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For our first book review, I struggled to decide what
The Royal Novelist should review. Should I choose my
favorite royal novel or a
literary classic? Or maybe a
book on writing..... In the end, I decided to go with a new book, one I have never read before.
One of the most common pieces of advice you will hear is to read. Read everything! And as these book reviews are meant to get YOU to read new things, get inspired, study some writing techniques, etc. I thought I would do the same.
So, I went to the new book section of my local library and choose the first royal-themed novel I saw. And I was not disappointed by my choice. It is a brilliant book.
A Princess In Theory
By Alyssa Cole
The story begins with Naledi, a broke, American, graduate student, being barraged with emails from a mystery sender claiming that Naledi is betrothed to an African prince. I know, right?! Sounds like one of those email scams.
But little did she know, that African prince is real (and very sexy). And he has been pining for his soulmate, ever since Naledi's parents fled their homeland of Thesolo years ago, never to be heard from again. Prince Thabiso arrives in New York City, having finally tracked Naledi down. He was going to demand answers about why her parent's fled and how she could disrespect him like this. But before he gets the chance, Naledi mistakes him as a new server at her waitressing job. Prince Thabiso realizing she knows nothing about her past, or him, plays along.
In a lot of ways,
A Princess In Theory is a
typical Romance Novel. The story centers around the ups and downs of Prince Thabiso & Naledi's love story. But the author, Alyssa Cole, did a great job of interweaving the love story with a rich thread of sub-plots. So, it is not just a love story, but it is a story of friendship, royal duty, mystery, adventure, and family.
Prince Thabiso & Naledi's love story includes a charity gala, the perils of the New York subway, a mysterious illness in Thesolo, a mountain-side snowstorm... need I say more?
Some takeaways from A Princess in Theory
With each book review, I will share with you some of the interesting, thought-provoking and inspiring things from the novel, that will hopefully help you with your own writing. (And things I certainly will be thinking about in my own.)
Switching The Point of View
It is not always an easy task, but I really like how the author, Cole, switched the point of view back and forth from Naledi to Prince Thabiso. It really helps you to get the fuller picture and understand each character's motivations and thoughts. And, because we had gotten to see into the mind of the other character, we often had a good idea what they were thinking or feeling even though we weren't in their point of view at the moment.
The switches in point of view were all very appropriate and easy to follow along. It wasn't always every chapter, but when the narrative called for it. It helped to keep things moving along. You didn't have to follow as one of the characters rushes off and does this boring thing. You could switch points of view and focus on what the other character was doing then and recap the boring thing later. It also helped to keep the threads of the various subplots going.
Your Damsel in Distress doesn't need to be a Damsel in Distress
With many romance novels, especially ones with royalty, we often see a damsel in distress narrative. But given the growing modern feminist views in society, Cole took up the challenge of changing her damsel in distress to a strong, empowered woman.
Naledi is a grad student studying epidemiology, who in addition to her studies, works two jobs as a waitress & lap assistant. Naledi is smart, capable, caring and able to scrape by on her own. Naledi dreams of a better life, but one she would build for herself. By every important measure, she is Prince Thabiso's equal, and can even school him in a thing or two.
I think Alyssa Cole put it best in the scene where Prince Thabiso reads Naledi eventual reply to the "spam" emails [pg 32-33]:
"Hmm." Thabiso scrubbed his thumb over the screen, and his betrothed's words slid into sight.
FUCK. OFF.
[...] But he read the two words out loud and laughed until tears streamed from his eyes and caught in his beard.
As a child, he'd imagined Naledi in some tower far away, being held by an evil sorcerer. He'd imagined she'd needed saving and he would be the one to do it.
FUCK. OFF.
Oh no, Naledi didn't need his help at all.
No Ivory Towers, these Women are in STEM
Cole took her feminist themes a step further by including numerous women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) in her novel. The main character, Naledi, is a young, smart, public health graduate student. But Naledi is not a token example. The novel features many women in STEM, a number of whom are very successful and hold leadership positions. These women include many women of color and a wheelchair user.
The book also had all of these great science references. I especially enjoyed Naledi's two rescued mice, Gram Negative & Gram Positive. While the mice are definitely Cinderella inspired, the mice's names are taken from the Gram's Method. The Gram's Method is a method of staining bacteria to help with a preliminary identification. The bacteria can be broken up into two large groups (Gram-positive and Gram-negative) depending on the color of the stain. This is something Naledi as a lab assistant would be all too familiar with.
Even with her feminist viewpoint though, Cole didn't shy away from showing some of the challenges women in STEM face.
Show Don't Tell
Cole does a great job in the novel of showing, instead of telling. For example, she doesn't tell us Prince Thabiso is extremely wealthy. But rather, first introduces us to the Prince on his private jet getting a massage by a private masseuse, before being interrupted by his impeccably dressed personal assistant. (How EXTRA!)
But Don't Show Us Too Much
A lot of novels now use different forms of media (emails, texts, social media messages, news articles, etc.) to help tell the story. Some authors have incorporated them very well,... others not so much. Cole did a wonderful job with this. She used them sparingly, but very effectively. They all had a purpose and were the best way of delivering that information.
I was especially taken by the three "spam" emails to Naledi about her betrothal to an African prince, that opened the novel. They did a great job of helping to set the stage. I like that the author didn't give the full emails. She cut them off at a very natural place, where it felt like Naledi, curious about the emails, would have said enough and close the message.
The three emails were also the 1st, 5th & 11th in this long chain of "spam" that Naledi was ignoring. So, we could see this desperation and frustration that was building in the sender's message. But we're not actually bogged down with reading every message.
As writers, we often have a lot of ideas and think of a lot of details, but sometimes less is more. Give the reader just an enough to paint a colorful, complete picture.
Always Be Prepared
Romance novels & sex..... [Blushing as I write this......... but I got to give props to Alyssa Cole.] I was really glad to see the author very explicitly showing and talking about using condoms and birth control. I also really liked that both the female and male love interest took a turn providing the condoms.
Royal Research Side of Things
Cole definitely didn't neglect the royal side of her novel. There was a really great subplot of Prince Thabiso's royal duties, and him struggling to decide whether a mining deal with Omega Corp is really best for his country.
The 2nd half of the novel takes places in the Kingdom of Thesolo. So, we do get an intimate look at life in the African kingdom. While Thesolo is a made up country, it was definitely inspired by the real-life African monarchy of Lesotho.
The real-life Kingdom of Lesotho is a small country in the middle of South Africa. Lesotho is probably best known for two things: (1) having one of the highest prevalences of AIDS & HIV in the world, and (2) being the country where Prince Harry of the UK (now titled the Duke of Sussex), founded his charity Sentebale (with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho).
There is also a little cameo in the novel from Prince Johan of Liechtensbourg. The country is a mash-up of Liechtenstein & Luxembourg. And playboy prince is obviously inspired by the playboy princes of Europe (with some pointed references to Prince Harry of UK & Marius Høiby of Norway). I really liked this brief appearance of Johan because it helped to contrast and show the growth of Prince Thabiso as he is falling in love and getting serious.
I also really liked how Cole incorporated Thesolo's religion (spirituality, traditions, etc.) into the book. Religion plays a big part in Royalty & the Monarchy given that the monarch is often thought of as being appointed by or a descendant of the God/s.
Keeping true to the romantic novel genre, the novel ended with the promise of Happily Ever After for the couple. But the ending wasn't exactly what I expected, but a good feminist twist on the classic. It proved once again, Naledi is not a damsel in distress who needed to be swept off her feet and saved by a handsome prince.
A Princess in Theory is a great book, and one I would highly recommend. There is a sequel,
A Duke by Default (coming out July 31), which follows Naledi's best friend, Portia Hobbs, on a trip to Scotland, where she may or may not fall head over heels for a Duke.
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