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A review by angieinbooks
The Princess Deception by Nell Stark
2.0
The Princess Deception is the third and final(?) novel in Nell Stark's Princess Affair series and it is definitely the weakest of the three novels. That's not to say I didn't enjoy parts of this--I actually liked it more than I expected to--but it have moments that really made me wonder why any of this was happening at all.
Sebastian, the Prince of Belgium, has overdosed on heroin and the Belgian family must decide how to handle the situation publicly. His twin sister Viola decides that the best way to protect her family and give Sebastian the best chance at battling his addiction is to impersonate him until he is well enough to continue his public duties.
I'm going to stop here for a second to state that this is the stupidest plot idea ever. And I say this as someone who loves Twelfth Night. But the problem with this plot device in this series is that it's too much disbelief I have to suspend. I'm already having to believe that there is a world in which the second-in-line-to-the-throne in England is allowed to 1) come out and 2) be in a relationship with an Irish-Catholic American nobody (sorry, Kerry); a princess of Monaco is dating a female half-American F1 racer; and now there's the Princess of Belgium who, in this book, will not only fall for an American retired women's soccer star but also that she will be impersonating her brother for weeks in very public areas in which his girlfriend is also fooled?
It was a struggle, guys. Not to mention the fact that there seems to be a retcon on Sebastian's character in this novel, as he wasn't the easiest character to like in book 2. But I read this book anyway, mostly to see the characters from the previous two books. And while they are here, they're not featured as often as I would have liked.
So this book, as the title reveals, is really about deception. And in this case, there's a double deception, which isn't really a spoiler if you read the back-of-the-book synopsis. And I think it's an important detail because it would be really uncomfortable to have anyone falling in like or love only to have been deceived--especially when queerness is in the mix, even if Duke is bi, which she isn't. So Nell Stark at least avoids that pitfall. I think you can probably guess what's going to happen and that sh!t will hit the fan when it does. And it did during my reading, things got uncomfortable very quickly. Revenge sex is not sexy. It's actually really f*cked up. And it made me second-guess pretty much everything I thought I knew about both characters. I actually had to look ahead to see how long I was going to have to stay in that scene. It was bad. And it kind of killed the entire novel for me right there. The only real saving grace was the scene with the other queer royals and their partners.
I'm giving this 2 stars because I don't know that I can rate it higher. But I do feel like I liked it more than that. But that nose dive, man. I can't justify anything higher.
Sebastian, the Prince of Belgium, has overdosed on heroin and the Belgian family must decide how to handle the situation publicly. His twin sister Viola decides that the best way to protect her family and give Sebastian the best chance at battling his addiction is to impersonate him until he is well enough to continue his public duties.
I'm going to stop here for a second to state that this is the stupidest plot idea ever. And I say this as someone who loves Twelfth Night. But the problem with this plot device in this series is that it's too much disbelief I have to suspend. I'm already having to believe that there is a world in which the second-in-line-to-the-throne in England is allowed to 1) come out and 2) be in a relationship with an Irish-Catholic American nobody (sorry, Kerry); a princess of Monaco is dating a female half-American F1 racer; and now there's the Princess of Belgium who, in this book, will not only fall for an American retired women's soccer star but also that she will be impersonating her brother for weeks in very public areas in which his girlfriend is also fooled?
It was a struggle, guys. Not to mention the fact that there seems to be a retcon on Sebastian's character in this novel, as he wasn't the easiest character to like in book 2. But I read this book anyway, mostly to see the characters from the previous two books. And while they are here, they're not featured as often as I would have liked.
So this book, as the title reveals, is really about deception. And in this case, there's a double deception, which isn't really a spoiler if you read the back-of-the-book synopsis. And I think it's an important detail because it would be really uncomfortable to have anyone falling in like or love only to have been deceived--especially when queerness is in the mix, even if Duke is bi, which she isn't. So Nell Stark at least avoids that pitfall. I think you can probably guess what's going to happen and that sh!t will hit the fan when it does. And it did during my reading, things got uncomfortable very quickly. Revenge sex is not sexy. It's actually really f*cked up. And it made me second-guess pretty much everything I thought I knew about both characters. I actually had to look ahead to see how long I was going to have to stay in that scene. It was bad. And it kind of killed the entire novel for me right there. The only real saving grace was the scene with the other queer royals and their partners.
I'm giving this 2 stars because I don't know that I can rate it higher. But I do feel like I liked it more than that. But that nose dive, man. I can't justify anything higher.