identity, an orphan with a tragic backstory, hot sex, plot twists, betrayal, reconciliation, hot sex again (now featuring: a cave!). And it has lots of killer bonuses, too: a message about the importance of female friendship, protagonists of color, a badass queer royal assistant, a princess who's also a scientist, and a surprising number of excellent jokes. I await the next book in this series with breath nearly as bated as Naledi's when Thabiso is around.

Muse reviewed A princess in theory by Alyssa cole (Reluctant royals -- [1])

Review of 'A princess in theory' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

Thanks to this book, I now know what kind of romance novels I like.

Heather reviewed A princess in theory by Alyssa cole (Reluctant royals -- [1])

Review of 'A princess in theory' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

I don't generally read contemporary romance but people have been raving about this book. I've also liked Alyssa Cole's historical romances so I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did.I laughed out loud to see that this story starts with a variation on the Nigerian Prince email scam. Naledi receives an email claiming that she may be the long lost betrothed of a prince of an African country. Now if she's only send all the necessary information to establish her identity.....There are many places where this book could have easily gone from entertaining to annoying. The author did a great job with keeping the mystery/suspense up but allowing pieces of the puzzle to be revealed in a natural way instead of dragging out conflicts. There is a lot going on in this book.

There is the Prince and the Pauper aspect as Thabiso tries to …

I don't generally read contemporary romance but people have been raving about this book. I've also liked Alyssa Cole's historical romances so I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did.I laughed out loud to see that this story starts with a variation on the Nigerian Prince email scam. Naledi receives an email claiming that she may be the long lost betrothed of a prince of an African country. Now if she's only send all the necessary information to establish her identity.....There are many places where this book could have easily gone from entertaining to annoying. The author did a great job with keeping the mystery/suspense up but allowing pieces of the puzzle to be revealed in a natural way instead of dragging out conflicts. There is a lot going on in this book.

There is the Prince and the Pauper aspect as Thabiso tries to live as a normal person for a week. He gains insights on how he's been treating all the "little people" in his life.

Naledi is having to deal with white male colleagues who use her for grunt work in their lab. Any time she speaks up for herself she is afraid of being labeled a "difficult black woman." I like the way another woman in the department was eventually able to stand up for her.

Naledi has a rich friend who overruns any boundaries Naledi tries to set up but who she knows cares about her.

Then there are the mysteries of why her parents ran away from Africa with her and what is the new illness that appearing in Thabiso's country.

That's all without adding in the romance aspect. I'd recommend this book for anyone who likes romance books. It is the start of a series. Somewhere in this series I want a book about what happened with Thabiso's assistant. She travels with him to the U.S., starts a whirlwind romance with a woman she meets on Tinder, has some sort of bad break up that she refuses to talk about, and then heads back to Africa with Thabiso and Naledi. There's way more to that story than the teasing bit we saw in this book.

via GIPHY This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story