This has been a fun series to read and this one was no exception. I have always been drawn to characters who crossdress. I blame Shakespeare which is actually perfect because this is a retelling of Twelfth Night! Yes, Viola got on my nerves a bit, but I still enjoyed this one.

A fun and flirty premise for a royal romance! The characters and their romance were unfortunately a bit under-developed and the pacing suffered from it. Readers looking for a light f/f romance may enjoy.

'Netgalley ARC provided by The Publisher in exchange for a fair and
honest review'

3.5stars!
From the opening paragraph of 'THE PRINCESS DECEPTION,' the readers knows that this deeply affecting family tale of mystery,suspense and romance is going to be special. That introduction--only a few sentences,sentences that says so little yet tells so much more--creates an air of quiet foreboding that permeates this somber,gripping,electrifying story of pain,anger,trust,loyalty,love, and in the end hope. This book at times may have provide some rouge slog in spots due to Ms.Stark's attention to historical detail,particularly with respect to the naming of Royal Officials and including successions of Governmental Leaders that form the backdrop of this story. My advice is to tiptoe through this and stick with the narrative which is first rate. Viola who is one of the leads,is a smart and likable protagonist while her trusted bodyguard Thijs,though a secondary character,is an entertaining,very supportive and one who inadvertently will provide occasional low-key stability to her life. Aided by this submissive,edgy ex-soccer star who now works as a journalist trying to uncover the truth behind all the deceptions. The author redefine what their strong attraction is all about in this story:- Lover to another--is the thread that binds these women's stories together as they both navigate their relationship are define by compromises & misunderstanding,guilt & forgiveness and most of all,by an obsessive attempt to communicate--to understand & to be understood,to Love & to be Loved. Finally, to readers this book is a heart-rending love story that spans the globe and is also a well written drama at the edge of the mystery of near-death experience/drug overdose,it was also a profoundly moving story of memory,identity,misconnection, a novel of lasting insight.

It has been a little while since I read one of Stark's books and as per my previous reviews, I'm usually not a fan of series where characters of previous books are part of the future and so on.

In this case, the book stands alone quite well and the whilst the key characters have marginal support from characters in previous books, it's not a significant amount.

Stark writes well and delivers a good novel but it does appear a bit contrived and not overly believable.

The story took a long time to unfold the relationship between the two main characters. Once developed, the relationship felt rushed and not thought out enough.

Stevie‘s review of The Princess Deception (Princess Affair, Book 3) by Nell Stark
Contemporary Lesbian Romance published by Bold Strokes Books 15 May 18

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night has spawned a lot of pastiches and reinterpretations, but I’m always happy to read, or watch, more. Especially, as in this case, when the author manages to put a different slant on the story. The book takes one of the central premises of the play, the heroine who masquerades as her twin brother, and brings it thoroughly up to date by making her a success in her own right and who takes on the disguise to protect her family, rather than to allow herself more freedom. In fact, this Viola finds the role of Sebastian far more restrictive than the life she has been living as herself; however, she is prepared to make the sacrifice for the good of not just her immediate, royal relatives, but also her native country and its closest neighbour.


Her Royal Highness Princess Viola of Belgium is an award-winning photographer, who is preparing for her latest exhibition when she is summoned back to the palace by her parents. Fearing an imminent terrorist attack, she is even more concerned to discover that her twin brother is seriously ill in hospital following a heroin overdose. Feeling a degree of guilt for not spotting her brother’s drug problems, Viola also worries about the wider impact that might be felt when her brother’s condition becomes widely known. Belgium and the Netherlands are jointly bidding to host football’s (‘soccer’s’ to you in the US) World Cup and Sebastian was to have represented his country’s Royal Family at the upcoming month-long gala to open the bid. Aided by her and her brother’s closest staff, Viola decides to take her twin’s place, not even telling her parents until the game is afoot.

One of the reporters covering the gala’s events is former US and International footballer, Missy Duke, generally known only by her last name. Following a career-ending injury, Duke has found a way to stay close to the football action, helped by a friend’s brother who is also a sports journalist covering the same event. While carrying out some background research into the prominent members of the bid team, Duke is intrigued to lean that the sister of the Belgian royal representative is a lesbian. And when she sees ‘him’ at the first event of the gala, Duke finds herself strangely attracted to the androgynous man before her. As Duke continues to cover the events, she becomes more and more intrigued by ‘Sebastian’ until the similarities and differences between the two twins’ appearances and mannerisms in past news videos, and the current ‘Sebastian,’ lead Duke to the realisation that ‘he’ is in fact ‘she.’

Duke determines to uncover the reasons behind the deception, but in doing so finds herself growing ever closer to Viola. Meanwhile, Viola is conducting an investigation of her own into who supplied Sebastian with the drugs that led to his overdose, before then abandoning him to be left alone at the nearest hospital. As the pair make discoveries about each other and those around them, it seems that they may be destined to form a closer bond; however, Duke’s investigations may lead to Viola’s exposure, and subsequently disaster, for all concerned.

I liked this book a lot, although at times the size of the cast felt a little unwieldy. There were appearances by the characters from previous books in the series, which I would probably have enjoyed more if I’d read the first book. All that said, this is a fun series, and I really must find time to go back and read the story that kicked it all off.

Grade: B

The Princess Deception is a contemporary|Royal|Athlete|f/f romance with a Princess heroine dressing up and acting like her Prince brother (to cover his drug addiction) and a soccer legend heroine who was forced to retired due to injury, and is now dealing with trying to remake her life as a sports reporter.

This has a great premise, but I kept slipping out of belief, sometimes because of the dialogue and sometimes because the characters seemed to act inconsistently. Not really my cup of soup, but well enough written - I know this has got to be someone's catnip!

I could never really connect with the story at all. I found the reporter pretty unlikable and was unable to relate to her. The princess seemed like she could be interesting, but I never understood the romance. It was a struggle to finish this one.

The premise of this book sounds far-fetched, but who cares! It's a really enjoyable read with some great characters. The chemistry between the two leads sizzles and the writing flows. The plot is engaging throughout and well paced. It's a great addition to the Princess series. I hope the author writes another one.

Nell Stark’s Princess Affair series of lesbian royalty romances is pure luxury escapist pleasure reading, straight up, no chaser. This latest volume is a contemporary retelling of *Twelfth Night* that involves a World Cup bid, a pro soccer player-turned-journalist, and a Belgian princess impersonating her twin brother while he recovers from an overdose. It’s as high-concept as it comes, but grounded in some beautifully potent feelings. Duke’s loss of her professional soccer career due to an injury is raw and poignant, and it puts her in the right place to appreciate Viola’s grief and anger about her brother’s newly revealed addiction. This is the kind of connective tissue that was missing from *Fore Play*—the sense of a shared struggle, or at least shared understanding of parallel struggles. Both heroines are reeling, in that dizzy headspace where bad ideas seem like great ideas. Impersonating your twin brother is the only way to win the World Cup bid! Flirting with that princess you’ve discovered in disguise is a great way to boost your journalism career! Things go predictably to hell in all the best ways and it’s great, smart, angsty fun for the reader. Themes of exposure, revelation, coming out, and disguise intertwine to keep things feeling complex without overwhelming. The slender mystery subplot and beautifully rendered, rare locations (Amsterdam! Prague!) are the frosting on the cupcake. A+ travel reading to lose yourself in on a long flight or a lazy beach.

href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40123907-the-princess-deception" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Princess Deception" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1526377406m/40123907.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40123907-the-princess-deception">The Princess Deception</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/334378.Nell_Stark">Nell Stark</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2400856405">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I rec'd an ARC from NetGalley/Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.<br />This was a quick read with a loose nod to Twelfth Night. The main characters of Princess Viola and Missy Duke (reporter) carry the plot dripping with love, loyalty and anguish. Overall an okay book from Ms. Stark. 3 stars.
<br/><br/>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/31134832-gail">View all my reviews</a>

Did someone say a queer, modern day retelling of Twelfth Night? Because I am Here For That!! When Prince Sebastian heads into rehab his twin sister Princess Viola takes his place in the organisation of Belgium's World Cup bid but as her relationship with freelance reporter Missy Duke grows the stakes keep getting higher for both women.

If you're going to impersonate your brother (and get away with it) you probably shouldn't fall for a reporter but unfortunately nobody told Viola this golden rule...the result is an amusing & captivating tale of love, secrets and the way nothing ever goes exactly as you plan it. Both women have incredibly strong and distinctive voices as well as interesting narratives and Nell Stark masterfully weaves them together whilst still allowing each to stand out on their own. A double-deception this book may have but that doesn't affect the overall adorableness of their blossoming relationship and nor does it interfere with the wonderfully strong groups of friends that both women have; including Viola's incredibly close relationship with not just her family but her bodyguards too.

Overall The Princess Deception is a wonderfully written retelling with enough modernity to keep it fresh whilst still following the original storyline and is a softly sweet contemporary (with a slightly steamy sex scene) this book ticks all the boxes!

This story revolves around Belgium’s desire to host the FIFA World Cup soccer and leading the project is Prince Sebastian. Problems arise when Sebastian is hospitalized for a drug addiction that no one in his family knew anything about. Not wanting to put all of Sebastian’s hard work to waste, his twin sister Princess Viola decides to impersonate her brother to keep Belgium's bid for the games on track. Missy Duke was one of the top soccer player until she is injured and has to make a living doing freelance reporting covering the FIFA’s search for the best place to hold the games. It doesn’t take long for Duke to realize Viola is pretending to be Sebastian. She know there is a story behind the Princesses impersonation and is determined to find out just what it is. Nice read.
eArc via NetGalley.

I loved The Princess Deception. It was a great story. I liked how Duke interacts with Viola when she is impersonating Sebastian and how she deals with her attraction to Viola even when she is Sebastian. Nell Stark is a great writer, she bring up difficult situations and works through them with her characters well. The Princess Deception addresses addiction and ones recovery from it very well. She doesn’t make the character that is an addict into a bad person but someone with a disease that will have lifelong challenges with it. She shows Sebastian’s family as supportive through the whole book.

I really enjoyed this book and highly recommended checking it out.

Trigger warnings: drug use and overdose

This is loosely based on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, which is one of my favorite plays. This is the third book in the Princess Affair series. I read it as a standalone, and the only thing I found confusing was keeping the two couples from the previous book straight. I had some issues with how this book plays out, so massive spoilers.

Duke (her full name is Missy Duke, but she prefers to go by her last name) is an ex-soccer player who’s just starting out as a sports journalist, and her first assignment is covering the joint Netherlands/Belgian bid for the World Cup. While she’s out to her teammates, she’s not out in public, partially because of her religious family. Viola is the Belgian princess, and her main interest is in photography, not soccer. One major deviation from the play is that Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy full of hijinks, while this book is much more serious. For starters, the beginning of the book plunges us into the emotional turmoil of Viola’s twin brother being hospitalized after a drug overdose, and all the guilt and worry that entails. In order to keep the World Cup bid from being derailed (something her brother cares deeply about), Viola decides to disguise herself as Sebastian and continue on as if nothing is amiss. It’s certainly a selfless action, since the other part of her motive is to keep the press from realizing he’s in rehab and to give him more time to recover.

“The problem was that if she confessed to being a lesbian, she would have no excuse to flirt more aggressively with ‘Sebastian’ and possibly make some use of the sparks between them. But if she said nothing, Viola would likely assume her to be straight and therefore unavailable.
It was a Catch-22…if Duke were being an idiot. She wasn’t here to get a date with a princess; she was here to learn as much as possible in the service of exposing a cover-up. If allowing Viola to believe her to be straight was a means to that end, so be it.”

Duke almost immediately realizes that Viola is pretending to be her brother. In the original play, part of the humor is that no one realizes that “Seb” is actually Viola, though obviously that wouldn’t fly so well for lesbian romance! What I didn’t understand is why Duke felt the need to uncover why Viola was disguising herself. Duke’s supposed to be a sports reporter, not a tabloid reporter, and I can’t think of single ethical reason behind it. To her credit, once she finds out why Sebastian is in hiding, she decides to come clean, but a unscrupulous colleague (and, seriously, a ridiculously one-dimensional villain) goes against her wishes to publish the article.

Viola starts out angry at the beginning of the book – at her brother for getting addicted to drugs, at his bodyguard for not stopping him, at herself for not realizing something was wrong – but the only person she ends up taking that anger out on is Duke after the article is published. It’s somewhat understandable – Viola was outed by a tell-all article from an celebrity ex-lover – but again a major departure from the play, where it’s only at the very end that the ruse is revealed. Viola, after all, is the one who’s attempting to deceive the world, not Duke! There’s an… almost-revenge angry sex scene, which sat a bit wrong with me. It’s not that Viola’s pretty dominant in bed or that there was lack of consent, just that Viola decides the only way to get Duke out of her head is to screw her once, on her terms. There was this whole subplot about finding out who was with Sebastian on the night he overdosed, and while it felt like we got some of those questions answered, it was not really full addressed. It just served as an excuse for Duke to run into Viola again, and I would’ve liked to have seen it wrapped up a bit more.

This all sounds pretty negative, but I did enjoy the book. It certainly held my attention while I was reading it, and it was well-paced. I liked that both women had a friend group to go back to and recover with after the breakup (if you can even call it that), and I liked how introspective Duke was about the end of her soccer career and the boundaries placed on Viola by her position. I liked how (Missy’s family aside) everyone was very accepting of both character’s sexuality, and there was a particularly touching recounting of how the palace staff reacted when Viola was forcibly outed. I enjoyed learning about Viola’s life as a modern-day princess, with all the security messes and privileges and nonsense that comes with it.

Overall, this felt like a 3.5 star read to me. I don’t think it’s the book’s fault, it’s more that it hit some of my buttons, in particular how one-sided the consequences of each character’s lies were. If that’s not something that bothers you, then I think you’d enjoy the book a lot more.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

*ARC provided by Netgalley and the publisher for an honest review*

If I am honest, this book was rather underwhelming. I enjoyed the previous books in the series, because who doesn't enjoy a royal romance, but I just didn't feel transported by these characters.

Viola and Duke are supposed to be the main characters but I felt like this was a story written about the background characters. I didn't find them to be very compelling and the twelfth night angle has been utterly exhausted.

A lot of things that happened in this story didn't make sense as they were a bit over the top.

I am giving this book 3 stars because this author is a good writer and although I wasn't engaged with this story, the way I was with the others, I still found it to be an easy mildly enjoyable read.

I’m always here for books that don’t conform to the hetero norm, and Nell Stark has incredible expertise in creating books that definitely don’t conform to that, and it shows again in her new book The Princess Deception.

The book’s plot is based on Twelfth Night, using the plot in a modern retelling for this story and it’s effective, it was a good plot for Shakespeare and doesn’t let down Stark as she builds and creates some really great characters and really uses the story well in a new and modern setting. Stark’s writing throughout the book is strong and doesn’t descend at all into anything particularly cheesy, the suspense is there and the romance is okay.

From the start of the book the characters are really well developed, we have great background stories for the characters and they give a strong frame for the plot as it goes on. However there are issues as the books goes on with the characters that I do consider uncomfortable. For me this is Viola’s behavour - which is awful towards Duke and not something in fiction I particularly enjoy reading, I feel how it comes over in the book feels an abuse of power.

A good book, strong characters, great plot, not a big fan of the most important character at all though and I consider that a shame.

(I received an ARC from Netgalley for review).

The Princess Deception is the 3rd book in The Princess Affair series. The book is stand alone but as some previous characters play a role in the book I would recommend reading them as well.
Excellent book to read, but so all Nell Stark books that I have read are up the with the best.
Both Viola and Duke are likeable and are well suited to each other, I really enjoyed the build up.
If you like hot sex in your books then this one covers it, NS certainly knows how to write that.....
Overall excellent book and I would recommend

I liked the viewpoints of both Viola and Duke. I thought it was very sweet seeing them have similar oh my god freak outs.


It didn't focus too much on football which was greatly appreciated from my anti sports self.


I really liked the sort of playing around with gender that was explored in the book with Viola's cross dressing and Duke being a lesbian yet being attracted to 'Sebastian'.


I believe this book is own voices as well which is amazing! I could tell that the author knew what she was talking about and it really showed through her words.


Admittedly premise of the investigation was a little bit shaky in my opinion, but I could ignore that for the sake of the plot.


-
My initial first thought was I know next to nothing about the Twelfth Night. I was able to remember back to my time reading it in English in Year 10 (I think?) and I was so stoked to be able to read Ariel's lines as they were my favourite character. However that didn't really matter to follow along with the plot.

It was a very soulful book with very human characters. I liked the fact that they all had clear motivations and were fleshed out in the instances when we got to see more background characters. I also liked the fact that the book didn't shy away from the coarser emotions during the beginning reveal which helped me to sympathise a lot more with Violet.

Got to say though, I think my favourite characters were the bodyguards. I enjoyed the contrast of professionalism vs personal they had to wade through.

Even though the book is technically part of a series, it's more of a focus on different characters who are shown sort of series rather than a chronological one.

All in all, Nell Stark is an excellent author and I very much enjoyed this book.

I have read all of Nell Stark's books, but this is the first one that I had trouble finishing ... but I eventually did push forward to completion. I would turn each page and hope to find the hook that would draw me into the story ... it never came. This is the third book in the princess series. It can be read without reading the other two books in the series.

The plot was difficult to relate to, which is unusual for Ms. Stark' s books. When I read the abstract for the book, I thought,
"Wow what a great storyline." Ms. Stark has European royalty, FIFE soccer tournament politics, romance with hot sex scenes, inquisitive newspaper journalists, and intrigue all piled into the "plot pot." Unfortunately, all the ingredients did not make for a good digestive read. When one takes a sip of this Princess stew, one is unsure what to make of it. It does not help that the pace of the story is slow, especially in the first third of the book.

I must admit that I can only give this book at best 2 out of 5 stars. Because it is Ms. Stark who has written this book, I have at least given it 2 stars because she is a good storyteller. Possibly, someone might pick up this book because of her name and find it refreshing. I will continue reading her future books because they are well written novel.