Review also posted to my blog.


1) A Princess in Theory ★★★★


content warnings: deportation
representation: black sapphic protagonists, black f/f relationship

“She’d thought that Fab had smashed their connection like a smartphone beneath a car tire, but all their data had been saved on a cloud drive somewhere, it seemed, and was happily downloading and ready to resume where they’d left off.”

Me picking this book up was a complete accident. I had planned to read the sequel to APIT from the library and then move onto this one, but by chance when I was browsing Dymocks the other day I found this there for a good price so I decided to treat myself and buy it. And thank god I did.

This is a spin-off novella that's part of the Reluctant Royals series and follows Likotsi, the assistant of Thabiso, the love interest in A Princess in Theory. During that book Likotsi had a whirlwind romance with a woman in New York which ended abruptly. Now Likotsi is back in the city and has a chance encounter with Fabiola, bringing up old feelings and causing both women to question whether their relationship should have ended.

Likotsi was definitely a highlight in APIT and I was so excited when I found out she was going to be getting her own story, even if it is just a novella. Not only did I love reading about Likotsi in this but also Fabiola. They're both such interesting, well-written characters that are super endearing, which makes it extremely easy to root for their romance.

I'll admit, their romance is kind of rushed and has a love at first sight thing going on, but I'm one of those people who generally doesn't mind when that happens as long as it feels real. And I think this book nailed it. Even though there's nothing slow-burn about the romance it still works perfectly and feels so naturally developed. While this novella, probably because of its length, isn't full of super sexy scenes there are the occasional steamy moments and they were all absolute perfection.

Aside from the great romance, like with most Alyssa Cole books, this also has some really good social commentary. This novella specifically focuses on deportation and how it relates to Fabiola and her family.

Honestly, if you like romance at all and haven't picked up this series then what the heck are you doing. I wouldn't recommend reading this as a stand-alone but you could definitely get away with just reading A Princess in Theory and then jumping straight into this, and I would definitely suggest doing so.