Alex is the son of the President of the United States and Henry is the Prince of England and they can’t stand each other. When an altercation occurs at a Royal Wedding between the two is leaked to the press, they have to do some series damage control and stage a fake friendship that blossoms into something more.
I like how diverse and unconventional a lot of the characters were, it wasn’t just your typical contemporary romance. I thought the representation was spot on and this book can and I think does appeal to a wide variety of readers.
Alex is a very unique character; I don’t think I’ve ever read a main protagonist like him before. He is very multi-faceted and flawed and isn’t afraid to follow his heart despite the consequences. He is a character who once he makes a decision sticks by it and won’t give up. Though, he can realize when he has made a mistake and despite his pretty inflated ego can accept responsibility.
I thought Henry was the perfect contrast to Alex. Stoic and traditional and slow paced, whereas Alex is flighty and emotional and outspoken. His situation is so similar to Alex, yet is vastly different. His family has been royals for centuries and he has the Queen of England dictating his life. There are years upon years of tradition that he needs to adhere to as well as continuing on the royal bloodline.
I loved the relationship between them though. Once again the hate to love trope is my favorite romance trope of all time and I loved the unique concept and twist added to this story. I like that there was a slow build to the relationship; they weren’t really all in from the start. I think the altercation and misunderstanding at the start was the perfect catalyst to force them both together. There were some highly intense, emotionally charged scenes throughout the book that definitely had me dabbing some tears of my own.
The whole political side of the story didn’t really do anything for me personally. Talking about all the campaigns and the different senators and all of the statistics and speeches really bored me. It totally adds a lot of depth and realness to the plot, but it didn’t really draw me into the storyline and made the pace at times a little stagnant for me. However, when a book is able to elicit a physical response from me, even though I wasn’t all that invested in the overall storyline, it is definitely a 4 star or higher.
⭐️4/5 the romance definitely saved the story!
I’ve started to cut down a little on how many books I loan out at any one time. From my last update I had around 5/6 books loaned out and by the time they expired I had only prioritised and read 2. I feel a little guilty borrowing these books for weeks and weeks at a time and then renewing them for another couple of weeks because they had run out and I still hadn’t read them. Borrowing them and having them sit in my room staring at me while I read other books was making me a little anxious, so I’ve made a limit for myself to only borrow 2-3 books at a time now! Currently have two relatively new books that I have seen around everywhere but wasn’t invested enough to actually buy them, Recursion by Blake Crouch and The Flat Share by Beth O’Leary. I did manage to finish The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers but it wasn’t a favourite of mine unfortunately, so I am hoping I end up loving these two when I get around to picking them up!
The third and final instalment in the Book of Ancestor series by Mark Lawrence follows 3 years after the epic conclusion to Red Sister. Nona is on the cusp of becoming a fully-fledged Sister of the Convent and the Empire is on the cusp of war with the Scithrowl.
Amy Leigh Reads 