Scan barcode
A review by amandaexe
A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole
2.0
Well, this was a massive disappointment. There were things in this I liked, but in the end I had so many issues with it I can hardly believe this was written by the same author, let alone that it was part of the same series as A Princess in Theory and A Duke by Default.
The three stars are only for the second half of the book, because honestly the first part barely counted. What's written in the synopsis of the book only starts happening at around the 40% mark, which to be honest is an insane amount of time spent on... nothing, basically. Most of that first 40% was just catching up with the characters from the other books (which got so annoying after a while, I don't need to know what they're doing in every single scene. This isn't their book anymore, why can't I get Nya and Johan's story right off the bat?), and trying to establish Nya and Johan as main characters. But of course, they got lost in the midst of everything else that was going on. To be fair, I did enjoy Johan's character, I thought he was pretty solid throughout the book, and I feel like his relationship with his family basically carried this whole story.
Nya, on the other hand, was really inconsistent. It's said the whole time that she's naive, and meek, and immature, and while there were some things that she did that made sense with that description, there wasn't a single scene she was confronted where she didn't stand up for herself. On the first goddamned chapter she was already speaking her mind and taking up space. What kind of meek character is this? If she was actually like that, she would be quiet, complacent, always scared to speak up (which would be consistent with the fact her father had abused and guilt tripped her for years). I would have preferred if she had actually learned this lesson throughout the book, but it seems like after Naledi and Portia the author was incapable of writing a female character who wasn't a badass. This is a problem when you establish that Nya is not like that.
The romance was okay, I guess. I didn't think they fit as well together as the book wanted me to believe. It seemed pretty convenient at times, and oh my fucking god was the "dirty" talk a cringefest, but the ending was cute. I still got out of it feeling like Johan was waaaay out of Nya's league, but whatever works, I guess.
The referendum plotline was kinda unnecessary? It was the driving force behind the fake dating thing, but in the end I couldn't help but feel like
The dating game was something else that was so nonsensical to me. Why would this woman, who has lived her whole life in such close proximity with royalty, not find it boring (and creepy) to play a dating sim where she can date a bunch of princes based on real life princes, some of them who she knows personally?? Why was this such a big source of conflict?? What kind of game forces you to set alarms to not miss the next piece of dialogue (it could even be in the middle of the night???), and what kind of adult has the fucking time to actually do this??? Why was the game version of Johan trying to abolish the monarchy anyway???
I've been writing this review for a while and you know what? It doesn't deserve three stars after all. The only thing that was good in this was Johan, on his own, trying to deal with his own grief, controlling his image, figuring out why Lukas was acting out and hating him so much. Like I said, Johan carried this fucking story, and if you take him out there's nothing interesting left. I'm really upset that this book was so damn weak, when the others had their faults, but were ultimately at least consistent.
The three stars are only for the second half of the book, because honestly the first part barely counted. What's written in the synopsis of the book only starts happening at around the 40% mark, which to be honest is an insane amount of time spent on... nothing, basically. Most of that first 40% was just catching up with the characters from the other books (which got so annoying after a while, I don't need to know what they're doing in every single scene. This isn't their book anymore, why can't I get Nya and Johan's story right off the bat?), and trying to establish Nya and Johan as main characters. But of course, they got lost in the midst of everything else that was going on. To be fair, I did enjoy Johan's character, I thought he was pretty solid throughout the book, and I feel like his relationship with his family basically carried this whole story.
Nya, on the other hand, was really inconsistent. It's said the whole time that she's naive, and meek, and immature, and while there were some things that she did that made sense with that description, there wasn't a single scene she was confronted where she didn't stand up for herself. On the first goddamned chapter she was already speaking her mind and taking up space. What kind of meek character is this? If she was actually like that, she would be quiet, complacent, always scared to speak up (which would be consistent with the fact her father had abused and guilt tripped her for years). I would have preferred if she had actually learned this lesson throughout the book, but it seems like after Naledi and Portia the author was incapable of writing a female character who wasn't a badass. This is a problem when you establish that Nya is not like that.
The romance was okay, I guess. I didn't think they fit as well together as the book wanted me to believe. It seemed pretty convenient at times, and oh my fucking god was the "dirty" talk a cringefest, but the ending was cute. I still got out of it feeling like Johan was waaaay out of Nya's league, but whatever works, I guess.
The referendum plotline was kinda unnecessary? It was the driving force behind the fake dating thing, but in the end I couldn't help but feel like
Spoiler
Lukas got off way too easy for the severity of what they were doing; and that the story was setting up the ending for the monarchy to be abolished. When it didn't, I was like....??? That wasn't consistent with the hints the story was giving me?? Also, wouldn't it just have been better for Lukas if the monarchy just..... ended? Their problem wasn't only with the fact they didn't want to be a prince, they clearly said they didn't like the fact that their whole life was set out for them, that they wanted to find their own path and like?? In the end they're suddenly okay because now the journalists will use the right pronouns??? What???? It felt like a cheap plot device, and none of it felt resolved.The dating game was something else that was so nonsensical to me. Why would this woman, who has lived her whole life in such close proximity with royalty, not find it boring (and creepy) to play a dating sim where she can date a bunch of princes based on real life princes, some of them who she knows personally?? Why was this such a big source of conflict?? What kind of game forces you to set alarms to not miss the next piece of dialogue (it could even be in the middle of the night???), and what kind of adult has the fucking time to actually do this??? Why was the game version of Johan trying to abolish the monarchy anyway???
Spoiler
Btw, was it established that Lukas made the game, or did I fill that information in myself because I thought it made sense?I've been writing this review for a while and you know what? It doesn't deserve three stars after all. The only thing that was good in this was Johan, on his own, trying to deal with his own grief, controlling his image, figuring out why Lukas was acting out and hating him so much. Like I said, Johan carried this fucking story, and if you take him out there's nothing interesting left. I'm really upset that this book was so damn weak, when the others had their faults, but were ultimately at least consistent.