Book Review
Grade: B-
Who you think you are isn’t always who you are meant to be.
Kelsey and her sister are ready to take New York City by storm! Finding out she is the long lost princess of a small European country is not in those plans. It turns out Kelsey was kidnapped when she was three months old while her family was on vacation. She was ultimately raised by a loving set of parents in America. When she applied to be a part-time teacher in New York she was fingerprinted and BAM her birth family is able to find her, because they never stopped looking. She is found by a member of the royal protection detail – Elias. Elias’ father was a former head of the royal protection detail and was on duty when Kelsey (Princess Valentina) was kidnapped. It has been his life-long mission to find the lost princess.
I enjoyed so many parts of this story – Kelsey is fun and sassy. Her sister Mallory is smart and sweet. Elias is sexy and strong. Her birth family is interesting and is set up nicely for future stories. I was extremely interested in what happened to Kelsey and in her re connection with her birth family. The issue I had with this story, is that the author focused on details I wasn’t interested in. I wanted to know more about what happened, about her family and less about her clothes. I kept get frustrated with Kelsey. She immediately leaves NYC with Elias – but doesn’t seem to concerned about contacting her parents to talk about what was happening. We hear that she and Mallory have “whispered conversations” at night about this – but really nothing more. Kelsey seems to be basically content living the whirlwind royal life and not to worried about the wheres and whys. There is a lot of talk about Kelsey having a lot to learn – and then moments where she is “shocked” or very upset to “only find out about this now” and “I should have told you sooner”s – She seemed utterly content to let the royal whirlwind take over and sweep her away. This seemed out of character for who the author wanted her to be.
I also wasn’t a huge fan of the conflict that briefly separates Kelsey and Elias at the end. Ultimately, I wish the author had spent less time telling us what Kelsey was and who she was, and more time showing us. What saved this book was the overall storyline and the secondary characters.
Its a very light, quick read, with a good lead in to future stories.
I received this as an ARC from NetGalley – but these opinions are my own.
Want to read this book? You can buy it on Amazon here.
This Book, That's Life 