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How to Find a Princess

Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available

New York Times and USA Today bestseller Alyssa Cole's second Runaway Royals novel is a queer Anastasia retelling, featuring a long-lost princess who finds love with the female investigator tasked with tracking her down.

Makeda Hicks has lost her job and her girlfriend in one fell swoop. The last thing she's in the mood for is to rehash the story of her grandmother's infamous summer fling with a runaway prince from Ibarania, or the investigator from the World Federation of Monarchies tasked with searching for Ibarania's missing heir.

Yet when Beznaria Chetchevaliere crashes into her life, the sleek and sexy investigator exudes exactly the kind of chaos that organized and efficient Makeda finds irresistible, even if Bez is determined to drag her into a world of royal duty Makeda wants nothing to do with.

When a threat to her grandmother's livelihood pushes Makeda to agree to return to Ibarania, Bez takes her on a transatlantic adventure with a crew of lovable weirdos, a fake marriage, and one-bed hijinks on the high seas. When they finally make it to Ibarania, they realize there's more at stake than just cash and crown, and Makeda must learn what it means to fight for what she desires and not what she feels bound to by duty.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 5, 2021
      Leaving behind the angstier drama of How to Catch a Queen, Cole juggles the conventions of romantic comedy, fairy tale, and social satire in her heartwarming second Runaway Royals romance. When Makeda Hicks loses her job and her girlfriend in one day, it sends the insecure people pleaser into an emotional tailspin. So when quirky, scene-stealing investigator Beznaria “Bez” Chetchevaliere shows up hoping to discuss Makeda’s long-disputed royal roots—the stuff of Hicks family legend—the usually compliant Makeda finally flashes her claws. But with an overdue debt threatening the future of her family’s B&B, Makeda can’t refuse the bounty Bez offers in exchange for her traveling to the multicultural Mediterranean island nation of Ibarania as a potential heir to the throne. Mistaken identities, puns, and wordplay abound as the recalcitrance of Bez’s boss, “Lord Higginshoggins of Hogginshiggins, Director General of the World Federation of Monarchists,” lands the warring women on a two-week ocean voyage to Ibarania and requires them to play newlyweds for free passage. Though some abrupt emotional shifts may give readers whiplash, Cole convincingly demonstrates why fake relationships and forced proximity remain rom-com staples: on neutral ground, within clear boundaries they set together, guards fall, and chemistry takes flight. This is a charmer. Agent: Lucienne Diver, the Knight Agency.

    • Booklist

      April 15, 2021
      Atlantic City native Makeda Hicks feels more like a doormat than a missing princess from an ancient island kingdom. She repeatedly rebuffs the willful and attractive investigator, Beznaria Chetchevalier, who is on a mission to restore Makeda to the Ibaranian throne. Makeda's family is convinced that she is a royal descendant, but only a DNA test will prove her lineage and help solve their pressing financial problems. Forces are at work to prevent Bez from fulfilling her duty, causing her to justify lying to the woman she swore to protect, which leads to a voyage across a stormy sea via cargo ship while pretending to be married. Sadly, their romance is lost within a convoluted plot that ends too quickly with a surprise twist. Unlike her previous novels featuring long-lost African royalty, the second installment in Cole's Runaway Royals series, following How to Catch a Queen (2020), doesn't quite live up to the promise of its "queer Anastasia retelling" premise, but fans will still enjoy the world building and look forward to the series finale featuring Prince Anzam Khandrol of Druk.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Karen Chilton narrates the story of an unconventional search for a princess with a happy and delightfully unexpected ending. Makeda Hicks wants nothing to do with princesses or fairy tales, despite family stories of her grandmother's youthful fling with a prince. So when Beznaria Chetchevaliere suddenly appears, saying she is the long-lost heir to a small kingdom, the meeting does not go well. While it could have been easy for Chilton to turn the women into parodies, she gives them fully fleshed-out personalities and personal agency. The time the two spend together on their journey to Ibarania is arguably more important than the outcome of the princess test. Chilton is at her best when Makeda and Beznaria are simply being together, learning to communicate and building a relationship. K.M.P. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

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