An innovative twist on a classic story but the execution fell a little flat for me. Alyssa Cole is a brilliant storyteller. She creates a rich world with interesting, multidimensional characters. Unfortunately the pacing felt a little sporadic, culminating in a rather abrupt ending. Overall an interesting read but not a favorite.

Alyssa Cole can do no wrong! You should read every single thing she has ever written because she has a way of pulling into the story and making you feel a part of it. This is one of her romances and I absolutely love it. I love that she balances the romance and the witty banter with a side characters.
Ever since I read a prince in theory, I have followed every single book that has been based on these worlds in these characters. Fantastic book

I really enjoyed this book! I really loved the internal dialogue that Beznaria had, I thought she was really funny. Im not sure how I feel about the twist at the end but I really liked the journey that Makeda had to be more confident in herself.

3.5 stars rounded up.

I love all of Cole's romances, but maybe love this one a little less than the others. I really loved both the characters, especially Makeda learning to say no and set more boundaries in place and figuring out what boundaries worked best for you. Coming from a long line of women who are incredibly stubborn yet also have problems saying no, it was great to see a character figuring this out. Bez was fun, and I loved her sense of loyalty to her family.

The pacing was a little off. The end was very abrupt, and I don't want a ton of wrap up in an ending, but it felt like it needed a little more. Maybe less time on the boat and then a little more time actually on the island.

Makeda's relationship with her mother felt very authentic for an adult child of an alcoholic and seeing that continued struggle, tension, and hurt added to her character development. I loved Grandmore, and Bez's reaction to the fluffy demon cat.

A solid addition to Cole's Royals series.

Content Warning: alcoholic parent, reference to trauma (refugees fleeing by sea, descriptions of violence and murder, mentions of enslaved ancestors), PTSD, obsession/addiction, bullying

Makeda Hicks just lost her job and her girlfriend all at once—all because she’s too helpful, too selfless. Those aren’t bad traits, right? Back at her grandmother’s bed and breakfast, she’s licking her hurts and trying to figure out what comes next when chaos demon Beznaria Chetchevaliere crashes into her life, convinced Makeda is the exact person she has been trying to avoid: the long-lost princess of the island nation of Ibarania. Makeda might deny her royal heritage, but there’s no denying the chemistry coursing between the two women.

But Bez is on a deadline. Somehow she’s got to convince this reluctant royal to go to Ibarania and reclaim her heritage.

I mean, truly, what kind of investigator just leaves when they’re told to? A bad one. I regret to inform you that I rank in the top ten junior investigators at the WFM. I will not be deterred.

Oooooh, this was delightful, but far harder hitting than I was anticipating.

Definitely heed those trigger warnings, and also know that Makeda’s overhelpfulness and wanting to fix and control everything is an unhealthy coping mechanism to her mother’s addiction and obsession (this is not a spoiler).

I really, really like stories with sunshine and grumpy, but flickering sunshine plus chaos agent? Yes please!

Makeda has had some hard hits, made even worse because she was denied a promotion because of her helpfulness and inability to say no, and the women who was promoted had been using Makeda’s work as her own (and continued to call her, emotionally manipulating her into being helpful), and then her girlfriend broke up with her. Reading those sections were rough, as Makeda was left feeling that something was wrong with her, when all she really needed to do was just…tone down her helpfulness a little and give people agency of their own.

Beznaria was someone I had been dying to read as a main character ever since her explosive, cabbage-filled entrance in How to Catch a Queen. She’s obsessed by finding the Ibaranian heir, as her grandmother was the head guard when the last queen vanished from sight, never to be seen again. It’s a matter of family honor. She’s bold, confident, and filled with just the right amount of serendipity and chaos and I loved it.

When the King of old Ibarania finally caught her, he offered her marriage or death, and surprising everyone, she chose marriage. Then she killed him on their wedding night, led an uprising of the various enslaved peoples of Ibarania, and created her own unified monarchy on the island. She said it was her wedding gift to herself.

I absolutely adored the world-building in Cole’s alternative Earth. Each country has so much history, so much lore and love built into each step alongside the heartbreak and the very real implications of colonialism, and I really, really wish she would write historical fiction set in these countries, because old Ibarania with its pirate queens sounds fucking fantastic.

I also love how the past always influences the present in Cole’s works. It is a constant present, driving, inspiring and scaring the protagonists even if they don’t know their full family or country history. And how the tendrils of colonialism and capitalism and white supremacy continue to grip and ensnare at every insidious turn—unless they are defeated.

It’d always seemed unfair that entire industries were built on what Makeda had been tormented for: being seen as a girl audacious enough to imagine herself worthy of once upon a time.

Makeda’s life is driven by her grandmother’s one-night stand with the lost-prince of Ibarania and her mother’s subsequent obsession with being royal and reclaiming a lost heritage and prestige, an obsession that was redirected to horrific results onto her daughter. Fuck, what a childhood. And what hell, particularly when there is a massive princess-industry in (whyte) America. For those deemed acceptable to dream of being royalty.

Bez is driven by regaining her family’s honor. She’s also haunted by the failings of her own past.

We can sleep head to foot so I’ll be ‘out of your face.'”

The pacing is a little strange in this one, and I wished more time had been spent in the wrap-up. However, I don’t wish there was less time in the other sections, but like, another 30-40 pages for the ending. It was too quick, too neat, particularly after all the lead up to the actual event. I need decompression time, I need more happily ever after! I need more of Bez’s family!

And I need more time to process that twist, dammit!

It was a twist ending that I should have seen coming, but was too wrapped up in everything else to pick up on it.

I really liked Makeda and Bez’s meet uncute (assault by vacuum cleaner is hilarious but not cute) at the bed and breakfast and their following banter, and I loved the entire time aboard the cargo ship on their journey to Ibarania (yes, it dragged but the secondary characters made it worthwhile and it was the healing both needed in order to move forward with themselves and their relationship—plus, best rationale on the one bed trope everrrrrrr and now I no longer want to sleep beside my wife so, um, thanks for that).

Anywho, this was a nice read. I felt it was more about accepting that boundaries are not walls but instincts to keep you safe, and that healing can come in many ways, and that there are quite a few ways to escape reality and avoid the things you need to face.

But, eventually, when you are ready, you need to face reality and work to move forward. Sometimes, you need to breathe through the hurt in order to find closure.

For some people, happiness is sitting down and not doing anything all day. For others, happiness is keeping so busy they don’t have the time to sit down. But both can simply be means of avoiding reality.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review

How to Find a Princess releases May 25, 2021

I loved this journey with Makeda and Bez. Bez is determined as determined to find the heir to the Ibaranian throne as Makeda is to not be that heir. I loved their fake relationship that turned into something more!

Very enjoyable. I liked that the setting in the middle of the book was unexpected and different but very much fit with the story. Both main characters were fun and interesting. It is great to see a main stream F/F contemporary novel come out.

2 stars. I think this one may have oversold itself by suggesting that it was an Anastasia retelling. It was more Princess Diaries than Anastasia.

I love a good cheesy romance. But this one was a bit over the top and unbelievable to me. There were moments that the dialogue felt as though it were written by gay men who have to guess what lesbian conversations sound like. The chemistry felt a little forced at the outset and didn't set a good tone... I mean, come on, when in life have you ever accidentally ripped someone's sleeve off and had time to admire the other person's biceps before the other person casually tells you please don't worry about it and offers a seductive smile.

The politics felt fabricated. I was really rooting for our princess after witnessing her heartbreak at the beginning of the novel, and it was enough to keep me reading through to the end, but honestly I was a little disappointed as a whole.

If you want a mindless beach read and a kind of hot orchestrated situation where our two not-yet-lovers are forced to cling to a bed and hold each other against it through a random storm at sea... then yeah, maybe this is your cup of tea.

Three cheers for minority representation in a sapphic romance though. I wish I had liked it more.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon for the ARC!

More like a 3.5 rounded up to a 4 for me, because even when it’s a romance I haven’t enjoyed quite as much from Cole, those are still pretty great. There are so many delightful tropes in this one — fake marriage, only one bed/close proximity, secret royal, bodyguard/princess — and Cole wields them all so skillfully that it reminded me of everything I loved about Anastasia already. (And in a queer romance to boot!) Makeda and Bez’s chemistry shines on the page, and so many laugh-out-loud moments from characters (especially Makeda’s grandmother) kept me reading. The last quarter of the book seemed a little faster than the rest, especially since the biggest chunk takes place when the women are on their overseas trip, and that made it feel like a lot of info was being dropped all at the end, but ultimately this was so fun and if the sequel is who I THINK it’s about, I’m psyched.

How to Find a Princess is a queer Anastasia retelling which, granted I only found out after, but makes SO MUCH SENSE. Now that I know, everything clicks about why I loved the plot, the seafaring adventures, and all the bickering! It only reinforces my love for anything Anastasia-esque and if you are as obsessed as me, please read this book! My favorite element from How to Find a Princess has to be the characters, and their tension. There were pieces of myself I loved dearly in each of them.

The ways Makeda takes care of people, but also just wants someone to take care of her. To be able to stand up for herself and not letting herself change for others, catering to their whims. Whereas Beznaria, a side character from How to Catch a Queen, has this charm in how she barrels forward full steam ahead. She's also neurodivergent - which I sorely need to see more in the romance genre - and her relationships with her family are fantastic.

Thank you netgalley for the eARC.

Please note - three stars means I liked the book and would recommend it. I first read No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole and didn't know she was a romance author. Being a romance newbie, I decided to try How To Catch a Queen late last year. It was refreshing, fun, cute, and full of characters I actually cared about. So then I read Duke by Default! Who am I? It was also lighthearted and full of fun characters who were actually quite relatable. So this review is geared towards people who think they don't like romance novels I suppose.
I requested this book soon after. Again, I adored the characters and had a blast reading the fictional royal storyline that Alyssa Cole is so good at. I've never been a purposeful fan of surprise royal stories/ movies or anything, but these are fun.
Also - a large part of this book is set on a container ship, which had me looking up container ship travel in the middle of reading it. This is a romance between two women - which was lovely and engaging. Their struggles with communication and past relationship troubles were relatable and I was always rooting for them. A nice lighthearted read in between a bunch of serious books I've been reading.

Mix a chaos agent investigator looking for a lost princess to clear her family name and a sea snail people pleaser from Jersey, put them in a bed and breakfast and a cargo ship and watch sparks fly. Beznaria and Makeda have great chemistry, and of course, they have to fight it, because it wouldn’t be appropriate for a guard and princess to become entangled.
Pros:
Lots of great tropes here, most notably only one bed, forced proximity and fake marriage.
Queer black neurodiverse female love
Opposites attract
Bez and Makeda both make conscious efforts to communicate better and interact more healthily in their fake relationship than either has managed in their previous real ones.
Cons:
Lots of sexual tension, but not enough resolution of it. Our MCs go from fighting their attraction, to giving in very briefly, to having their secrets come between them with very little honeymoon phase.
The ending was very abrupt. I wanted more resolution between Bez and Makeda, more time with their families, and more time in Ibarania. It wrapped up so quickly I didn’t have a chance to really sink into the Happily Ever After.

Overall, it was a fun read, and I am so pleased to see more queer representation in this series. I am looking forward to the next book in the series! Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC, all opinions are my own.

I'm an Alyssa Cole fan. I find her work intelligent and fun escapism. I especially love her royals series and a was excited to see more from Bez. Overall, this book was entertaining but I felt the pace was off a bit and the ending was rushed.

Makeda has had a rough year. She feels useful when she's helping people and that's led her girlfriend to leave her and to default on a small business loan. She moves in with her grandmother to try to start piecing her life back together. She's adamant about ignoring her supposed royal heritage because it's ruined her relationship with her mom. Until Bez shows up and she can't ignore it anymore.

Bez is an investigator for the royals. She's tasked with finding the rightful heir of Ibarania and tracks Makeda down. She's a little over the top with her scheming and personality. I'm wondering if Cole meant for this character to be neurodiverse. Either way, she gets her way and gets Makeda on a ship to Ibarania to claim her heritage and clear Bez's family's name.

Honestly, the whole container ship plot was really interesting. It's nothing I've read before and the cast of characters made it really fun. It took up like 70% of the book so when they did finally get to Ibarania the whole ending was completely rushed. I'm guessing we'll hear more about this county in future books but it felt a little flat in this book.

This is not my favorite book in the series, but even a mediocre Alyssa Cole book is a great read. I think she's lost her footing a bit in this world she's built. I loved the characters, but the conceit of the princess contest was confusing as was why they needed to take a ship. There were a lot of McGuffins here.

How To Find A Princess is the second in Alyssa Cole’s Runaway Royals series and I… did not like it. I did not like it at all.

This queer Anastasia retelling should have been everything I wanted and more, and it was full of tropes I love. Unfortunately, it was not the best writing, and the plot was too slow for me.

We meet Makeda Hicks, a people pleaser who loses her job and her girlfriend all at once, and then meets Baznaria Chetchevaliere, who we know from the first book in this series. Love Bez, don’t love Makeda.

I also wish that for a runaway royal novel, we spent more time in the royalty space, and less time on a freight ship in the middle of the Atlantic ocean.

Thanks to Netgalley and Avon for the advanced reader copy.

I wanted to like this so bad! I've been waiting for Bez's after How to Catch A Queen and I was let down. The pacing wasn't great and over all plot development underwhelming. I did get aspects of an Anastasia retelling but the whole story just wasn't there. And the time spent in Ibarania at the end of the book was to short and rushed. Here's hoping the next book in this series is better!

I have absolutely loved this book. It was pitched as a modern day Anastasia story and you could feel the inspiration but at the same time it was very original. I've loved Makeda and Bez and their chemistry. They're both very relatable especially Makeda.
It had some of the best tropes: fake marriage, one bed, lost princess...
I wish it didn't had such an abrupt ending though.

Although this is an addictive read, like all of Cole's works, this is not her strongest outing. The story is relatively predictable--nevertheless, the likeability of the characters and the strength of Cole's writing carries the book. Worth a read if interested in a light, fun romance.

Alyssa Cole is a stunning, creative author who never disappoints. This queer retelling of the Anastasia story lit my inner teenage aflame. I loved it and highly recommend it.

This was my first time to read Alyssa Cole, who has been at the top of the TBR author pile for too long. I enjoyed her writing very much.

I would say this book is a re-telling of Anastasia. Bez, the woman entrusted to get the long lost Princess back to her country but also against the advice of her superiors and then Makeda, the long lost Princess who doesn’t want to be royalty. Cole did a wonderful giving voice to two characters who are incredibly similar but making them each different and unique.

The book and interactions between Bez and Makeda were very entertaining. The only drawback was that the ending was very rushed. There should definitely have been some stuff cut from the beginning so that the ending could be given its due. I also wouldn’t necessarily call this a romance which it’s labeled as. We get the tension between the two women and a couple kisses for 95% of the book then two scenes are crammed into at the last minute.

I would recommend this book to those who love a sapphic romance and a Princess retelling. Thank you Netgalley and publisher for this ARC copy in exchange for a honest review.

— Staci McIntyre