“You're the princess. Be the princess.
To the watching world, Princess Alina has it all—maids to serve her, a kingdom to revere her, a prince to marry her, and a wardrobe filled with enough frills, flounces, and shades of pink to rival a flower shop. But behind the smiles and designer clothes, Alina has a secret. She’s barely holding it together.
After a moment of panic almost ends in tragedy, Alina is sent to a refuge far from the palace to recuperate. Her family claims it’s for her own good but—faced with cows, knife-beaked ducks, and far too many of her own insecurities—Alina is pretty sure it will kill her first. And Joha Samson, infuriating man that he is, will laugh as it does.
Only there’s more to Joha than she realizes, and more to herself too. When the time comes to make a stand, will she find the courage?”
Series: Book #2 in the “Daughters of Peverell” series. Review of Book #1 Here!
Spiritual Content- Prayers; Talks about God & faiths; ‘H’s are not capitalized when referring to God; It is illegal to worship a higher power in Peverell (*Major Spoilers* Alina’s father outlawed believing in God after his wife’s passing because he was upset that God didn’t answer her prayers or his for her and believed God would fail others as well *End of Spoilers*); When God is brought up in a conversation, Alina thinks about seeing “that notion” in an outdated history book and laughing at the thought of some people believing in “some invisible higher power as the source of all life”; Alina says God isn’t real (because she doesn’t believe, the ‘G’s for God are lowercase); *Spoilers* Alina is given her mother’s journals that are her letters to God; Alina becomes curious about her mother’s God and Someone accepting every little thing about her; Alina is fearful that the Rebels’ god won’t want her because she’s not good enough (which her brother later corrects); Towards the end, Alina says she’s a Follower of God (partially to hurt her father but also because she means it) which makes her father upset, but they have a sincere conversation about it (where he doesn’t understand her decision, but will support her); Many others have been praying for Alina and cry over her news; Alina feels God speak to her and feels at home in a chapel *End of Spoiler*; Alina has a dream about a chapel and feels joy from the scene because of the welcoming camaraderie and acceptance; *Spoiler* The Rebels in Alina’s country are mostly Followers of God and have been exiled because of their beliefs *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of God, God having a purpose for everyone, peace, & faiths; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of “Followers” (Christians); Mentions of chapels, one being a refuge where a person can find “forgiveness, grace, faith, hope, and healing”, & worship; Mentions of miracles; A couple mentions of thanking God;
*Note: A side character says that no one has proven that a higher power exists; A mention of a “damning” news story.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a form of ‘shut up’, and six ‘stupid’s; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Lying (Alina lies often, mainly to hide her feelings from others, but also notes that she’s practice lies so often they fit her “better than the truth”); Eavesdropping; Alina says hurtful and harsh words to others (including her former best friend); Alina feels guilt for her mother’s death (because she died in childbirth with her, saying she “killed” her mother) & wishes her mother had been the one to live instead of her; After shocking news, Alina wishes that a sniper would take her out & wishes again that her mother had lived instead of her; Mentions of deaths & grief (including Alina for her mother and wishing she could have known her, up to semi-detailed); Mentions of terrorists, attacks/riots, exile, & treason; Mentions of a possible abduction, possible torture, & being drugged; Mentions of criminals & crimes; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of hatred; A mention of murderers; A mention of throwing up;
*Note: Alina has anxiety, panic attacks where she blacks out, & negative thoughts telling her lies about herself (because of this, she often hides her feelings from everyone else and believes she cannot show herself falling apart due to her princess status; She also thinks she isn’t enough and wishes to be worth her mother’s sacrifice; all up to semi-detailed); Alina feels as if her father is trying to control her life; Mentions of anxiety, panic attacks, & blacking out from them (Alina).
Sexual Content- A nose kiss, a cheek kiss, an almost kiss that turns into a cheek kiss (up to semi-detailed), a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, a semi-detailed kiss, a border-line semi-detailed // detailed kiss, and a detailed kiss; Remembering a kiss (up to semi-detailed); Imagining kisses & kissing (up to semi-detailed); Staring at lips (up to semi-detailed); Seeing couples kissing; Touches, Embraces, Dances, Butterflies, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (including muscles or the lack of being able to see muscles, barely-above-not-detailed); Alina hasn’t kissed her fiancé yet because of him wanting to wait until their wedding (she’s fantasized “more than once” about kissing him and mussing with his hair, barely-above-not-detailed); *Major Spoilers* Towards the end, Alina’s fiancé has rumors about him having a secret son from a fling years prior with the woman coming forward to claim he is her son’s father; Alina doesn’t believe them because he hasn’t even kissed her, but Marcus tells her that he was with a girl years prior in a moment of anger at his father and there could have been a child from that night; He has felt ashamed for years since and has not been in contact with the woman; He never planned to tell anyone (including Alina) about that night; Marcus wants to make things right and marry the girl and Alina is very hurt by his betrayal; Alina kisses Joha after this news and wonders if she was being unfaithful to Marcus because of their engagement; Alina feels peace from God to still marry Marcus, but he elopes with the other girl *End of Spoilers*; Alina has dreams of relationships with kisses, embraces, and nearness (barely-above-not-detailed); Alina accuses (and says a handful of times) that Kenna seduced Alina’s brother into marrying her (Alina holds a grudge against Kenna because of this even though nothing happened between Kenna and Ben, but they still had to get married; Book #1); A side character makes assumptions about Alina saying she’s probably kissed many men and possible “done more” with them; Mentions of dalliances, cheating, flings, & being with someone one night and it resulting in a child; Mentions of kisses & kissing (including dreams of kisses); Mentions of falling & being in love; Mentions of boyfriends/girlfriends, dating, exes, & break-ups; Mentions of flirting; A couple mentions of cute guys; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of Alina being naïve but knowing that it takes more than “a handshake to create a child”; A mention of gossip stories about Alina being pregnant twice; A mention of Alina’s father warning her against the “fun, carefree” type of guy because of her reputation which could be harmed; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
*Note: A comment about Alina and a guy not showering together (she makes the comment about sharing a bathroom/shower “with [him]” and he replies “it’s not like we’ll be in there at the same time” which makes her blush); Alina wants to turn down eating waffles because of her figure/weight being “on the edge of what was considered an acceptable weight” (but eats them anyway); Alina later thinks that her weight would thank her for missing a few meals; A mention of a couple trying for years to have a baby; A mention of a female monthly time; A mention of curves.
-Alina, age 18
1st person P.O.V. of Alina
324 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
Trigger Warnings: anxiety, anxiety/panic attacks & negative thoughts
It’s been over a year since I read the first book in this series, so I really didn’t remember much about the events in that book besides what the back-cover says. I reread my own review which helped some, but because of this and how long it took for me to remember the ending events and details (and how long it took for Alina to tell us about them), I would suggest reading these books in order and closer together than what I did.
I do remember Alina being a brat and we definitely see that in this sequel story as well. Because of the delay in reading this story, I actually felt more sympathetic towards her when I probably would have found myself incredibly frustrated and annoyed by her—okay, I still was both of those at times, but I was able to stomach it a bit better than expected.
The romance felt very juvenile because we only see Alina’s perspective. She’s pretty infuriating and arrogant, but how she treated Joha (and him to her) was pretty ridiculous. Mostly on purpose, I think, but it also made the book feel like it was a lot longer because I wasn’t interested in reading it. I really didn’t like him at all, however, and thought he needed a major lesson in showing grace and compassion. We don’t get his POV, though, so this is probably partially why my annoyance with him was so high for basically the entire book. I didn’t like them together at all and I especially did not care for the “kiss her to shut her up” trope happening.
All of that said, I did enjoy the final quarter and Alina’s character development even if I didn’t care for the romance. It was a good ending and I liked the faith content throughout the book, especially. I’m curious to read the third book and see these characters again!
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
