12 hrs. 40 min. | Adult Fantasy | Harper Voyage | Release Date: 07/2/2019
*Kill the Queen Spoilers*
Last year, I had some nitpicks with Kill The Queen but overall I enjoyed watching Princess Everleigh Blair’s journey from a low ranking royal to a fierce gladiator. But I found this sequel completely lackluster and kind of dull. It didn’t work for me at all and I know this opinion makes me a total black sheep.
In Protect The Prince, Everleigh is now queen of Bellona. She travels to Andvari to work out a peace treaty as Mortans, the people behind her family’s assassination, keep popping out of the woodwork to kill her. That’s it. That’s the entire plot. People keep trying to kill her.
I was just bored with it. There was no tension or interesting stakes. The tension between the characters turns on Everleigh lying to her close friends and allies Because Of Reasons–which is my least favorite thing.
I’m also not feeling the relationship between Everleigh and Lucas Sullivan, a bastard prince of Andvari. This man does next to nothing most of the book except brood. Everleigh’s emotional relationship with every other character except Sullivan is so specific and well done. The way Everleigh talks and thinks about Paloma, her gladiator rival turned captain of her guard, reads like a more authentic romance…I’m just sayin’.
The author constantly describes rage as smelling like “hot jalapeno.” The phrase “hot jalapeno rage” is used multiple times, it took me out of the book and I just could not take it seriously.
While I would still rec the first book, I think I’m out on this series.
I’m a lifelong reader who started blogging about YA books in 2011 but now I read in just about every genre! I love YA coming of age stories, compelling memoirs and genre bending SFF. You can find me talking all things romance at Romance and Sensibility.