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kerrihugs 's review for:
A Princess in Theory
by Alyssa Cole
The first in a new series, A Princess in Theory follows Naledi Smith, an NYC grad student, as she begins to receive supposedly spam emails, claiming that she is the long lost fiancee to the crown prince of a small African country. Trick is, it’s not spam, and the crown prince Thabiso ends up crossing the ocean to track her down. When Ledi mistakes Thabiso for an average joe, he can’t give up the chance to really get to know her without the crown in the way. Only, we all know how this farce goes, and once Ledi discovers Thabiso’s lies, what will happen to their happily ever after?
Firstly, I love Ledi. She’s a modern woman, and felt REAL. She’s a woman of color in a STEM field and as such, we watch her deal with everyday microaggressions regarding her race and sex. It’s frustratingly true for women in that field today, and I really appreciate that Ledi is shown as a kickass woman in a kickass field, but it also shines light on the negatives of being in STEM as a woman, especially of color.
Ledi also deals with some difficult but very realistic issues, like having a toxic relationship with her best friend Portia. I’m sure many of us have friendships like this, where one takes advantage of the other often and they just take it in the name of keeping the friendship. But I really enjoyed the development regarding Ledi and Portia’s development and it really perfectly set up Portia’s companion book.
With regard to the romance itself, it gave me strong The Prince & Me vibes, which I definitely enjoyed. The only thing that I didn’t like was how long the ruse of Thabiso being a “commoner” went on; they go fairly far in their relationship, including having sex, while he’s still lying about his identity and that just makes me uncomfortable.
Thabiso himself isn’t super unique or complicated; he’s almost a cardboard cutout of a generous prince character. He’s sexy as hell but just doesn’t as much depth as Ledi did.
All in all, this is a great feel good, sexy book that anyone who loves romance will enjoy. There were some drawbacks but it was just too damn fun to not fall in love.