This book is a reimagining of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. I liked a lot of things about this book. The author has obviously either done her homework about drug addiction or she has someone in her life who has lived through drug addiction. She covered the feelings of the family members well, although she probably could have cut one, maybe even two, of the family "get together to help each other feel strong" scenes. They started to feel repetitive after a while. Viola and Duke have great chemistry and I rooted for them. I did have to suspend some belief though to believe that Duke, who never met Viola, could tell she was pretending to be Sebastian just from watching some videos when her best friends could not. Overall, the story works an is a pleasant read. I hope at some point they redo the cover. This cover looks like I belongs on a royal lineage history book, not a romance novel.

The Princess Deception is the 3rd book in The Princess Affair series. The book is stand alone but as some previous characters play a role in the book I would recommend reading them as well. 
Excellent book to read, but so all Nell Stark books that I have read are up the with the best. 
Both Viola and Duke are likeable and are well suited to each other, I really enjoyed the build up.
If you like hot sex in your books then this one covers it, NS certainly knows how to write that.....
Overall excellent book and I would recommend

Actual rating: 2.5 stars

I picked up this book for the princess who crossdresses to pretend to be her twin brother in order to bring him privacy, and the f/f romance was the cherry on top. In a way, I got what I came for: I really enjoyed the scenes where Viola had to navigate talking to his brother's friends and trying to find out what happened without revealing who she was.

Unfortunately, that's about the only part of the book I enjoyed. I wasn't really invested in the love interest, and frankly, the romance arc of the book was so similar to the last three contemporary f/f romances I read that I actually had to check if I've read something by this author before (the answer is no). This made the conflicts and the resolution predictable and not very fascinating.

I also found it jarring that Duke, a random journalist who has never before seen either of the twins up close and (as she admits) barely did her research, immediately had suspicions about Viola impersonating Sebastian at the very first speech. Sure, she starts looking for more clues before she can be certain, but given that not even Sebastian's friends (who knew about his addiction and health) were suspicious so fast, it just didn't feel believable to me.

I’m not one for too much romance, but give me a queer royal romance and I will enthusiastically give it a try. I remember reading The Princess Affair by the same author and liking it and so I got a copy of The Princess Deception on Netgalley. The Princess Deception is the third book of the Princess Affair Series and I somehow skipped the second book, however, these books can be read on their own! There are cameos from the other books’ characters but you will still understand without having to read them.

The Princess Deception follows the Belgian royal Viola and Duke, an ex-soccer player turned sports journalist. This book is partially inspired by 12th Night (the Queerest play by Shakespeare)! Following an overdose by her twin brother Sebastian, Viola has the idea to impersonate her twin who the following day was launching the Dutch-Belgian bid to host the FIFA cup. Sebastian has a long way ahead to fight addiction, and Viola cannot let his work and passion be in vain.

Viola becomes Sebastian; but Duke soon realizes the deception. Duke feels an attraction to Viola as Sebastian but is still all set to uncover this deception. Duke has recently got a sports journalism job following rehabilitation from injuries that left her unable to play soccer; she needs a breaking story. Things have a way to come out though…and Viola keeps inviting her to meet.

The characters in The Princess Deception were fleshed out and complex. Viola is a very strong character. While usually artistic, she accepts the challenge that life had set her to act more political. She suffers from guilt for not realizing what her brother, who she loves gravely, was going through and doesn’t trust her instincts anymore. Indeed, she has a multitude of trust issues but fortunately, she has people surrounding her who help her move forward.

Duke self-develops as well during the course of the book. She needs to let go of her self-pity and reinvent herself while being proud of her achievements. While feminine and a sub, she still stands her ground most times.

Both Viola and Duke are self-aware and in tune with their emotions. They’re pretty mature at least until the big conflict starts. While both are emotionally attuned, they still manage to make a mess of their situation and they have to untangle it.

Towards the middle, I was a bit disappointed at each character in turn. There was a lot of self-pity and demands and anger and unhealthy behaviour. It still felt very real and semi-justified, if flawed.

This story takes place in many countries, it’s very much an international romance. One thing which I found strange, is that supposedly, this story takes place in recent times, yet Prague is said to be in ‘Czechoslovakia’. To me, this was a geographical inconsistency.

My one true pet peeve and dislike though was something that I had quite enough of. While it could be quite realistic, I’m fed up with characters that have sex in anger while still things are unresolved! Sex should not be a violent act; even with consent, it’s shady! It’s one thing is characters enjoy that play, it’s quite another to use it instead of having a proper mature discussion. In the end, things do get talked about and they do refrain from having sex until after the discussion – there was both plot and character progress there. Considering I only had this problem with the book, I’d say it’s a pretty good story!

I liked a lot of things, chief of which was the storyline (I love retelling!). The royal family closeness was very endearing and healthy. There were a lot of I love yous and the family dynamic was very supportive. I liked the background characters as well. While we didn’t see a lot of them, I still felt that each had a distinct personality. Thijs was probably my favourite background character. Both Viola and Duke had people acting as their family and support system – this was very nice and well handled.

The background information in the story was introduced quite smoothly and felt very natural. It also felt like a very feminist book. Unfortunately, lesbian books are not always feminist, even though you’d think they would be!

The conflicts were good. At first it was ‘to tell or not to tell?’ and later, it was all about moving forward and forgiveness. A lot of angst and suspense, but also fluffy and flirty moments.

The book got male-impersonation right. There was also a brief moment where a character was thinking of how complex sexuality it and I was glad to see that.

This book was well written. It had a good pace and kept me looking forward to continue reading. Seeing parts from both Viola’s and Duke’s perspectives made me emphasize with both. They both had a story not just a romance. I’d recommend this book to people that like romance, royalty, sport and good character writing.

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.


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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 have read all of Nell Stark's books, but this is the first one that I had trouble finishing ... but I eventually did push forward to completion.  I would turn each page and hope to find the hook that would draw me into the story ... it never came.  This is the third book in the princess series.  It can be read without reading the other two books in the series.

The plot was difficult to relate to, which is unusual for Ms. Stark' s books.  When I read the abstract for the book, I thought, 
"Wow what a great storyline."  Ms. Stark has European royalty, FIFE soccer tournament politics, romance with hot sex scenes, inquisitive  newspaper journalists, and intrigue all piled into the "plot pot."  Unfortunately, all the ingredients  did not make for a good digestive read.  When one takes a sip of this Princess stew, one is unsure what to make of it.  It does not help that the pace of the story is slow, especially in the first third of the book.

I must admit that I can only give this book at best 2 out of 5 stars.  Because it is Ms. Stark who has written this book, I have at least given it 2 stars because she is a good storyteller.  Possibly, someone might pick up this book because of her name and find it refreshing.  I will continue reading her future books because they are well written novel.

This book was one of those that grew on me the more I read it. I didn’t realise just how much I would become invested in Viola and Duke’s story but by the end I was willing them to be together. Princess Viola of Belgium decides to impersonate her twin brother Sebastian at a crucial event. She is determined his heroin overdose won’t become common knowledge as she attends a FIFA meeting to try and secure a bid to host the World Cup. Ex-soccer player and rookie reporter Duke sees through the ruse right away, especially since she is attracted to ‘Sebastian’ and is never normally attracted to men. Will her new career lead her to ‘out’ Viola? Or will love conquer all?

Their attraction is intense and extremely hot- sizzling in fact! But the love shone through more than anything else and they were destined for each other. Nell stark gave more than a nod to the previous books in her Princess series by including some of the characters in this story. Since I haven’t read those yet I am keen to get a hold of them now. ‘The Princess Deception’ is a lovely, sexy romance that swept me off my feet. 

I was given this ARC in return for an honest review.

I absolutely love Nell Stark’s Princess series so I was really excited to read this.  I love that Princess Viola cares enough about her twin brother to carry out the deception of impersonating him in his absence at rehab.  I love that Duke wonders why she is attracted to Sebastian before she realizes that it’s actually Viola. I especially love the “hate sex” scene and think it is absolutely perfect for the story.  Nell Stark writes with a beauty and elegance that I don’t find in any other authors.

I was really excited about this at first. I saw the Twelfth Night references and knew I had to request it from NetGalley, even though neither football nor royals interest me in the least. I figured I could enjoy it for the queer Shakespeare retelling even if I ended up glazing over during the particularly football-ish or royal sections, you know?

It turned out to be kind of the opposite, actually. I didn't find I needed to know anything about football to enjoy it, but I was somewhat disappointed in the approach to Shakespeare. I guess I thought it would stick more closely to the plot of Twelfth Night, but everybody in this retelling is a lot more aware of what's going on than they are in Shakespeare. Duke figures out pretty early that 'Sebastian' is actually Viola, and her plotline is more about trying to figure out *why*, and Viola knows Sebastian is fine, etc etc. So it lacks some of the drama and tension of the original.

But also... I guess when I saw that it was a queer retelling, I was really hoping it wouldn't be quite so, um, cis. When I see queer cross-dressing stories I think I assume there's going to be some kind of gender weirdness, but in fact it felt extremely binary throughout most of the book, and also in places a bit trans-exclusionary. (E.g. a character emphasising how being a lesbian meant she was never interested in penises and very much associating womenhood with having a vagina.) And that was a disappointment. 

I also didn't really engage with the writing style all that much, but that's more about personal taste. (For similar reasons, the sex scenes towards the end of the book -- which I'll warn you are fairly explicit -- didn't work for me at all, and I found them quite offputting.)

Probably 2.5*s overall, but I'm rounding up to 3 because I *did* get pretty invested in seeing how the relationship would pan out and I admired Viola and Sebastian's relationship. But overall, it wasn't the book I was hoping it would be. That's mostly on me and my expectations, but it got in the way of me liking it.

Living in one of the European monarchies I very much appreciate Nell Stark's alternative royal houses. 
Everything is in place in this world, the counties's culture, the royal palaces, the names. Only the people are different. 
It's interesting to point out that the Belgian princess spoke both Dutch and French as it has always been very important to appeal to both the Flemish and the Walloon part of the population. It was a nice touch for the Dutch princess to be a football fan as the real royal family of the Netherlands is always present at important sports events supporting the country's team. 
I enjoyed reading this book, and although I'm not a fan of instant attraction and I found there was too much drama involved, I liked the way the book was written and the story unfolded. The ending was a bit too sappy for my taste, but I'd still recommend this book to anyone who likes European settings. I'm sure I'll get the audiobook too when it's out!

I’m a fan of Nell Stark. I have been reading her books for over a decade and I always enjoy them. I’m sorry to say that this is my least favorite book of hers ever. It’s not bad it just didn’t sit right with me. I have to put it in the strictly just okay category.

This is the third book in the Princess Affair series. While the Princess’ from previous books do make an appearance in this one, I don’t think you have to read these in order. Each story is self-contained enough that you could read in any order or just pick the one/s that appeal to you. I enjoyed the first two books especially the first one.

Stark wrote this book as a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. It has been ages since I read that book, and my memory is a little spotty, but I didn’t think the books matched up enough. For one I remember the original being a lighter story. This book has a lot of anger and just not the same feeling. Also, the main character Viola, who is posing as her brother, is recognized almost right away by Duke (the other main). In the Twelfth Night, we as a reader know the truth when no one else does. It’s part of the fun of the story. I guess my main point is I would have felt better if Stark didn’t announce this was a revised retelling.

My biggest issue really was with Viola. I just didn’t care and connect with her. She is the one lying and deceiving everyone. But in her mind she did nothing wrong and she is just nasty to Duke. Everything is Duke’s fault no matter how much she apologizes. Reading the angry sex scene was not fun. It’s basically revenge sex just to hurt Duke. Also, the power imbalance in having a princess as this nasty aggressor just made it worse. I wanted to yell at the book to tell Duke to run far away. Instead of reading a romance, I felt like I was seeing the beginning or a relationship that could become abusive. The fact that Viola never really apologized for everything she did just made my warning sign flash brighter.

One other thing, so much of the book was trying to find out what happened to the Prince. One of the reasons Viola is posing as him is to find out the truth. She goes undercover with his friends and finds some clues. But at the end of the book this storyline is basically dropped. I think it was said the royal family figured it out, but that was it. Who were the people? What was that weird code name people were saying? It was such a big part of the story that is was jarring that it just went away basically.

I think Stark was taking a chance here, trying to push the envelope a bit. I like when authors do that but unfortunately it really didn’t work for my personal tastes. This is a book I can’t recommend, but it might not bother others as much. As I said earlier, I have been a fan of Stark for a long time so I will keep reading her. This one just wasn’t for me.

The Princess Deception
by Nell Stark
So this is a new modern take on Shakespeare's classic The Twelfth Night. It's told from the back and forth perspective of Princess Viola and soccer star turned reporter Missy aka Duke. When Viola steps in to take her brother's Sebastian's place her only thought is to protect her brother and his privacy, Duke is torn between wanting to leave the world of soccer and desperately wanting her old life back. 
I thought the story was extremely well written and engaging. Viola is strong and extremely loyal to her family and Duke is so real in her brokenness. At times the book was more "graphic" then I was expecting. The tone of the rest of book didn't fit these scenes and really pulled me out of the story. 
   3 out of 5

Nell Stark's Princess Affair series are a favorite for me. This one was no different but for once I felt like there were a few holes that were not closed. Perhaps it's just me being picky but there were some confrontations that I'd like to have seen, specially between Duke and Toby. It seemed a little glossed over but it really didn't take away from the overall story. I loved the whole Twelfth Night nod. It's one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. Viola and Duke were a great match and the tension between them from the get go was palatable. It was also refreshing seeing the other princesses from the other books in the series. I really do hope that this series keeps going. It's been a great journey around Europe.

An interesting conundrum – is the deception harmless?  Would exposing the deception be the right thing to do?  Princess Viola masquerading as her brother Sebastian is intriguing to Missy Duke.  The deception, or what you will, plays out as a modern day Twelfth Night.

This was... shockingly cute.  I mean, a princess dresses up as a boy, and falls in love with a girl who ostensibly doesn't know she's a girl.  Adorable premise.  It's one of those books that while I was reading it, I was like, okay, this is not high literature, and the premise is executed just as you'd expect, but I'm still having a super-good time reading it.  

One part I did enjoy was the authenticity of Duke's experience as an American abroad.  She communicates with Viola/Sebastian in English, but is occasionally aware of her use of idiom, and her own lack of bi- or tri-lingual-ness.  Most Americans living in other cultures eventually become aware of their own speech patterns and the parts of their English that are non-standard, and it was interesting to see Duke be so consciously aware of this.  It was small nuances like this which made an otherwise unbelievable story more relatable.

Also, the gay royals club.  I loved that!  Now I'm going to go look up and see if there are actually any out European royals, because I have no idea.

All in all, a fun read!

Nell Stark is back with another book in her Princess series. Deception is the name of the game here. Based on William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, we have a princess pretending to be her brother and a journalist trying to uncover the sordid tale. 

Viola is the Princess of Belguim. An accomplished artist who prefers to stay out of the family's limelight. Unfortunately for Viola, her twin brother Sebastian overdoses on heroin right before Belguim begins its rally to win the bid on the next FIFA men's World Cup. As in the Twelfth Night, Viola takes on pretending to be Sebastian to fool everyone into believing everything is on the up and up. She doesn't want to let her family or her country down.

Missy Duke was the face of USA women's soccer. Her career was ended before she was ready with a catastrophic knee injury. Duk" doesn't know what to do with herself, emotionally she is a mess and now she has settled for a job she really doesn't want because she has no idea what to do not being on the pitch. Taken a job as a gift from a brother of a teammate, Duke sets off to cover Belguim's bid for the cup.

Unlike in the Twelfth Night, Viola doesn't totally sell her alternate identity as her twin. Duke picks up on it pretty quick by seeing little tells Viola has. Tucking her hear behind her ears, little things here and there. So a good portion of the story is the newbie journalist trying to figure out the why and see if it's newsworthy. Of course, she is attracted to Viola so this makes her problem even larger.

Overall the book is q good read, Nell Stark always delivers a quality product. My only hangup is that I wish our two mains spent more time together. The reuse of pretending to be Sebastian takes up so much of the storyline that you don't get enough Duke and Viola time. The relationship/romance portion of the book is smaller than I would have liked. Still a great read!

this is the third book in the princess affair series, i hadn't read the other two but when i finished it i immediately bought them!!!!! Viola, the princess of Belgium needs to impersonate her brother Sebastian after he overdosed on heroin. Sebastian is leading the bid for Belgium to host the Fifa World Cup but due to his condition everything seems to go to hell. Viola doesn't want the reputation of her brother destroyed and wants to help her country so she cuts her hair and she went to impersonate Sebastian. Missy Duke is an ex soccer player who became a journalist, understand the deception and wants to know the why. this book is more than a love story, is also about the struggle of a disease and also about the worry the family of Sebastian have, it is really good. Please read it!!!!!!

The Princess Deception by Nell Stark is the third book in her charming Princess Affair series. While it can be read as a stand-alone, I would suggest reading the series in order because characters in the previous books show up on several occasions in this book.

Viola the Princess of Belgium decides to impersonate her twin Sebastian, after he overdoses on heroin. Her country is in the process of securing a bid from FIFA for a future World Cup. Missy “Duke” Duke is in Belgium to write commentary pieces on the Belgian bid in her newfound career as a journalist. She was one of the world’s most popular female soccer (football) players, but her career ended early due to knee surgery. Duke realizes that Viola is impersonating her brother and wants to ferret out the truth, but as the two women spend more and more time with each other, an attraction grows. Of course, things are never simple in these romances and their attraction is nipped in the bud when Viola’s scheme is revealed. The question is, will Viola be willing to forgive Duke for the part she played in the media fiasco?  Will there be a happily ever after? Hmmm.

The thing that I liked about this book is that it was exactly what I expected it to be. I read the previous two books so I knew what to expect and there were no surprises for me. Is that a bad thing? Absolutely not. Stark creates an opulent world in which this slow-burn romance develops. The women are gorgeous, the scenery is stunning, the dialogue is witty and the sex is, well, sexy. 

The nice twist in this book is the whole play on gender representation. When Duke first meets Viola, Viola is presenting as Sebastian. Duke is intrigued and attracted to “Sebastian” which is a bit unnerving to her since she is a lesbian. It is also interesting from Viola’s point of view because she finds she enjoys presenting as a male. 

This was a very pleasant weekend read.

I was provided with an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Great read and great addition to a wonderful series.  Though you can read The Princess Deception as a stand alone, I would recommend reading the entire series so you are familiar with the visiting characters.  If not, you certainly will not be disappointed.
It's such a well written story with intriguing characters.  I highly recommend for all to read.  My students will enjoy this book in their book club.

This is another book that this author deals with palatial intrigues that involve characters of European royalty. The mythification of royalty, something quite absurd for me in these times, makes this series of books with characters of European nobility, be like modern fairy tales. But always this author seeks a positive and philanthropic side in the actions of these Royal figures and in this case is the intention to improve the world through football/soccer. It is evident that the aristocratic and high society environment in which the people of the Royalty are forced to move ends up dragging them to all kinds of lust and perversion that can only be achieved with money. But since they are all so good and well-intentioned, everything has its good ending. This story in particular addresses an impersonation, forced by a sudden critical situation. Viola and Sebastian are twins, and when Sebastian suffers an overdose Viola ends up taking his place in disguise as if she were him. But this in itself does not cause the problems that would be logical to imagine, nobody realizes this situation. Only Duke, the former soccer player forced by the injuries to leave the sport and who now dedicates herself to journalism, has suspicions and decides to investigate about that. And from here the story develops, with ups and downs, but quite entertaining, within the incredibility of the matter in general. It is not an extraordinary book but, nevertheless, it can be recommended.

<i>An ARC was sent to me from Bold Strokes Books through NetGalley for an honest review </i>