Protect the Prince by Jennifer EstepMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Now She’s Queen
I’d probably give this book 4.5 ⭐️ if I could.
This is the second book in a continuing series. In order to understand this book, you need to read the previous one. The book comes to a natural break in the storyline, but the narrative definitely continues after this book is done.
I listened to this as an audiobook, so the review is written with that in mind. This may alter my experience of the book because listening to a narrator can change how a story is perceived.
This book starts after Everleigh has been Queen of Bellonia for 3 months. She’s spent that time clearing up the mess that her defeated cousin made in her short tenure as monarch. Now she’s finally trying to start getting her reign back on track. At the first formal court session she faces her nobles and wealthy families trying to manipulate her and sway her to their own advantage, including try to marry her off to their own children and grandchildren. What her court isn’t expecting from the ex-Royal Stand-In is someone who is fully capable of standing up for herself and has a long memory for those who slighted her during their petty cruel court games.
One thing everyone seems to agree on is that Everleigh needs to stay away from Lucas Sullivan, something they are struggling to do. The next thing on Everleigh’s agenda is to travel to Sully’s home and try to patch things up with the royal family after the death of Sully’s half-brother the Prince, during the massacre at Seven Spires that demolished the Bellonian Royal Family.
Travelling to a new court means Everleigh has to deal with unfamiliar politics and individuals. She may be Queen now, but she’s on unfamiliar territory with a King who has his own Court to deal with.
It’s always strange in a series when the protagonist achieves success at the end of the first book. Everleigh deposed her cousin and took the Crown. That’s the sort of thing that comes at the END of the series normally, rather than in the middle. However, I think this book handled it well and the challenges that Everleigh faced in a foreign court were sufficiently difficult to make the story continue to flow.
I was surprised that we seemed to see less of Sully in this book, especially when we were on his home territory, but it made sense in the context that both he and Everleigh were fighting their own battles here. Sully was being split between his two loyalties, his father and Everleigh.
I enjoyed the people that Everleigh surrounded herself with. She kept her friends from The Black Swan gladiator troop with her as her key advisors and guards, but she also accepted a few others that she trusted from her earlier days in the palace. I liked how she was willing to take advice and work together with those she trusted, but she was also in charge and not afraid to make big choices without advice.
This book essentially covers Everleigh coming into her own as a Queen on the international stage. She has to deal with assassination attempts, political manoeuvring, learning about her magic and trying to find a path to happiness.
There weren’t any huge surprises plot-wise with this book, but the story was well told and this isn’t a mystery book that requires me to be shocked at the plot twists. I enjoyed the journey on which Everleigh and her friends took me, in this book, especially as I think for me the most enjoyable aspect was the growth of Everleigh’s character. She has changed and matured over the course of the series in a believable and enjoyable way.
As with the first book, the narrator is convincing and entertaining. Her ability to differentiate between the characters through voice is very good and not over the top, which is sometimes a danger with narrating a series with a large number of characters. The narrator read naturally and smoothly and this helped suck me into the story. I found it hard to stop listening once I started, and finished the book in one day!
Though this book ended with a HFN, there is a lot to intrigue me about the next book in the series and I can’t wait to read about what Everleigh does next. I’m especially excited about her discovering more about her magic.
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