A cute rom com with great lgbt representation. The sweetness almost gave me a cavity.

While I am glad that a book with such a premise exists with lesbian protagonists, on the whole I was disappointed with the execution. It could have done a lot better with the characters, their romance, and their setting, and leaves a lot to be desired.

I wasn’t expecting high literature, I just wanted to read some fluff, but this was so badly written that it was impossible to enjoy.

lots of fun.

Going into this book knowing the premise, I was really just looking for something entertaining and fluffy. But what I found was that it really lacked the refinement it would've needed to carry itself.

I wasn't expecting a life-changing work of literature, but what really disappointed me about the book was the rambling, directionless pace of the plot and the lazy writing that defined the characters. The main characters each feel like a self-insertion of the author with the added ingredients of some stereotypical traits to make them feel different from each other, whereas the secondary/minor characters are so one dimensional they feel straight out of a mid-2000s disney channel original movie.

I think this book could have been entertaining, but what it really needed was an overhaul in the editing department. The plot felt like an updated-bi-weekly fanfiction where the author has no real plan, and doesn't do any refining after the fact. The characters were, as I said, written like they were blanks being filled in. For a plot as ludicrous as this to work, it would've needed to be carried by its characters. If they had been rendered into interesting people we didn't know at first glance, there would've been more room to grow to like them, and then the otherwise goofy plot line would've been pushed forward by those pivotal romantic scenes: as it was, the characters didn't really stir anything up in me, so I found myself just getting through one scene in order to get to the next and see if it was going to improve.

The narration was wordy in an unnecessary sort of way: the phrases were clunky, as Stark consistently chose the most impressive word for what she meant, instead of the best one for the job. It was distracting, and it felt weirdly pretentious, especially for such a ludicrous romance novel.

The thing I liked about the book was Sasha's main conflict, to do with her dyslexia. But a lot of the pivotal scenes in that plot line were overly formulaic: she's miserable so she's wallowing and watching movies in the dark. It had that distinct sound to it of being rewritten, a new incarnation born from a thousand scenes just like it. A too-literal interpretation of "write what you know." That was maybe what made the plot line so rambling: it was a series of scenes we've seen before in other forms, led by characters we've seen before, connected by meandering segues.

In order for this story to work (and I think it could've) there needs to a be a suspension of disbelief: and in order for it to have that, it would need to be driven by expertly crafted characters, the sort we'd care so much about that we'd forgive and be able to enjoy the unbelievable premise. I think it gets close, with Sasha's dyslexia and anxiety pitted against her natural talent for public relations. That was an interesting facet to her character. Unfortunately, it was the only unpredictable thing in the entire book. Sasha's best friend is every character Ashley Tisdale played in the mid-2000s, and her bodyguard is a gay version of Joe from the Princess Diaries. Kerry's traditional-conservative-family background is a conflict we've seen too many times in lesbian characters to be very interested in without a twist, and she doesn't seem to have a lot of personality outside her feelings for Sasha and her love for running. She has the stereotypical gay-best-friend who says "oh my god, tell me everything!!" at least five times in the book. Sasha's dad is a typical looming patriarch filled with disdain for his daughter for being different. His character works pretty well, but after so many predictable ones you start feeling starved for something out of the ordinary to spice things up.

This book feels like a rough draft. There are scenes, dialogues, and entire characters that feel like they're just filling in the blanks with the first, most obvious solution that came to mind. I wasn't able to get past that to enjoy the fluffiness of it, because it just didn't get me to the point where I achieved that suspense of disbelief that it needed, and it didn't keep me interested.

To return to my mid-2000s Disney Channel Original Movie point, one thought that came to mind as I was reading this is that it's like the novel version of that song the hologram wrote in Pixel Perfect: for those that haven't seen it (everyone outside the ages of 20-25) the hologram is this computer program girl who is semi-sentient, and she wrote a song that is just made up of lines from other songs, rearranged into an order that sort of makes sense; she herself is the same thing, this composite of attractive features of other girls, all put together into something that seems pleasing but lacks originality or authenticity, and it can't really stand up to scrutiny. That is what this book is like.

I apparently really like gay romances with royalty. Not too surprising. I really loved Nell Stark’s The Princess Deception, so I figured I should give this book a chance too.

Kerry is a Rhodes Scholar leaving her family in New York for Oxford. She meets Sasha, Princess Alexandra, at an event and the two are attracted to each other. Sasha seemingly goes out of her way to be in tabloids and shock the public, but there appears to be more to her. When neither are able to get the other off their minds, they decide to meet and talk. A relationship grows between the two, but royalty is expected to be and act a certain way. Will Sasha’s duties to the throne prevent their relationship from happening?

Kerry and Sasha made for a nice couple. I liked each character on their own, but together they shined. Kerry seems to desire independence to be herself and going to Oxford for school helps give her that freedom and independence. Sasha wants the same but doesn’t think she can have it so she’s “Sassy Sasha” instead. The two complemented each other very well. Kerry was able to see who Sasha really was and supported her while Sasha helped pull Kerry out of her shell.

I, personally, think this book is missing one thing in particular: time. Kerry and Sasha deserved more time getting to know each other and getting to bond. I wish there had been more time spent in serious discussions about their families, but also in Kerry helping Sasha with her dyslexia. More build up before the relationship got started. More time at the end to solve the 75% plot problem. Everything felt a bit rushed at points or too slow at points. I’m disappointed that the author chose to describe Kerry’s running tour, but not Kerry reading to Sasha.

I really enjoyed Kerry and Sasha. I thought they made for a good couple with delightful, for the most part, friends. I really wish they had had more time to shine. This book is good, but I had hoped for more.

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I really loved this book. Both main characters have very distinctive voices and are amazing separately and wonderful together. And the writing is simply beautiful.