Review: Bad Princess – Julianna Keyes
Bad Princessby Julianna Keyes
Publisher: Julianna Keyes
Publication Date: November 27, 2017
Genres: Romance
Pages: 100
Source: NetGalley
I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
My rating:
Notorious for leaping off roofs, maiming foreign royals, and that twerking incident, Brinley Cantrella of Estau is nobody’s definition of a good princess. She’s fearless and bold, not good and gracious. And after a lifetime of being told she’s unfit to be queen, wearing the crown and helping to usher Estau into a new era is the one dream she’s never dared chase.
But when her older sister abdicates the throne, all Brinley has to do to inherit the role is not twerk, not maim anybody, and definitely not get caught fooling around topless with Prince Finn, her childhood crush, the only man she’s ever loved… and her sister’s former future husband.
Finn embodies the definition of good. Tall and handsome, serious and honorable, he always does the right thing — including agreeing to marry his ex’s sister to cover up this latest scandal. Brinley has fallen down stairs, broken teeth and broken bones, but this is the first time her heart has ever been broken. She now has the crown and the prince, and on the surface, life is good — but is being married to a man everyone swears could never love her back good enough?
“[I]t occurred to her that she might be a bad princess, but he was a sad prince.”
Light and sexy, humorous and silly, this was a fun bit of book candy!
Despite the fact that everyone (like, literally everyone) thinks the worst of her, Brinley is a likable and funny person, strong enough to fight to live her own life rather than just quietly hide in her perfect older sister’s shadow. Brinley doesn’t want to be Finn’s consolation prize, especially since she’s secretly loved him for years and can’t stand the thought of being married to him if he’s only doing his duty. While I’m generally not a fan of insta-love, in this case it was believable as they had known each other for practically their entire lives. I thought the growth of their relationship, and the problems they encountered, were both sweet (and hoo-boy steamy!) and believable.
This book is light and sexy, and reads like an adult version of a fairy tale, though with surprising depth in the main characters. However, like a fairy tale, it tends towards being overly simplistic and unrealistic in parts. My favorite part is that it’s silly and quite humorous, especially the descriptions of the disasters Brinley gets into – falling into a frozen pond even though there’s a sign posted specifically telling her not to walk on the ice, eating random mushrooms she finds in the woods, and so many sword mishaps.
“I cannot help but wonder what you are plotting.”
“A coup,” Brinley answered absently. “Always a coup.”
As for cons, besides the fairy-tale-ness, the pacing was uneven and I felt it ended with too much left unresolved. With that being said, this definitely left me wanting more Brin and Fin (Finnley? Brinian?). Recommended if you’re looking for a light, quick, and sexy read!
I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
