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A review by ericawrites
How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole
3.0
Alyssa Cole has been one of my favorite romance authors, but unfortunately, How to Catch a Queen may be the weakest of the ones I've read. One of the major issues is that it's almost 100 pages before Sanyu and Shanti are on-page together with frequency. It puts an obstacle in their romance that doesn't feel entirely overcome by the book's HEA.
How to Catch a Queen is slow, with many political machinations and world-building. We learn all about these collations amongst African nations and countries ruled by monarchies. This is a continuation of Cole's Reluctant Royals universe, even if labeled as a new series.
Sanyu and Shanti have an arranged marriage through RoyalMatch.com, which Shanti uses as her entire life's goal has been to become a queen. There are also many tedious meetings of Njaza's advisor council where Sanyu (who is king after his father recently died) is overrun by his father figure advisor, and it's hammered into us the misogyny and conservative (small "c" conservative to keep the status quo) nature of the council. I am a politics nerd; some of this was dry as a bone.
The mystery of the 3rd Njaza's god and the missing queens (Sanyu's father had 30+ queens on 4-month trials each to find a "true queen") was far more interesting than all of that. That thread mostly happened in the last 80 pages of the book, where it picked up and felt like the book it should've been all along. There were good mental health rep with Sanyu's anxiety, and I adored his advisor/best friend Lumu and his relationship advice based on his polymarriage.
Sanyu and Shanti seem like a good match, but I wasn't feeling the romance or physical attraction.
How to Catch a Queen is slow, with many political machinations and world-building. We learn all about these collations amongst African nations and countries ruled by monarchies. This is a continuation of Cole's Reluctant Royals universe, even if labeled as a new series.
Sanyu and Shanti have an arranged marriage through RoyalMatch.com, which Shanti uses as her entire life's goal has been to become a queen. There are also many tedious meetings of Njaza's advisor council where Sanyu (who is king after his father recently died) is overrun by his father figure advisor, and it's hammered into us the misogyny and conservative (small "c" conservative to keep the status quo) nature of the council. I am a politics nerd; some of this was dry as a bone.
The mystery of the 3rd Njaza's god and the missing queens (Sanyu's father had 30+ queens on 4-month trials each to find a "true queen") was far more interesting than all of that. That thread mostly happened in the last 80 pages of the book, where it picked up and felt like the book it should've been all along. There were good mental health rep with Sanyu's anxiety, and I adored his advisor/best friend Lumu and his relationship advice based on his polymarriage.
Sanyu and Shanti seem like a good match, but I wasn't feeling the romance or physical attraction.