Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: The Nerd and the Prince
SERIES: Dreamspun Desires #66, Small Town Dreams #1
AUTHOR: B.G. Thomas
NARRATOR: Seb Yarrick
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: January 3, 2019
LENGTH: 7 hours, 6 minutes
BLURB:
A Small-Town Dreams Story
Prince Charming is the man next door.
Small-town business owner Jason Brewster has big dreams: world travel, adventure, and most of all, a passionate romance worthy of a fairy tale. But he doesn’t believe fantasies can come true….
Until Adam moves in next door.
He’s handsome, cultured, European, and best of all, interested in Jason. It’s like something out of the stories Jason loves.
But Adam—whose real name is Amadeo Montefalcone—has a secret. He’s royalty, prince of the small country of Monterosia. Only he doesn’t want to rule, and especially doesn’t want the loveless marriage waiting for him at home. So he ran away in search of true love. With a man. And with Jason, he finds it.
But Adam can’t run forever. The truth will come out. If Jason can forgive Adam’s deception, they might find their happily ever after
REVIEW:
I’m a huge fan of the hidden identity trope, and there’s just something about royals in hiding that calls to me. Needless to say I had to give the book a try.
Amadeo Montefalcone, crown prince of the European country Monterosia, does not want to become king, to marry a woman under false pretences. What he does want i love and to be loved. So to find it he leaves home, leaves Monterosia in search of it, leaving the title behind him and taking the name Adam to further his disguise.
Jason Brewster is a small town business owner who wants to see and experience the world and all it has to offer. But more than that he wants to find that fairy-tale love, wants to find his Prince Charming. Little did he know that he Prince Charming just moved in right next door. Title and all….
I don’t know, but Adam and Jason just didn’t mesh for me. The constant back and forth between them. Yet it still had this feel of sugary sweet perfection to it. It didn’t jive in my mind, didn’t make sense. There was also quite a lot of minor plots added that didn’t really add anything but words to the story. In themselves they weren’t bad ones, they were just underdeveloped or just plain didn’t fit.
The first part of the book was kind of okay-ish (or not) – but then it took a turn for the ridiculous and utterly unbelievable. Not that the rest of the book made me a believer, but still it got worse. I’m sorry, but the whole mythology aspect just didn’t work for me. It just didn’t fit with the rest of the story, and I just have to question why it was included. By then I was kind of over it and just hung on waiting for the end. Kind of waiting for the crash to happen – unable to look away from the oncoming mayhem.
Seb Yarrick was still not a hit, but then I didn’t expect it to. And I have to say that his narration was probably the best part of this (very) flawed book. I did love his accents, and since Adam did have a distinct accent it was easy to tell the main characters apart this time around.
I have not had much luck with the Dreamspun Desires series lately. But then again isn’t that the way of life – win some and lose some. And like I said, I had to give the book a try. So in the end I might not have ended up loving it and I can’t really recommend it either.
RATING:
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