Alyssa Cole is a legend in the modern romance genre for good reason. Once Ghosted, Twice Shy is a stellar dapper butch/high femme novella, and I was very eager to see Cole’s second sapphic foray. How to Find a Princess is in a newer, sister series to the Relectuant Royals one, and can be read without knowledge of the Relectuant Royals or Runaway Royals book preceding it.

Makeda Hicks lives with both feet squarely on the ground and a minimum of two back up plans on how to pull herself up if she falls down. She doesn’t believe any hogwash touted by her grandmother and mother about being a lost princess from Ibarania. She especially doesn’t believe it when a (sexy) World Federation of Monarchies investigator shows up. With her tantalizing, helpful chaos, Beznaria Chetchevaliere encourages Makeda to shoot her shot on a television show centering the search for the country’s lost royal family. Makeda’s grandmother’s bank account finally convinces Makeda to attend, but the real journey is arriving to Ibarania…on a cargo ship…as Bez’s wife???

According to what I’ve seen in other reviews, How to Find a Princess is loosely based, or was marketed as based, on the 1997 animated Anastasia film. After reading the book, my thoughts are “sort of kind of not really.” Rasputin is nonexistent, Makeda is hardly an orphan without a past, and Bez isn’t a con artist. We do have a search for royal family members and the bulk of the story is spent on the journey to Ibarania, especially Makeda’s beachy hometown and the cargo ship. Where the story really shines is the take down of the “helpful caretaker” trope. Both Bez and Mekeda struggle to not help others. Their problem-solving abilities get stuck in thinking that they know best, that they can do things on their own, and that they must orient their identity around being “helpful.” Again and again, other characters don’t ask for help, our duo bulldoze their way into others’ problems, and the results are mixed at best. Their caretaking is more about them feeling needed and taking control in a chaotic world. Needless to say, I felt called out, haha. I try not to anymore, but I’m human and backslide. Everyone deserves the freedom to try, and the freedom to fail. Including Makeda and Bez! 

Another interesting note is how Cole may be totally done with the very concept of monarchy. Granted, my Cole TBR remains long–I’ve only read A Princess in Theory and Once Ghosted–but How to Find a Princess’s tone seemed much more cynical, with a side-order of wacky hijinks. Sure, rulers Naledi and Thabiso acknowledged that monarchy, as an institution, is an easily corruptible waste of money, but that novel focused on how modern monarchs can be a force for good and encourage a democratic replacement. Ibarania overthrew its monarchy two generations ago, and there aren’t major grievances mentioned in the text. The TV show is a big PR stunt to boost the tourism industry. Yet from the narration to the characters, everyone seems totally exasperated and super done with the whole kit and kaboodle. The book’s villain is a ‘tache-twirling monarchist. I don’t want to live under a monarchy in real life, but something about the negativity seemed extreme to me. After seven books, perhaps Cole no longer finds the royal trope as compelling and is ready to move on to other ideas.

 Overall, How to Find a Princess reminded me why I love Alyssa Cole’s work. If you’re in the mood for sapphic romance and a superb caretaker trope study, pick up a copy!

My review of Once Ghosted, Twice Shy: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/eab8d4cd-5916-4960-9d99-720407948255 

My friends and I have a sapphic book club, and Friday I’m in Love seemed a perfect choice for summer’s end. After reading and discussing, we decided it’s absolutely solid!

Mahalia Harris wants what every high schooler wants: to have a heckin’ great time. If worries about school work, her mom, the hot new girl Siobhan, her part-time job, and her future could sort themselves out, that would be great. When Mahalia has a rocking good time at her best friend Naomi’s birthday party, she decides to seize joy with two hands. She’ll organize a coming out party to celebrate her queerness, just like the sweet sixteen parties she’s seen in ‘80s romantic comedies. The only problem is reality refuses to cooperate.

Friday I’m in Love is one of the most realistic depictions of a teenager I’ve read. That’s high praise from me, someone who constantly doesn’t see their teenagerhood on page. Mahalia grows immensely over the course of the novel, her self-centeredness transforming to empathy for fellow people. By the novel’s end, Mahalia isn’t done growing, and that felt like a gift. Forever learning means learning forever. Garrett also does a great job exploring the reality of poverty–it’s relentless trudge and how there’s always something in the way of true security. The authenticity of the character’s journey and class experience contrasted highly with how generic the setting was. Ostensibly Mahalia lives in San Diego, California but nothing described felt San Diego-y. Several of our book club members are from and live in San Diego, so the bland setting was disappointing. 

Do you know, do you have any concept, of how happy I am at discovering this series late, so I can dive right into the next book immediately? Very happy!!!

After her bestie Cin returns from shanking a “goddess,” Brie is even more sure she doesn’t want to go on an adventure. She’s good in her cottage full of craft projects and her thriving cheese-making business. This whole love-bespelled werewolf will get over his supernatural crush after three to five business days, right? Except he’s telling her they’re fated, eager to do chores, and likes the same romance novels (and is happy to re-enact them). Uh oh.

I continue to adore the series. Unlike the previous book, That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf stays in and around Cin and Brie’s hometown. Staying home grants breathing space to witness the new normal of the human-demon integration (plus peek in how Cin & Fallon are settling). It’s going well to say the least, haha. Before this book, I’d never seen male characters this eager to create an orgasm in a lady. Felix and other demons elevate their female partner’s climax, making it seem like a religious experience, or a rare, treasured chance to worship a deity. They express their eagerness to please in a group setting as well, which boggled my mind. I’m so used to stories with misogynistic “locker room talk” that insults and objectifies the bodies men are supposed to be loving. In the positive depictions of female orgasm I’ve read, the male lovers are smug, bumbling, nonchalant, or (ugh) begrudging about it. Making a female partner climax is all about the male partner’s ability to do so, like a feather in his cap. Any group discussion would center the men bragging about themselves. Maybe I need to read better m/f romance books?? I definitely need to read everything Lemming has ever written.

That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf is a rare cozy werewolf romance. Read it!!! I would love Brie’s life of a little cottage farm full of crafts and books.

My review of That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/c28c54c6-0e4a-40d6-bd0e-2b2ee5d70932

My review of That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/c56ae691-87dc-428d-aae3-45af3fbee44e

The Mead Mishaps series was a totally random find–the titles and covers stood out like beacons among the many, many emails I receive about books. Desperate to read something as promising as That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon, I requested a purchase of the Mead Mishap series at the library and devoured the series as soon as it became available.

In a fantastical Dungeons-and-Dragons-esque fantasy world, Cinnamon wants to live a quiet life on her family spice farm, eating cheese with her bestie Brie and getting drunk at village festivals. Plans go awry when a (drunken) walk home leads to an encounter with village bullies, which ends with a dragon demon scaring them off, which leads to Cin shoving cinnamon sticks up the demon’s nose. The next morning, Cin’s world is further turned upside down when the demon explains that, yanno the goddess y'all been worshiping? Actually a lich.

AHHH, even writing the summary makes me want to re-read the series. Cin’s fantastical world is fun to an extreme; familiar, strange, and wondrous as the first time I played a tabletop game. The take on demon lore fascinated me. “Demon” is a general term for any number of creature features, such as dragon shifters, werewolves, fox shifters, djinn, stone elementals, and lamia. Most are vaguely humanoid or have a human shape, but not all. Sprinkle in some fated mates and huge gender population imbalance and ya got some lore that greatly encourages interspecies romance.

Lemming didn’t skimp on the romance genre’s main draw: characters. Fallon and Cin receive the most attention, and we get hints at others’ nuances and hidden depths to be explored in other books. While That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon focuses on Black joy (yay!), some story beats hit low lows–the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books reviewer was startled by the amount of violence. I didn’t blink at Cin unzipping a gator, (Among Hellsing, Vampire: the Masquerade, and Devilman, I am Immune). The racism against and enslavement of demons did raise an eyebrow, and I breathed out when I realized Lemming guided the story to address these wrongs. I heavily empathized with Cin’s ongoing negotiation between her desire to be cozy and her desire for justice. It’s hard to decide when it’s time to take risks and when it’s time to stay safe. And what constitutes “safe.” 

Also: the sex was real hot.

If you read any steamy romance this year, please read The Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon and the rest of the Mead Mishaps series. I adore it so much I’m buying my own paperbacks.

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books Review: https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/that-time-i-got-drunk-and-saved-a-demon-by-kimberly-lemming/

My review of That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/579f8033-e22e-49f9-9131-dbd6c2bfe9b2

My review of That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/c56ae691-87dc-428d-aae3-45af3fbee44e