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I never got around to posting about the first two books in Alyssa Cole's Reluctant Royals series last year when I read them, and felt a bit about it, but actually it's all for the best because now I've read her newest novella in the series and it is by far my favorite one so I can talk about it with unreserved enthusiasm!
The project of the Reluctant Royals series is "fun princess wish-fulfillment starring black women," which is a project I respect even when the actual romances leave me a little bit cold.
The first book, A Princess in Theory, features struggling grad student Naledi who turns out to be the long-lost betrothed of the prince of Thesolo, a small and relatively idyllic made-up African country (that according to![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophia_sol is loosely based on the country of Lesotho about which I know nothing.) Naledi discovers her long-lost family! and helps to solve a conspiracy! and gets funding for a fellowship! and I'm very happy for her even though I don't care all that much about her prince boyfriend, who is not terrible but is also not particularly great?
A Duke By Default worked for me a bit better -- this one is some enjoyable Scottish nonsense in which struggling socialite Portia decides to go to Scotland for a SWORD MAKING fellowship, and then finds out that the swordmaker is a SECRET DUKE'S HEIR, and then they strategize how to use his dukedom to help fight income inequality and gentrification while Portia learns how to cope with her ADHD! Again, the romance itself didn't quite hit all the right beats for me but I liked most of the other elements enough not to mind, although I would have liked a few more actual swords in this book that's hypothetically about swordmaking (there were some swords? But mostly the swords were overshadowed by small business design and social media development, which is cool and all except that I was promised swords!)
Once Ghosted, Twice Shy, the novella that's just come out, is a significant departure from both of these stories in that a.) lesbians! and b.) it's not really tropey nonsense at all? The former always meant that I was going to love it more; the latter is probably not related to my enjoyment, I would have loved tropey nonsense too, but it's a very different sort of story.
The protagonists of this one are Likotsi, the extremely dapper gay PA of the prince in the first book, and Fabiola, an aspiring NYC jewelry designer and internet style icon who briefly dated and then dumped her back in first-book timeline. The novella kicks off when they encounter each other by chance half a year later and spend a day wandering around New York City, with the present-day chapters unfolding through Likotsi's POV and the past from Fabiola's as we learn about the stuff that was going on in her life at the time that led her to decide that she wasn't up for a relationship. (The fact that Fab is from a Haitian immigrant family, and the place and time is contemporary New York, plays a significant role in that.)
The whole novella feels a bit like an indie movie -- one of those slow romantic films that acts as a love letter to its two-person cast and the city that it's set in -- and honestly I would watch that movie in a heartbeat, especially since it would give us visual representations of all of Likotsi and Fabiola's lovingly-described outfits. But as we're sadly unlikely to get a film, the book will also fill the purpose very nicely.
The project of the Reluctant Royals series is "fun princess wish-fulfillment starring black women," which is a project I respect even when the actual romances leave me a little bit cold.
The first book, A Princess in Theory, features struggling grad student Naledi who turns out to be the long-lost betrothed of the prince of Thesolo, a small and relatively idyllic made-up African country (that according to
sophia_sol is loosely based on the country of Lesotho about which I know nothing.) Naledi discovers her long-lost family! and helps to solve a conspiracy! and gets funding for a fellowship! and I'm very happy for her even though I don't care all that much about her prince boyfriend, who is not terrible but is also not particularly great?A Duke By Default worked for me a bit better -- this one is some enjoyable Scottish nonsense in which struggling socialite Portia decides to go to Scotland for a SWORD MAKING fellowship, and then finds out that the swordmaker is a SECRET DUKE'S HEIR, and then they strategize how to use his dukedom to help fight income inequality and gentrification while Portia learns how to cope with her ADHD! Again, the romance itself didn't quite hit all the right beats for me but I liked most of the other elements enough not to mind, although I would have liked a few more actual swords in this book that's hypothetically about swordmaking (there were some swords? But mostly the swords were overshadowed by small business design and social media development, which is cool and all except that I was promised swords!)
Once Ghosted, Twice Shy, the novella that's just come out, is a significant departure from both of these stories in that a.) lesbians! and b.) it's not really tropey nonsense at all? The former always meant that I was going to love it more; the latter is probably not related to my enjoyment, I would have loved tropey nonsense too, but it's a very different sort of story.
The protagonists of this one are Likotsi, the extremely dapper gay PA of the prince in the first book, and Fabiola, an aspiring NYC jewelry designer and internet style icon who briefly dated and then dumped her back in first-book timeline. The novella kicks off when they encounter each other by chance half a year later and spend a day wandering around New York City, with the present-day chapters unfolding through Likotsi's POV and the past from Fabiola's as we learn about the stuff that was going on in her life at the time that led her to decide that she wasn't up for a relationship. (The fact that Fab is from a Haitian immigrant family, and the place and time is contemporary New York, plays a significant role in that.)
The whole novella feels a bit like an indie movie -- one of those slow romantic films that acts as a love letter to its two-person cast and the city that it's set in -- and honestly I would watch that movie in a heartbeat, especially since it would give us visual representations of all of Likotsi and Fabiola's lovingly-described outfits. But as we're sadly unlikely to get a film, the book will also fill the purpose very nicely.
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I'll look for this one!
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It would make my life easier!
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(as I told myself, repeatedly, while reading the book)
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Duke By Default
COMPLETELY same here -- I am perhaps still awaiting a romance that practically recapitulates the Forged in Fire TV show.
Re: Duke By Default
Or, even better: romance set backstage during the Forged in Fire (or a Forged in Fire-esque) TV show. FREE PLOT, SOMEONE COME TAKE IT.
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Weirdly, my other favorite Alyssa Cole has also been a novella -- I love Let It Shine beyond reason -- and normally I'd much rather have a full novel, but I think something about the way she focuses in when she writes novellas really works for me!
I haven't read her apocalyptic romance, and I don't actually know much about it, but it sounds like you'd recommend? :D
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Yes, I do recommend her apocalyptic romance trilogy (I think it's called Off the Grid), but it was super-my cup of tea (fairly low-stakes apocalypse) so I don't know if it's everyone's.
I do like Let It Shine as well!
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I read this last year also (actually, I think I bought it while with you at the Strand), and felt quite similarly about it! Too much boyfriend, not enough swordmaking (but generally enjoyable).
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