Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: The Prince and the Player 
SERIES: Prince Pact
AUTHOR: Nora Phoenix
PUBLISHER: Boldwood Books
LENGTH: 282 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 25, 2025
BLURB:
The royally romantic, enemies-to-lovers college romance for fans of Casey McQuiston, Alexis Hall and Jax Calder. I’m determined to win over the one guy who hates me…but I never expected to fall for him
Being a prince may seem like a fairytale, but to me, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. That’s why I’m excited when I get permission from my uncle—the king of Norway—to go undercover as a student at an American college for a year. And I’m even more ecstatic to be selected for their football team. Soccer, I mean. The only problem? Farron, the team captain, dislikes me on sight. Determined to win him over, I start a charm offensive, but nothing works. He only hates me more.
Until the animosity comes to an explosive release…and we end up kissing each other. How did that happen when neither of us has ever been attracted to a guy before? Farron wants to let it run its course and get it out of our system, but I doubt that’ll work. I’m falling for him hard, but he has no idea who I really am. I fear that if he finds out, he’ll never speak to me again…
The Prince and the Player is the first book in the Prince Pact series and features an undercover, sunshiney prince and a grumpy, handsome soccer captain, two guys who mistake hate for attraction, a double bi-awakening, and two opposites who attract each other like magnets.
REVIEW:
Tore is a prince of Norway. Not THE prince of Norway, but a cousin. He and the other spares from other monarchies in Norther Europe are at the wedding of the British Crown Prince and are bemoaning that they never get to do anything “real”. So they hatch a play to each live for a year as a “commoner” in the US since they won’t be recognized so easily there.
Tore sets off for a small school to play soccer. He’s very good. In fact, he was given a tryout with a premier European team, but his father forbade it because he was X in line for the throne. Not befitting his station. Blah blah blah. His “duty” to the family won out. But his father did agree to a year at a University if he keeps things anonymous and keeps his head down. Tore is delighted! That is until he meets the captain of his school’s team.
Farron is a Grumpy Gus, but he’s particularly grumpy with Tore. He pretty much hates everything about him on sight. Farron has had a rough time. His scholarship is the only thing that got him to college. He still works too while he’s studying and captaining the team. His way out is to play professional soccer. And he’s not happy to have this new guy altering his plans and style of play.
Farron and Tore are like oil and water. Farron is not willing to let Tore play his style of soccer even though it’s clear that he’s more talented than anyone else on the team. Finally when they are at risk of losing does he relent and Tore gets to play to his ability.
Once they start winning, Farron is still not happy. And then he does something that neither of them see coming. A searing kiss starts these two on a very unexpected journey. They both assumed they were straight. Apparently not so much 😉
But Tore’s secret is between them even after they grow very close. Can their relationship survive a true confession? And what if that’s taken out of their hands??
So I definitely want to say that this is not a rom com. It is definitely an opposites attract chemistry that brings these two together after Farron pretty much hate every single thing about Tore based on what he sees from day one. Tore is determined to win over the incredibly prickly Farron but he’s not having any luck. Until he understands where Farron is coming from and what he’s been through, it’s tough for Tore to figure out how to communicate with his team captain. Tore is on his own mission to live anonymously as a very spare prince of Norway. He and his mates – the other spares – are determined to live a “real” life. This is going splendidly until Farron and Tore do become a thing. Tore’s missed opportunities to come clean after Farron has introduced him to his family and his life which is so different from Tore’s lead to the inevitable 3rd act breakup. Typically this is not my favorite plot device, but here it works because Farron has a LOT to deal with and his betrayal given his own circumstances make it a bitter bitter pill. Sadly Farron has been very parentified due to his family’s losses and he’s bitter and has a chip on his shoulder the size of the Rock of Gibraltar. It takes him a while to see that what he assumed about Tore’s life wasn’t actually correct. Tore has had his own challenges. Tore’s attempts to make amends and explain his reasons fall on deaf ears for quite a while. Despite others’ support, Farron just has a lot of trouble getting past this. Until he doesn’t. Thankfully he knows where to find Tore 🙂
Overall I enjoyed this story but I really wanted Farron to get some therapy! I loved Tore and his family. I am looking forward to the next book in this series to see what becomes of the other spares 😀
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