lightreads: a partial image of a etymology tree for the Indo-European word 'leuk done in white neon on black'; in the lower left is (Default)
2019-09-20 01:39 pm

A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole

A Prince on Paper

3/5. Another modern sort of royal romance. Woman with a complicated familial past from a made up African nation enters into fake engagement with sort of prince of a made up European nation.

I'm discovering that I like Cole's books for the people – here they are complicated and wounded in ways that make sense and that both fit together and create friction between them. But I am very little interested in anything else like, say, the plot. I don't think she is particularly successful at having one inform the other, as the plot seems to just sort of happen, obscuring all the interesting interpersonal bits.
lightreads: a partial image of a etymology tree for the Indo-European word 'leuk done in white neon on black'; in the lower left is (Default)
2019-09-07 09:28 am

A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole

A Duke by Default

3/5. Socialite with undiagnosed ADHD who is trying to reinvent herself goes to Scotland for a sword making apprenticeship; ends up discovering that her grumpy boss is the unknowing heir to a duke.

I have a definite weakness for good royal romance, so I've been holding this series in reserve as everyone seems to love it. I did enjoy this – modern romance involving people of color with sex scenes that aren't actively terrible! But I actually . . . could have done without the duke plot? Like, she gets to make a single sword in this entire book, and let's be real, I can read about dukes any time. I can't always read about someone learning to forge a sword, complete with many many dirty jokes. Still, this was enjoyable.

…Still pregnant.