Mini Reviews: Suddenly Royal + Poison Dance

SUDDENLY ROYAL
Suddenly #1
Nichole Chase
Contemporary New Adult
400 pages
Avon
Available Now
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Samantha Rousseau is used to getting her hands dirty. Working toward a master’s degree in wildlife biology while helping take care of her sick father, she has no time for celebrity gossip, designer clothes, or lazy vacations. So when a duchess from the small country of Lilaria invites her to dinner, Samantha assumes it’s to discuss a donation for the program. The truth will change the course of her life in ways she never dreamed.

Alex D’Lynsal is trying to keep his name clean. As crown prince of Lilaria, he’s had his share of scandalous headlines, but the latest pictures have sent him packing to America and forced him to swear off women—especially women in the public eye. That is, until he meets Samantha Rousseau. She’s stubborn, feisty, and incredibly sexy. Not to mention heiress to an estate in his country, which makes her everyone’s front-page news.

While Sam tries to navigate the new world of politics and wealth, she will also have to dodge her growing feelings for Alex. Giving in to them means more than just falling in love; it would mean accepting the weight of an entire country on her shoulders.

MY THOUGHTS
Suddenly Royal is an adorable mash-up of The Princess Diaries and The Prince and Me; the synopsis suggesting we’re going to get a hugely predictable story wherein a playboy prince falls in love with a normal girl, and while the predictable part is true enough, Ms. Chase delights with a cast of characters who greatly exceed our expectations. We can’t help but anticipate a fun read when we crack the spine, fully prepared for a fluffy, sweet journey that drops us off in happily ever land upon finishing. Instead, we have the pleasure of spending time with genuine and extraordinarily funny characters, the sweetness of them just the perfect amount to fully satisfy our inner romantic without eliciting from us even the smallest of eye rolls.

Sam is a joy from the very first page, possessing a sense of humor that has us pressing our lips together in public so as to not startle those around us with barks of laughter, and making us wish she were real so we could line up to apply for best friend status. She has a level head throughout the story, her relationship with Prince Alex one characterized by the most pleasant of tensions as she struggles to wrap her head around the direction her life has suddenly taken, but neither of them is prone to petty jealousies or game-playing, making their romance one full of anticipation for the moment they finally get together rather than one full of dread for the moment everything falls apart. Once they both decide to commit to the relationship, nothing sways them from their chosen path, and we simply get to sit back and enjoy the two of them together living out nearly every little girls’ dream scenario for when they get older.

This is the first in a trilogy with the next book featuring Prince Alex’s sister Cathy, and it just can’t release fast enough for me.

Rating: 4/5
 

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POISON DANCE
Midnight Thief #.5
Livia Blackburne
Fantasy
54 pages
Lion's Quill Press
Available Now
Source: From author for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
James is skilled, efficient, and deadly, a hired blade navigating the shifting alliances of a deteriorating Assassin’s Guild. Then he meets Thalia, an alluring but troubled dancing girl who offers him a way out—if he’ll help her kill a powerful nobleman. With the Guild falling apart, it just might be worth the risk. But when you live, breathe, and love in a world that’s forever flirting with death, the slightest misstep can be poison.

MY THOUGHTS
Poison Dance is a very brief introduction to the beginnings of a war between a guild of assassins and a group of noblemen who use their station to get away with all manner of misdeeds, giving us an all-too quick glimpse of something we can’t wait to know more about. Reading this novella is like looking through a telescopic lens at a fixed point – our view is narrowed to a specific moment time and place, but we know that just beyond the periphery lies a much larger word full of shadows and villainy, just waiting for the light of the upcoming Midnight Thief to shine upon them and reveal them to our gaze.

Though the brevity of our time with both James and Thalia limits the complexity of their characters and keeps our understanding of them to a superficial level, Poison Dance is still an engaging read that pings in us a dark note of curiosity, leaving us looking forward with a great deal of anticipation. Though as a stand-alone Poison Dance is an enjoyable albeit average read, it seems likely that the true beauty of it will emerge in retrospect after reading Midnight Thief, when James and Thalia’s actions suddenly have bigger implications and broader meaning once viewed in the larger context of the world than they do for us in this fifty-page novella.

Rating: 4/5 

Find Livia:

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This book was sent to me by the publisher/author free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.