Marthese reviews The Princess Deception by Nell Stark

“Nothing about this situation was simple. Both she and Viola were trying to fool the other”

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 12^th 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.