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A review by balletbookworm
How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole
4.0
4.5 stars. I really loved this layered fairy tale about a woman who made her dreams happen (Shanti wanted to become a queen to help people and studied how to do that like you would any job) and a man trapped into his destiny (Sanyu is the new king to a country that only regained its independence from the colonizers 50 years ago and is frozen between tradition and progress). The Royal Match business was a really cute addition to tie future novels together and all our favorite heroes and heroines from the Reluctant Royals series (plus a few future ones) pop up in text messages/chats. Cole really gets into the work of governing a country that wants to catch up to its neighbors and be a great country but remains deeply suspicious/skeptical/angry about what happened under colonialism and isolationist policies.
What held this back for me that half star was a small part of the resolution. There is a character - you'll know him when you read him - that really pushes some awful misogynist stuff as well as toxic masculinity and when the plot resolution happened it just....went away? I would have liked to see this character apologize to Shanti directly, rather than just Sanyu. It's a side thing, since the resolution between Shanti and Sanyu is the main point and is very good, but that little bit felt unfinished to me.
What held this back for me that half star was a small part of the resolution. There is a character - you'll know him when you read him - that really pushes some awful misogynist stuff as well as toxic masculinity and when the plot resolution happened it just....went away? I would have liked to see this character apologize to Shanti directly, rather than just Sanyu. It's a side thing, since the resolution between Shanti and Sanyu is the main point and is very good, but that little bit felt unfinished to me.