Review: The Princess Deception

The Princess Deception by Nell Stark
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Finished on June 7, 2021

Favorite Scene/Quote: "We aren't born intolerant. We learn the prejudices we are taught and absorb the biases around us, to our detriment."

4.5/5

I really wanted a book that featured a woman disguised as a man and eventually I managed to find this one. I was a bit confused by the summary at first (it reminded me too much of She’s the Man) until I realized that both were based on Shakespeare’s The Twelfth Night. At that point, I was sold. Royalty and people not being who they say they are, sign me up.
    
Viola is the princess of Belgium. When her brother Sebastian overdoses and has to go into rehab she worries for him. They’re close and she wants his life to be as normal as possible when he leaves, but how will that be possible with the media storm that will be stirred up. She elects to take his place in his FIFA bid. Missy Duke is crushed after her career in soccer ended in injury, but she’s taken a job as a reporter in hopes that it will help. She has to cover the FIFA bid and she thinks she’s struck gold when she notices some differences in Prince Sebastian’s behavior. With both of them lying to the other, can a relationship truly be formed?

I really liked both of these characters most of the time. Viola was easy to like. It was clear how much she cares about her brother and how much she was willing to do in order to make sure that his life remained as normal as possible. There never really came a point where I didn’t love her. Duke was a bit harder towards the end. She’s in a bad mode because of her soccer career ending and that’s understandable. She really wants to get the scoop on Prince Sebastian and even then, I didn’t dislike her. I disliked her when she believed her boss. I just personally don’t see why someone would have taken someone like him at his word.

I wasn’t sure how I would like Duke’s plot. I’m not a huge fan of people continually lying to someone they want to be with, but I actually really liked how this was written. Duke was written as someone who regretted her actions. She owned up to the fact that she had made mistakes and tried her best to fix the problems she had helped cause. It might not be perfect, but I really liked how it was handled.

I want to commend this book on one thing in specific. This is the only book I recall reading that has managed to give me an absolutely heartbreaking sex scene. I’ve had emotional scenes before, but this one hurt. I won’t explain the context or anything like that, just know it affected me more than I had originally expected it too.

At some point during the book, I can’t quite recall when, I became less invested in what was going on. That’s not a blame on the author or even the plot, it’s just a purely personal thing that occurred. If that hadn’t occurred, I think there’s a chance that I would have given this book 5 stars.

I enjoyed this book more than I expected too. This is the third Princess book by Nell Stark, and it was good enough that I’m planning on reading the previous two when I have the time.