e-Audio, 10:51:35
Narrated by: Wesleigh Siobhan & Antony Ferguson
Release Date: June 28, 2022
Published by:
Read from: June 12-14, 2022
Stand-alone
Source: Libro FM
TW: Racism, Sexism, Misogyny
For Readers Interested In: Music (Hip-Hop), Contemporary Romance, Royalty in Romance, Spice Level 4In this dangerously sexy rom-com that evokes the real-life romance between Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan Markle, a prince who wants to live out of the spotlight falls for a daring American rapper who turns his life, and the palace, upside down.
Sexy, driven rapper Danielle “Duchess” Nelson is on the verge of signing a deal that’ll make her one of the richest women in hip hop. More importantly, it’ll grant her control over her life, something she’s craved for years. But an incident with a rising pop star has gone viral, unfairly putting her deal in jeopardy. Concerned about her image, she’s instructed to work on generating some positive publicity… or else.
A brilliant professor and reclusive royal, Prince Jameson prefers life out of the spotlight, only leaving his ivory tower to attend weddings or funerals. But with the Queen’s children involved in one scandal after another, and Parliament questioning the viability of the monarchy, the Queen is desperate. In a quest for good press, she puts Jameson in charge of a tribute concert in her late husband’s honor. Out of his depth, and resentful of being called to service, he takes the advice of a student. After all, what’s more appropriate for a royal concert than a performer named “Duchess”?
Too late, Jameson discovers the American rapper is popular, sexy, raunchy and not what the Queen wanted, although he’s having an entirely different reaction. Dani knows this is the good exposure she needs to cement her deal and it doesn’t hurt that the royal running things is fine as hell. Thrown together, they give in to the explosive attraction flaring between them. But as the glare of the limelight intensifies and outside forces try to interfere, will the Prince and Duchess be a fairy tale romance for the ages or a disaster of palatial proportions?
*MY THOUGHTS*
This has been on my radar since like the rights report. I loved even just the concept of this. And then when the cover was released, I was even more excited. And now that I’ve read it, it certainly lived up to what I had built in my mind. I am so excited for the world to read this.
Duchess is a rapper who wants so much more than to just be labeled as a rapper. She’s on the verge of doing just that, when she goes viral for all the wrong reasons. Concerned for her image, she takes on the first thing to try to fix her image, perform at a concert for the Royal family in the UK. When she gets there she meets the Prince. They instantly hate each other, but soon their attraction to each other wins out. Will they last or will their difference and distance win out?
The number one issue I had with this? The pacing. They went from hating each other to being together immediately. And it wasn’t just that they were “together,” from the spice it was no holds barred. They were absolutely not timid wit each other, but before they couldn’t talk to each other without saying the other should leave. It was hella weird. I think I would have enjoyed it more had they had a very distinctive enemies to less enemies to lovers phase. The spice itself was good, but to me it was overshadowed that I thought they made it there too quickly.
I did like the characters tho. Prince Jameson was such a simp! Everything little thing that Duchess did made him want her. That session when he first Googled her? Yeahhh I wasn’t ready for that. And then there was Duchess. She was also a simp. She tried acting like her Duchess persona was all she was about, but he turned her into Dani so fast. Had they taken their time and gotten to know each other, I think I would have enjoyed their interactions together much more than I did.
The plot of this could have used a bit more buffering tho. I was interested in her skin care line and I wanted her business to be successful. I wanted to see what happened to it. I wanted her to go more into it. But as soon as they met, it was like everything that happened before ceased to exist. There is some other person drama, but it seemed as irrelevant as she was.
Since I got the audiobook from LibroFM, I wanted to mention the narration. I thought they both did a great job. And I was glad that they decided on a 2 person narration for this since their voices accents and vernacular were so different. It was just the all around right call. As for the execution, I thought they did great. I did have to slow down the parts where Duchess was giving some of her quotes from her songs. I thought they would actually get her to rap them. But alas, no. The lyrics were only spoken. That sucked. Part of the reason I like to listen to books with music is because sometimes they actually make the song or lyrics into something and I can actually hear how it’s supposed to sound.
The pacing was off, but I fell for most of the other things this had to offer. I hope there is more about that one person who gets cake in their face in the end. Or at least the people who find each other at that ball thing. Ugh basically I’m saying I want a little more of the royals in this. Just to see if they’re all simps like Jameson lol
Overall, I give this
