Gaele Hi
It’s Nya’s story: best friend of Portia, cousin to the future Queen Naledi, and daughter of a man who tried to poison her cousin and grasp control (as well as embezzle) of the monarchy. Nya has always been told by her father that she is weak of constitution, simple minded and better when someone (mainly he) is controlling her every move. Now, after his deceptions have been revealed, she’s torn: torn between a father she loves and her innate duty to the man and her own desires for making her own path and possibly finding someone to love her for her. She tried to reinvent herself in New York while studying for her doctorate, but she found the city too much to handle, bringing forth all of her insecurities and worries, and finding that ‘dating’ wasn’t as fun in real life as it was on her various collection of games and apps. In fact, she’s been playing a dating app for a while and using the apps version of Johan as her ‘paramour’. Johan or the “Playboy Prince” is best friends with the Thabiso, the man to whom Nya’s cousin is engaged. He is not in the line of succession, but was raised by the King of Liechtienbourg, learning at the knee of his mother and protecting his younger brother after his mother’s death. Still reeling from that loss, and not willing to allow the press to go after his little brother Lucas, he’s prone to tabloid-worthy exploits that divert attention and allow Lucas to get along with growing up. But now there is a referendum that threatens the monarchy, Lucas is ‘acting out’, Biso is married and Johan feels like everything is just ‘meh’. It’s not been a good time – and finding Nya while he’s sleeping on the private jet, and his need to ‘protect’ himself by reducing her to tears just rankles. He’s upset someone who didn’t deserve it, someone he’s been intrigued with for a while. This was a lovely installment that fixed Nya and Johan firmly into the universe, with their friends and family popping in to distract or divert occasionally. When a fake engagement is proposed by Johan, Nya takes the offer: she wants adventure, sees a kind and caring man in Johan, and well – she’s not really had any experience of doing exactly what she wants. It’s not easy to fight against voicing her attraction to Johan while silencing the voices in her head that tell her ‘it’s fake’, but she’s not without her own strengths and steely center. When she’s able to act as an intermediary between Lucas’ angry words and actions to Johan’s shock and hurt, and then stand in front of her father and play his game right back at him, she’s growing – a hard set of steps, but necessary for her own mental health and survival. She’s determined to leave Johan with more than she arrived with, if only to have him see that love is necessary and scary – and to not love is to close off an integral part of yourself. Cole managed to use some geek-culture, plenty of emotion, a lovely fairy tale and plenty of heart to give us Nya and Johan in all their moments: steamy, sexy, angry, guarded and finally, loved up. Dive into this series and escape for a few hours – each character is distinct and defined, their connections and friendships are wonderful and there are plenty of places to laugh. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via Edelweiss for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.
Laetitia N
I praise this book for its modern take on relationships but as German speaking Francophone South African the mishmash of African themes was irritating today the least. it was a struggle to get into the book. I think a non-african reader with not struggle but even then a French/German speak might also be irritated. The LGBTQ them was relevant for today's times. The hero was multilayered and slightly unbelievable while the heroine character was either mature at times or totally immature for her projected age. I got through it. The book was a miss for me compared to her brilliant and thoughtful book " An extraordinary union". This book is lacklustre and you'll wonder if it's even the same author.
