I have enjoyed many of Alyssa Cole's romances and was curious to try her thriller debut but unfortunately it didn't work as well for me as I had hoped for. 

In this book Alyssa Cole has focused on topical issues in the American society - gentrification (in NY specifically), racism, police violence. It's goes in some dark places, both in present times and in history, with unflinching honesty and this is the element of the story I liked the most. 

I appreciate the premise of the book but I  felt the execution was far from perfect. The first part was too slow, too descriptive - we get to meet the MCs and see the attraction between them from the start; there are separate incidents happening in their neighbourhood but they didn't create the tension I  expect from a thriller.

We get a detailed presentation of some lesser known, even completely forgotten, history of Brooklyn and I quite like it but at the same time it felt heavy handed to me, like history lesson, not a book of genre fiction. 

 

The first half read like very much like a depressing litfic about two people going through rough times. I didn't feel a connection to either of the MCs and found their romance lackluster. Their relationship did have a prominent place in the story and as a romance reader this didn't bother me, what bothered me is that I was not convinced these two are good for each other.

The thriller aspect picked up in the final 35-40%, so much so that it went into wtf territory, too much was happening, some of it pretty unbelievable. I am willing to suspend believe in most of the romantic suspense and thrillers I read, I would have done the same here. But the first part of the book felt so realistic, more facts than fiction indeed, and then the final section of the story came completely at odds with it. 

The ending was totally anticlimactic and made no sense. We also got some loose threads that remained unresolved. Overall, it was a frustrating read for me. I would not recommend it but I have also seen lots of praise for it, so it might work better for other readers.

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The Reluctant Royals series returns with a good girl searching for the life that’s not too big, and not too small, and the bad boy prince who might be just right for her…

Nya Jerami fled Thesolo for the glitz and glamour of NYC but discovered that her Prince Charming only exists in her virtual dating games. When Nya returns home for a royal wedding, she accidentally finds herself up close and personal—in bed—with the real-life celebrity prince who she loves to hate.

For Johan von Braustein, the red-headed step-prince of Liechtienbourg, acting as paparazzi bait is a ruse that protects his brother—the heir to the throne—and his own heart. When a royal referendum threatens his brother’s future, a fake engagement is the perfect way to keep the cameras on him.

Nya and Johan both have good reasons to avoid love, but as desires are laid bare behind palace doors, they must decide if their fake romance will lead to a happily-ever-after.

This is the third and final full-length novel in the series. After enjoying the previous two and getting a tiny glimpse of the MCs in this one, I was really following forward to reading it. It was nice and sweet but not as good I as expected. I liked both Nya and Johan but there was too much forced drama and not enough real conflict for me to like it more. 

I appreciate Nya's strength and her ability to be hopeful and feel joy despite the brutal manipulation and gaslighting she endured for years from her father. It was hard to read at times but also rewarding to see her strength in a very dire situation. It was not all smooth sailing for her, she felt lost and confused, betrayed and lonely but she forged through and never gave up. This was also true in the way she built the intimacy with Johan, she challenged herself, pushed herself to ask for what she wanted.

Johan was actually the sweetest, most caring and sensitive hero who were supposed to be bad playboy prince.  I liked his true nature which he was careful to hide from everyone but at the same time, we only hear about his shenanigans and publicity stunts but they never quite felt real to me. They only happened in the past and at present in this story we see him only on his best behaviour.

I liked seeing my beloved characters from the previous books and the new side characters we meet her was a pleasure to read too. There is an enby character coming out story which I found tender and deeply moving. 

With all the things I enjoyed in this romance, there were a lot of small details which I found annoying and which kept taking me out of the story. Nya playing that romancing simulation game even after she got into a fake engagement with the Johan and became intimate with him felt like a betrayal. I wasn't too keen of all the forced drama either. 

Overall, I enjoyed the whole series with A Duke by Default about Portia and Tavish being my favourite. If you are looking for inclusive contemporary romance that is both fun and emotional, I heartily recommend this series.

Daniel Cumberland’s uneventful life as a freed man in Massachusetts ended the night he was kidnapped and sold into slavery. To then have his freedom restored by the very man who stole his beloved’s heart is almost too much to bear. When he’s offered entry into the Loyal League, the covert organization of spies who helped free him, Daniel seizes the opportunity to help take down the Confederacy and vent the rage that consumes him.

When the Union Army occupies Janeta Sanchez’s small Florida town, her family’s goodwill and ties to Cuba fail to protect her father from being unjustly imprisoned for treason. To ensure her father’s release, Janeta is made an offer she can’t refuse: spy for the Confederacy. Driven by a desire for vengeance and the hope of saving her family, she agrees to infiltrate the Loyal League as a double agent.

Daniel is both aggravated and intrigued by the headstrong recruit. For the first time in months, he feels something other than anger, but a partner means being accountable, and Daniel’s secret plan to settle a vendetta and strike a blow for the Union can be entrusted to no one. As Janeta and Daniel track Jefferson Davis on his tour of the South, their dual hidden missions are threatened by the ghosts of their pasts and a growing mutual attraction—that might be their only hope for the future.

Review 

What a fantastic end to an amazing series!

These are such important books, offering a little known and an invaluable perspective on the Civil War in the US. I enjoyed all the books and with An Extraordinary Union my favourite, this comes a close second. It's a powerful character-driven story with a strong suspense elements (the MCs are al spies and agents, after all). 

I won't be giving away any plot details and I can say that it's tied with the previous in the series but works well as standalone. The whole series draws a powerful portrayal of the people involved in the Civil War and this one adds yet another layer to the grand picture.

Daniel was a broken man, set on revenged, disillusioned, hardened, one who fights for his people but ultimately he has lost hope in his country. There is so much hurt and devastation in his life, and blame, all the self-blame for having been naive and hopeful, for being weak and unable to move on. 

He was a free man with big plans for the future and he was kidnapped and enslaved and everything was taken away from him. In a way his story was one long coming back from the dead, learning to trust and to hope and dream again.

 panic attack, suicidal thoughts, anxiety. flashbacks of trauma and torture. 

Janeta was an amazing, so interesting, so unusual. She started as a double agent, determined to spy for the Confederacy. Her father was a white Cuban slave-owner and, her mother was a slave he freed and later married. She through a most difficult and transforming journey in this story. She had to face hard truths about herself and her family that she had been avoiding. She found her people in the face of Daniel and the slave they met on the road. I started disliking her and by the end I was fully on her side. 

The story has a varied cast of great side characters who brought life and richness to the story. Seeing Malcom and Elle (the MCs in book 1) in the end bought things full circle. 

Ultimately, this is a dark but hopeful story. The focus for me was not so much on the HEA but on the MCs making a choice who they want to be in this life, standing up for their to love and happiness and after all, unconditional freedom. 

Ebook price: $9.99, books 1 and 2 are on sale at the time of posting this review: $2.99 each

I haven't done much reading while on vacation but I did read some amazing stories. Here are my short reviews on the first two books in Alyssa Cole's Reluctant Royals series. 

In three words - I loved it. So fun and so much depth. Entertaining, everything I need in my romances - real, flawed characters, messy emotions, a bit (royal) drama, interesting family and friendship dynamics. There is so much to talk about in this book. Heroine discovers she has ADHD, she is not messy and flighty and unreliable but brilliant and determined. Divorced older hero who doesn't want to fall in love. No cheating evil ex, but rather an amicable divorce where they are still friends. I can't recommend it enough. I loved the female friendship, old and newly emerging ones, his family is pure gold. On top of the fabulous romance this story also presents a topical comment on immigration, gentrification, the aristocracy. I related so much to her way of expressing love  through care.Brilliant, one of my top reads of 2018!

5 stars

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Add the Goodreads / Buy on Amazon

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Currently reading: I started Stripped by Zoey Castile but had to stop at 70% because it was not working for me and I was getting close to hate reading it. I will try to finish it in order to write a proper mini review, hopefully next week. So, now I'm reading A Conspiracy of Whispers by Ada Harper. I'm less than halfway through and I'm riveted, such a brilliant sci-fi, post-apocalyptic m/f romance. I can't wait to finish it and start the next one, A Treason of Truths. It's a f/f romance and I already have an ARC. 

As the Civil War rages between the states, a courageous pair of spies plunge fearlessly into a maelstrom of ignorance, deceit, and danger, combining their unique skills to alter the course of history and break the chains of the past . . .

Elle Burns is a former slave with a passion for justice and an eidetic memory. Trading in her life of freedom in Massachusetts, she returns to the indignity of slavery in the South—to spy for the Union Army.

Malcolm McCall is a detective for Pinkerton's Secret Service. Subterfuge is his calling, but he’s facing his deadliest mission yet—risking his life to infiltrate a Rebel enclave in Virginia.

Two undercover agents who share a common cause—and an undeniable attraction—Malcolm and Elle join forces when they discover a plot that could turn the tide of the war in the Confederacy's favor. Caught in a tightening web of wartime intrigue, and fighting a fiery and forbidden love, Malcolm and Elle must make their boldest move to preserve the Union at any cost—even if it means losing each other

I can't believe I waited this long to read this. It's a remarkable, engaging romance with strong suspense elements, a romantic spy thriller during the US Civil War.

I loved both the hero and heroine each of whom went through a journey of their own. Elle is one of the best romance heroine I have read in a while. She is strong and independent and super smart (with eidetic memory) and she is a spy for the Royal League helping the Union. As a free Black working under the disgiuse of a mute slave, she has a lot to deal with without the added complication of meeting a charming white man (who also happens to be spy for RL)

Malcolm was a complex and intriguing hero. Charming and easy going, he is in fact closer to a beta hero than an alpha. I liked how him meeting Elle and getting to know her forced him to examine his his own hero/white saviour complex. And he was not bitter or angry over but rather accept he had a lot to and improve about himself and the world went on making both of them better. 

There was no easy sway for them to be together. They both first had to believe it was possible and then start working on making it a reality while still doing their mission. Their romance was very physical but also based on mutual respect and admiration. Elle is smarter than him and he is not intimidated by this, but rather in awe of her strengths, endurance.

She takes a risk, opens her heart to the impossible. There was much focus on the inner struggles between what she feels is her duty to herself and her people and the love she feels for Malcolm, willing to trust him. In the end they we were working together for the benefit of her people while following their hearts.

The story was full of plot twists and turns that kept me on the edge the whole time I was reading.

This is an exquisitely written story, rich in detail in the lives of slaves and slave owners and soldiers and rebels. All character are vivid, memorable. Highly recommended read!

Purchase links: Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | B&N

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Blurb

The Civil War has turned neighbor against neighbor--but for one scientist spy and her philosopher soldier, war could bind them together . . . 

For three years of the War Between the States, Marlie Lynch has helped the cause in peace: with coded letters about anti-Rebel uprisings in her Carolina woods, tisanes and poultices for Union prisoners, and silent aid to fleeing slave and Freeman alike. Her formerly enslaved mother's traditions and the name of a white father she never knew have protected her--until the vicious Confederate Home Guard claims Marlie's home for their new base of operations in the guerilla war against Southern resistors of the Rebel cause.

Unbeknowst to those under her roof, escaped prisoner Ewan McCall is sheltering in her laboratory. Seemingly a quiet philosopher, Ewan has his own history with the cruel captain of the Home Guard, and a thoughtful but unbending strength Marlie finds irresistible.

When the revelation of a stunning family secret places Marlie's freedom on the line, she and Ewan have to run for their lives into the hostile Carolina night. Following the path of the Underground Railroad, they find themselves caught up in a vicious battle that could dash their hopes of love--and freedom--before they ever cross state lines.

Review

This is the second book in the series and it's very different in tone than the first book despite the outward similarities. This is the story of Ewan, Malcolm's brother (who is a soldier and interrogator for the Union) falling for Marlie, a free mixed race woman (spy for the Union and healer woman).

It's a very character focused story where the suspense elements are less prominent than in the first book. For me it read like an exploration of the human soul with its darkest, scariest corners but there was also light and hope there too.

Marlie comes from tradition of healers but she also believes in science and she pracitces a mixture of hoodoo beliefs and scientific approach to healing. She leads a sort of privilege, sheltered life, while still helping the Union in her own small way. Then her world gets turned upside down and she finds herself questioning her own identity, her place and role in life. She goes through a lot of change in order to come to accept and understand the past, to find room for dreams and hopes for the future.

Ewan is just as complex, his world is actually in turmoil though outwardly he appears calm and in control of his life. It's only towards the end we see more of his inner struggles when he truly opens to Marlie. I admit I was taken aback by the whole torture aspect and his ability to rationalise and justify it. I much more subscribe to her view of violence/torture as hurting you as much as it hurts the other person. I remain ambivalent toward the hero, all the violence he did and the way it comes so easy/naturally to him makes me hesitant to fully stand by him. 

As far as the romance is concerned, I really wanted more of it. They meet under difficult circumstance and most of their time together they are on the run, hiding, which is not perfect situation for a romantic affair to bloom, yet my issues with it were different. Marlie and Ewan feel strong physical attraction to each other and find pleasure and comfort in each other's company but also they are keeping a lot of secrets, never really admitting it all, never truly opening up to each other until the very end. Add to this the fact that they have massively different views (which they both change in the course of the story) and I feel they didn't truly connect for most of the book. Their intimate connection is only forged after they share their worst secrets, and there are some ugly and scary things that the war has brought to the fore.

That said, I loved the details of the world he author (re)created, the complexity and multilayered-ness of the society both in the South and in the North. This story strays far away from the familiar stereotypical stories about the Civil War. It shows a less idealised, more real picture of all ordinary people who lived through it and how it affected from the very their very physical corporeal existence to shaking and fully destroying their souls.

There is a minor detail having to do with fertility problems which really bothered me and I just can't let it go. It's personal thing and most readers wouldn't notice/pay attention to it but for it was big deal and affected my enjoyment of the story.

Overall, I liked the story, the focus on the issues of identity and what makes us who we are, how free/not-free everybody is wase interesting to read. The romance didn't quite work for me and I felt its resolution was rather rushed, it left me wanting more redemption of the hero and more independence for the heroine.

I remain pretty invested in this series as a whole and I'm looking forward towards the next installment, An Unconditional Freedom, coming out in 2018.

Purchase links: Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | B&N