- A Princess in Theory: A Modern Cinderella Romance with an African Prince – First in the Reluctant Royals Series

The first thing that attracted me to this book was the gorgeous cover! A close second was the title. This is my first Alyssa Cole book, and let me just say wow! I thoroughly enjoyed this story. In this Cinderella-story, a case of mistaken identity thrusts a prince in a situation where he gets to live as a commoner while wooing the woman he’s destined (by royal and religious decree) to marry. This is a good thing because said woman, Naledi, has no knowledge of this betrothal. Though naturally caged, Naledi finds herself opening up to Thabiso and their attraction soon leads to some very steamy encounters. The romance between them is sweet and they each learn to step outside their comfort zones. From their affair in New York, the story takes us to Thesolo where we get to see Naledi as the princess she was always meant to be. I’ve always thought, of all the fairytales, Cinderella is the one you can’t really do a whole lot with. Ms Cole shakes this position with her story. I really liked the strong female characters and the general celebration of femininity in the story – particularly when they arrive in Thesolo. The secondary characters were well-rounded and added flavor to the story. I am thrilled to know that all those who made an impression on me get their own stories too! All of that said, I should mention that Thabiso’s cluelessness in some parts was a little odd for me especially since 1) he was already exposed to world outside the continent and 2) his country wasn’t some backward underdeveloped nation. That was a little too Coming To America-y for my liking. The other thing is purely me being critical as an African. There were one too many West African references for a country that’s nestled in the tail end of Southern Africa. I noticed them, because I’m West African; most readers would probably not notice. Overall, this is an excellent read whether you believe in fairytales or not. Highly recommended!

This is a story told in two parts - there's the Before and there's the After. Epidemiology-student-by-day waitress-by-night Naledi meets a gorgeous man who is the worst waiter she's ever had to train and who incidentally moves in across the hall from her. She's drawn to him in ways she doesn't fully understand and he gets past her defenses in ways she's never allowed with anyone else. Their courtship feels like a dream and Jamal seems too good to be true... So of course he is. Jamal turns out to be Thabiso, Prince of Thesolo and her long lost betrothed. He's traveled all the way to the States to find the girl chosen for him when they were children and taken from him by her traitorous parents not long after their childhood betrothal. The first half of the book is a boy-meets-girl "Coming to America"-esque romcom while the second half is a "Black Panther" meets "Princess Diaries" second chance romance. Personally, I much preferred the second half. I have such mixed feelings about this book. I love Ledi! She's brilliant and driven and has a love for science that consumes her. Being a woman in STEM, especially a Black woman, she has to work 10 times as hard as her white male colleagues to get half the respect and has to deal with constant microaggressions from her supervisor. She's out to save the world because of a drive inside her to do good and because it's what she believes is right. Ledi is a gem of a human being, but she's far from perfect, which makes her all the more compelling to read. Ledi's parents were killed in an accident when she was too young to remember much of them. She was orphaned and turned over to the state and spent her entire childhood moving from one home to the next. Because of her childhood spent being shuttled from foster family to foster family, Ledi (understandably) does not let people in easily and never asks for help because she has always had only herself to rely on. Even her friendships are arms length, relationships she understands are conditional - if she pushes too hard or asks for too much or stops "being useful," Ledi knows how easily people have always walked away from her. Ledi has had a life of never being chosen, of people constantly leaving her or sending her away so she never allows connections that "stick." Until Jamal. Something about him feels familiar to Ledi from the moment she meets him - he feels safe and profoundly dangerous to her all at once because she knows he could be the one who might actually stay. Which is where my problems start. Thabiso (aka "Jamal") is a liar. He meets Ledi and through a misunderstanding, takes the place of Jamal as a new hire at Ledi's second job as a waitress. Cute shenanigans ensue wherein this spoiled prince actually has to do manual labor for the first time in his life and he starts to realize how self-centered and pampered he's been. Of course, the night ends in literal flames (he's a TERRIBLE waiter) and Thabiso demeans both Ledi and her job out of a bruised ego. From there, instead of telling Ledi who he actually is (and who SHE is), the prince buys out her neighbor's apartment so he can move in across the hall from her, and spends the next 100 or so pages lying, stalking, taking advantage of this woman. At every turn, his assistant and best friend Likotsi tells Thabiso that what he's doing is reprehensible but he doesn't listen. Even when the grandparents that Ledi does't know exist fall ill back home, Thabiso STILL can't manage to tell Ledi the truth. We're meant to see that he WANTS to tell Ledi but he can't because he likes her so much and he's afraid he'll scare her away - well, tough! He sleeps with her under false pretenses while lying about his identity. That's about as scummy as it gets. The courtship between "Jamal" and Naledi would be cute and romantic (Ledi opens up bit by bit and slowly starts to trust her feelings for Jamal) if it weren't for all the lying. At one point, Thabiso and Likotsi refer to both their love interests in the States as their "American conquests" and that about sums up my feelings about the American portion of this book. Prince Thabiso cares more about getting what he wants than he does about telling Naledi the truth about who she is, where she came from, and the country and family she lost. Ledi is an orphan who cannot remember the only home or family she ever had because she was so young when she lost them and has spent her entire life facing rejection after rejection from families who couldn't manage to want her. Thabiso, upon finding out about the painful past lived by the woman he supposedly cares for, continues to withhold Ledi's true identity from her for the sake of "getting to know her" while making it impossible for her to know him. And, ya know, gets her into bed along the way. Everything finally comes to a head when Naledi finds out for herself who "Jamal" really is and is rightfully hurt and humiliated. Which leads us to the After. After Naledi finds out she's a princess, she and Thabiso come to an agreement about faking their engagement for the sake of Thesolo and Ledi's career (and her finally being able to meet what's left of her family) and the whole book changes. Everything is finally out in the open, Ledi knows who Prince Thabiso is, and more importantly she knows who she is. She travels to Thesolo to try and help fight the pandemic that has swept through her grandparents' village and try and save her grandparents in the process. I'm not a huge fan of the fake relationship trope, but seeing as how royals have arranged (loveless) engagements all the time, this one wasn't really all that fake. Naledi and Thabiso are truly engaged and have to deal with the realities of their engagement. I LOVED Ledi meeting her cousin Nya - finally seeing your face reflected in the face of a blood relative after years of being an orphan? Someone pass the tissues, please! Ledi learning all about her parents' homeland after a life spent as an American? PUT IT DIRECTLY INTO MY VEINS. The kingdom of Thesolo is a magical, technologically advanced paradise and I WANT TO GO TO THERE. Everything wrong with Thabiso in the first half of the book is immediately fixed in the second half - he's remorseful and communicative, giving Ledi everything she needs including space. He doesn't make excuses for his bad behavior and repeats his apologies and reassurances to Ledi as many times as she needs in order to finally believe him and start to trust him again. He prioritizes LEDI'S wants and needs instead of his own and THAT is the Thabiso I wish we had met earlier in the book. Everything in the second half of the book moves a little too fast - big things are brought up so late in the game that I had to double check how many pages were left. Issues that get brought up are resolved pretty abruptly, almost like Alyssa Cole was in a rush to make a deadline and I found myself looking for missing chapters or an epilogue that wasn't there. Aside from my issues with the love interest in the first half of the book and my wish that the ending had been a bit more fleshed out, my love for the main character really made this book an enjoyable read. Ledi's journey from closed-off orphan to recovered princess, her reacquainting herself with her lost country and people, and her realization that she doesn't have to make herself small and useful in order to keep people from rejecting her kept me engaged the whole book even through my issues with the love interest and the rushed ending. I look forward to seeing more of Ledi (and her bestie) in the next book in the series.

Shockingly, Alyssa Cole is a new-to-me author, but now that I've read this book I can assure you that she's been bumped to the top of my auto-buy list. I already know I'll devour anything she writes. As for "A Princess in Theory"? I'm not even sure I have the words to list all of the things I adored about this story, but I'll try. First, I loved Ledi's irresistible combination of genius and cool. Ms. Cole never minimizes how smart this woman is, but instead of taking the easy and common route of making that a negative, Cole deftly turns it into one of Ledi's many admirable qualities. What's more, she allows Ledi to own it. This character knows her worth. She has doubts and uncertainties by the boxload, but she also has boundaries, and she sticks to them. I loved her wryness, and her bravery, and her loyalty, and her vulnerability. I *died* of happiness every time she muttered, "This motherf*cker" under her breath. lol Next, I especially loved that Ms. Cole gave this character a hero that was worthy of her. Thabiso is spoiled, yes - but he's not rotten. He appreciates the things that make Ledi unique, and time and time again he stands up and fights for her right to be herself. He also fights for *his* right to be himself, and the ways he does that take him far afield of a cookie-cutter prince and directly into the territory of a swoon-worthy man who might just save the world. These two are perfect for each other, and their chemistry is delectable. Speaking of which, one of the things Ms. Cole does so expertly in this story is pace the relationship of Ledi and Biso. Each step they take manages to feel natural and logical - but also deliciously heady - all at the same time. The book is nice and long (and trust me when I say, you won't want it to end) and never feels too slow or too rushed. You'll care deeply about the characters, and be very invested in what happens to them. For a little while, you'll live happily in their world. That's the magic this author works, and the thing we all love so much in a great romance. At this point, when I tell you I one-clicked the next book in the series (A Duke by Default) so fast I might've broken the sound barrier...you'll probably believe me. But before you laugh, know that you will definitely be doing the same thing.

Ah, this was thoroughly entertaining. Light on the science which is nice because it meant I didn't have as much to nitpick, but still enough to establish Naledi's STEM creds. Characterisation was fun, pacing was decent, overall plot was well-paced and just silly enough to work. I did have some issues with dialogue. It's a bit inconsistent as to whether Thabiso sounds like Chadwick Boseman in Black Panther or Anthony Mackie in CA: TWS. Sometimes he was quite formal in that way non-native English speakers often are, other times he slipped into clear Americanisms. I'd have forgiven it as him being immersed in New York life, but four days are not enough to change speaking patterns. I also find the outbreak rather unrealistic from a sociological standpoint. Most people won't notice or care; it just happens to be an area I have knowledge in. Those are nitpicks though and in general it was a solid 3/5. Not good enough to bump up a star, but above the mediocrity of 2 stars. I'll definitely be picking up the second book.

I enjoyed this book. It's a classic enemies to lovers, fake fiance romance story, but the premise and setting were unlike any I had ever read before. Synopsis: Prince Thabiso, from the African nation of Thesolo, searches for his long-lost betrothed and finds her in NYC, but doesn't tell her right away who he is and who she is. Hilarity ensues when he attempts to present himself as an average man, but knows nothing of how to do for himself or how to function in NYC. Yet he is eager to learn to impress Ledi. Ledi is a fiercely self-sufficient woman scientist with a tragic past that tore her away from Thesolo as a very young child and she remembers nothing of it. She also has put up walls to protect herself emotionally. She and Thabiso are falling for each other in NYC but she rejects him after discovering that he lied to her about his identity. Yet she goes to Thesolo to investigate a mysterious illness that is afflicting the people there. Now we see the comedy flip side, Ledi knows nothing of how to function in Thesolo. There are two mysteries to be solved in the story 1) why did Ledi's family so suddenly flee Thesolo and leave everyone and everything behind? 2) what is the cause of Thesolo's epidemic? In the end of course their romantic conflict is resolved and there is a HFN ending. I liked these characters. They both felt really authentic to me. I could believe everything about them, why they thought what they thought and did what they did. That's a credit to the author's ability to define her characters. The settings were well described too. Even though Thesolo was an African nation it's clear to see that it is progressive and recognizes both ancient and modern traditions. The NYC setting was painted well also. The plot was interesting but the ending almost had a bit of a cliff-hanger feel to it, not 100% HEA yet. But I think we will see that pinned down in subsequent books in the series. Also there are a number of interesting secondary characters in the story who can be featured later in the series. Favorite scene: The betrothal dance. I'm not sure how I could get chills reading about a dance but I did. It was so intimate and meaningful. I really loved it. So bottom line, yes, I recommend this book for a sweet, classic romance read with a unique setting and premise and likable characters. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be reading more books by this author.

Prince Thabiso is the sole heir in a fictional place called Thesolo. As the sole heir to the throne he is expected to get married and have kids. Thabiso decides he wants to find his missing betrothed, Naledi. Now based on this alone you may think you know where this is heading. Their first encounter is rather funny since she mistakes him for the new hire at their job. I LOVED this scene so much! Thabiso was so arrogant and seeing him get humbled was the icing on the cake. I loved that Naledi was able to get him to see things from a different perspective and I love when a character matures in a story. Naledi was brought to America from Thesolo and sadly her parents died and she was left all alone. Due to her upbringing she keeps people rightfully so at an arms distance except for her friend, Portia, who I loved and I’m so happy she’s getting her own book! But back to Naledi she is reserved and when she mets “Jamal” aka Thabiso he knocks her walls down and you get to see another side to her as well. I loved the banter between the characters. They made me laugh, smile and I didn’t want the story to end. As a born and bred New Yorker, Cole nailed it several times throughout the story. I loved the part where Naledi took Thabiso on the subway for the very first time. I couldn’t stop laughing! This was the first time I’ve read anything by Alyssa Cole and I need to know where she has been hiding? I loved this story as it was refreshing, held my attention and the writing was on point. I did my best to read slow but sadly all good things must come to an end. I’m so happy I found this series and I can’t wait to read Portia’s book this summer. 4 1/2 stars

This was a really good story, well written, and had great characters. But I think it could have been a bit better. I love princess stories, especially accidental/lost princess stories. And Ms. Cole set up a great mystery to go along with Naledi and her long lost ancestry. Unfortunately, I felt like the reveal and conclusion of the story was very rushed. She spent a lot of time on setting up the story, who Ledi and Thabiso are and that they have been betrothed since they were toddlers. And she spent a lot of time on Thabiso's deception. Naledi believed him to be a trust fund baby named Jamal for half the book. When I got down to the last three chapters, I was surprised that nothing had been revealed yet, nor had they established a real relationship outside of sexual activity. Even in the very last chapter SPOILER ALERT they're still in their fake engagement, but he doesn't ask her to marry him for real. She tells him she's in love with him and he never says it back! After all that happened! They do make plans for him to come be in NY with her, but I didn't feel like any real commitment was made. Things I did like: I loved the diversity and that African cultural was so prominent. And that Ledi's science background was obviously thoroughly researched. Thabiso was great once he humbled himself. The mystery of her and why her parents left kept me engaged and gave me a desire to keep reading so I could find out what happened. The sex scenes were steamy but not too much and there was a lot of emotion involved, which I liked. So it was good, still 4 stars. But could have been a little bit better. I would have liked more of a hunt to answer the mystery of her parents. I will definitely be reading the next book in the series about Naledi's best friend Portia. Hopefully it has a better ending! There's three sex scenes (one hand job and the other two made it all the way to home). There are many uses of the F word. This kind of took away from the story for me. I didn't like how crass Naledi was.

I like the chemistry between Naledi and Thabiso, and not having them instantly fall in love is also a bonus. I liked watching them think and work around to the root of their feelings for one another. Also, the secondary characters are given enough depth to make them seem like well-rounded figures alongside our main characters. Speaking of, I now want to learn more about Kelly, Portia's sister, because I sense she has an interesting background. In a way I'll get my wish with the next book, but I also got the definite sense that she and Portia aren't close the way twins are supposed to be. As for Portia herself, she has struck me, thus far, as being a little flaky, only acting in her own self-interest more often than not even while proclaiming a deep friendship with Naledi. Of course, Naledi extracted a promise from Portia near the end of this story to change her ways. So let's hope a change for the better is in the works and will stick. As for Thabiso, he seemed very full of himself in the beginning of the book, although that must be a prerequisite of all royalty. But this was explained because he was uncertain of what Naledi knew of him, her background, and why her parents up and left Thesolo when he was a mere toddler. The romantic relationship that developed between him and Naledi grew from his curiosity about her in the present day, exploding eventually into a love that could not be denied by the end of the story. And they eventually figure out why her parents departed, stealing her away from him. Although I won't divulge that secret here. The only thing I would have liked to have seen was Naledi speaking with her maternal grandparents after they woke up from their disease-ridden comas, just to give Naledi a better sense of closure in her life. But other than that, I had fun reading this book and can't wait to read of her and Thabiso's further adventures. Even if they'll be delegated to background character status since Portia and some Scottish blacksmith are on tap next.

And not just fun, engaging, sexy, funny and real. This is my first Alyssa Cole book but it definitely won't be my last. The characters are well written and believable. The plot is maybe less than realistic but it's told in such a grounded and relatable way that you're like, yes, this could for sure happen. Basically I really liked this book, I'm hard pressed to think of anything I didn't like about it. I've never read or been interested in contemporary romances about royalty before but this book may have changed my mind. I'll definitely have to read the next one to make sure ;)

I loved every page of it

There are so many things to love about this book. The heroine has had a rough start but keeps going by sheer grit. The hero is a bit of a prick but learns quickly and keeps learning. The explicit consent. The strong female friendship with its own growth arc. The banter and teasing. The fabulous supporting characters. The neat turns of phrase. Even the deception (not normally my thing) is handled well as we clearly see Thabiso’s dilemma and how many times he tries and fails to tell the truth. I very much enjoyed reading this book and will be looking for more by this author

Such a sweet read, it makes you wish to read romance for the rest of your days. Steamy, fun, cute

This was nice, imaginative, a light novel which could easily turn into a Romantic Comedy Movie. The main characters are genuine, believable, and the story a modern Cinderella well-executed.