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josb's review against another edition
The synopsis sounded very intriguing (based off As You Like It) but at 20% of the way in the two leads still had not met one another. The non-princess lead saw a picture of the princess and had some very intense sapphic pining.
There were bigger topics here that I thought would keep my interest addiction, injury and disability, depression, etc. but they were delivered in a way that included long explanations to the reader. I understand the need to fully explain these things for readers who might not be familiar and to set the tone that does not paint any one person as a villain, but it just was not for me.
If you're just starting in the Lesfic world or are not used to having intense topics in your reading, you may like this more than I did. I think it laid out the complexity of having a family member you love have addiction issues in a way that still keeps the tone lighter and the reader ready for the romance portion, it just was not my taste.
There were bigger topics here that I thought would keep my interest addiction, injury and disability, depression, etc. but they were delivered in a way that included long explanations to the reader. I understand the need to fully explain these things for readers who might not be familiar and to set the tone that does not paint any one person as a villain, but it just was not for me.
If you're just starting in the Lesfic world or are not used to having intense topics in your reading, you may like this more than I did. I think it laid out the complexity of having a family member you love have addiction issues in a way that still keeps the tone lighter and the reader ready for the romance portion, it just was not my taste.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction
angieinbooks's review against another edition
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.
m3l89's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
3.0
3⭐️
A lesbian retelling of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night focusing around a fictional Belgian Royal Family. Due to an almost fatal drug overdose, Princess Viola decides to impersonate her twin Sebastian so as not to arouse suspicion during the bid process for the football World Cup. Enter former women’s US football champ Duke. I quite enjoyed this, the mixture between royalty and football. The tension and chemistry between Viola and Duke was believable and well written. The eventual sex scene definitely not suitable for younger readers; YA+.
oddgirlsmedia's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Modern Sapphic spin on a Twelfth Night.
Princess Viola 3rd in line to the Belgian throne, has carved out a space for herself in the art world away from royal affairs. Until her twin brother has an overdose and almost dies, only days before he is supposed to represent their country’s bid for the World Cup. In an effort to protect his privacy, and keep her country from losing the bid she goes undercover as her brother. But no matter how much they look and sound alike in front of the cameras will it be enough to fool everyone?
Missy Duke was a professional soccer player before an injury sidelined her, now she is starting over as a sports reporter. Her first job is to cover Belgium’s bid for the World Cup. Too bad the only thing she has managed to research is Belgium’s lesbian princess, a good way to pass a train ride but not entirely helpful. Until she sees Prince Sebastian at a press conference and notices he has picked up more than a few of his sister mannerisms, and sets out to follow the story. Viola and Duke have an immediate attraction but their relationship can only end one when it’s all built on secrets.
I really liked this book, the chemistry between the main characters is on point and I always enjoy a shakespearean trope. This is the third book in the Princess Affair Series, and while it can easily be read as a standalone, there are a few great scenes with the previous MCs.
Princess Viola 3rd in line to the Belgian throne, has carved out a space for herself in the art world away from royal affairs. Until her twin brother has an overdose and almost dies, only days before he is supposed to represent their country’s bid for the World Cup. In an effort to protect his privacy, and keep her country from losing the bid she goes undercover as her brother. But no matter how much they look and sound alike in front of the cameras will it be enough to fool everyone?
Missy Duke was a professional soccer player before an injury sidelined her, now she is starting over as a sports reporter. Her first job is to cover Belgium’s bid for the World Cup. Too bad the only thing she has managed to research is Belgium’s lesbian princess, a good way to pass a train ride but not entirely helpful. Until she sees Prince Sebastian at a press conference and notices he has picked up more than a few of his sister mannerisms, and sets out to follow the story. Viola and Duke have an immediate attraction but their relationship can only end one when it’s all built on secrets.
I really liked this book, the chemistry between the main characters is on point and I always enjoy a shakespearean trope. This is the third book in the Princess Affair Series, and while it can easily be read as a standalone, there are a few great scenes with the previous MCs.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction
cerseiorgana's review against another edition
3.0
my least favorite of the princess books mostly because they spend the half of it apart from each other
mmyriam's review
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
critterbee's review against another edition
3.0
The Princess Deception is a contemporary|Royal|Athlete|f/f romance with a Princess heroine dressing up and acting like her Prince brother (to cover his drug addiction) and a soccer legend heroine who was forced to retired due to injury, and is now dealing with trying to remake her life as a sports reporter.
This has a great premise, but I kept slipping out of belief, sometimes because of the dialogue and sometimes because the characters seemed to act inconsistently. Not really my cup of soup, but well enough written - I know this has got to be someone's catnip!
*eARC Netgalley*
This has a great premise, but I kept slipping out of belief, sometimes because of the dialogue and sometimes because the characters seemed to act inconsistently. Not really my cup of soup, but well enough written - I know this has got to be someone's catnip!
*eARC Netgalley*
magpi3's review against another edition
4.0
I received an ARC from NETGalley in exchange for a review.
I liked the viewpoints of both Viola and Duke. I thought it was very sweet seeing them have similar oh my god freak outs.
It didn't focus too much on football which was greatly appreciated from my anti sports self.
I really liked the sort of playing around with gender that was explored in the book with Viola's cross dressing and Duke being a lesbian yet being attracted to 'Sebastian'.
I believe this book is own voices as well which is amazing! I could tell that the author knew what she was talking about and it really showed through her words.
Admittedly premise of the investigation was a little bit shaky in my opinion, but I could ignore that for the sake of the plot.
My initial first thought was I know next to nothing about the Twelfth Night. I was able to remember back to my time reading it in English in Year 10 (I think?) and I was so stoked to be able to read Ariel's lines as they were my favourite character. However that didn't really matter to follow along with the plot. It was a very soulful book with very human characters. I liked the fact that they all had clear motivations and were fleshed out in the instances when we got to see more background characters. I also liked the fact that the book didn't shy away from the coarser emotions during the beginning reveal which helped me to sympathise a lot more with Violet. Got to say though, I think my favourite characters were the bodyguards. I enjoyed the contrast of professionalism vs personal they had to wade through. Even though the book is technically part of a series, it's more of a focus on different characters who are shown sort of series rather than a chronological one. All in all, Nell Stark is an excellent author and I very much enjoyed this book.
I liked the viewpoints of both Viola and Duke. I thought it was very sweet seeing them have similar oh my god freak outs.
It didn't focus too much on football which was greatly appreciated from my anti sports self.
I really liked the sort of playing around with gender that was explored in the book with Viola's cross dressing and Duke being a lesbian yet being attracted to 'Sebastian'.
I believe this book is own voices as well which is amazing! I could tell that the author knew what she was talking about and it really showed through her words.
Admittedly premise of the investigation was a little bit shaky in my opinion, but I could ignore that for the sake of the plot.
My initial first thought was I know next to nothing about the Twelfth Night. I was able to remember back to my time reading it in English in Year 10 (I think?) and I was so stoked to be able to read Ariel's lines as they were my favourite character. However that didn't really matter to follow along with the plot. It was a very soulful book with very human characters. I liked the fact that they all had clear motivations and were fleshed out in the instances when we got to see more background characters. I also liked the fact that the book didn't shy away from the coarser emotions during the beginning reveal which helped me to sympathise a lot more with Violet. Got to say though, I think my favourite characters were the bodyguards. I enjoyed the contrast of professionalism vs personal they had to wade through. Even though the book is technically part of a series, it's more of a focus on different characters who are shown sort of series rather than a chronological one. All in all, Nell Stark is an excellent author and I very much enjoyed this book.
madrid_maria's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75