The Book: My Wicked Prince by Molly O'Keefe
The Particulars: Contemporary romance, 2019, In Print, Available in digital
Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: O'Keefe is an autobuy dating back to her days writing for Harlequin SuperRomance.
The Review: I'm so old that I remember the days when 99% of romance readers would have a fit of apoplexy if you had the nerve to suggest that very good romances could be capably written in first-person point of view. Point of fact, I might have been the only resident of Romancelandia at that time willing to admit I LOVED first person - having started out life as a mystery reader where it's much more common. Then a funny thing happened. Self-publishing. And suddenly everyone and their dead grandmother was self-publishing romances in first-person, often with shifting head-hopping chapters (hero and heroine point of view). And you know what? A lot of them suck...and not in a good way. Because trust me gentle readers, there is such a thing as terribly written first person and we're neck deep in it here in the waters of Romancelandia.
I'm not sure why this is exactly (other than me being cranky and old) but I think it's a diluting of authorial voices. There's just a lot of blah, interchangeable first person out there. I'll read one and a couple days later I struggle to recall anything. Characters, plot, title, maybe I'll remember the author? - the book I just read is like a black hole in my memory.
Then there's Molly O'Keefe. I'll walk off a cliff to read her first person, and I suspect it's because she has certain writing tics (and plot bunnies) that feed into the id part of my brain. Her heroines always seem determined to save the world (or at least their little corner of it), her heroes positively wallow in angst, and the tension! The sweet, glorious, delicious tension!
My Wicked Prince reminded me of a longer Harlequin Presents, but with hotter sex. Brenna's mother is a bartender in their tiny Nordic country of Vasgar when she agrees to marry the King. It's basically a marriage of convenience. Mom wants to be Queen and the King wants to distract everyone from the fact his country is broke. Brenna can barely be bothered, attending college in Scotland and with dreams of one day working for the United Nations. But with Mom negotiating her the title of princess, it is expected that Brenna will attend the wedding - which immediately sets her in the crosshairs of her soon-to-be stepbrother, Gunnar Falk.
Gunnar is the poor little rich boy prince with Daddy Issues. He's a manwhore who parties his life away and likes to make things as embarrassing as possible for the old man via the press. Now there's this marriage and a new stepsister, and it's all just so bothersome. Then he locks eyes on Brenna and everything changes. Oh sure, there's sparing and he says some awful things - but she dishes it right back even as she does a terrible job of hiding her vulnerabilities. She also challenges Gunnar at every turn, which makes him want to be a better man, even if he won't quite admit that to himself. The attraction is very much there and very much not a good thing. They're now siblings (yes, they're grown-ass adults but still...) under the glare of a royal spotlight, trying to help a country on the verge of bankruptcy as the King continues to be a terrible leader and Gunnar's uncle pulling strings behind the scenes to claim the throne for himself. Oh, and did I mention that it's expected that Gunnar marry an heiress to bolster the country's coffers? Then, as inevitably happens in a romance novel, they succumb to their attraction and it all blows up in their faces.
This is the first romance I've read this year that kept me fully and actively engaged to the point where I wanted to keep reading. That being said, I didn't love it and most of that is due to authorial choices O'Keefe made. The first chapter opens in present day, with Brenna confronting Gunnar at his posh nightclub in New York City. It's a great opening chapter. Angst and sparring and lots of sizzling tension. Then we get to Chapter 2 which immediately dumps us in flashback mode, a couple weeks prior to the royal wedding. 90% of this story is in flashbacks - which...not a fan. Especially since the first chapter sets up the reader for the present-day experience. I still liked the story, but the execution wasn't necessarily what I wanted.
It's also one of those stories where there is just SO much angst and SO many roadblocks centered around "obligations" - that it does get exhausting after a while. Both Brenna and Gunnar hiding behind their defense mechanisms, Gunnar flat-out lying to Brenna to push her away which necessitates the third act separation. What I did like about this portion of the story however is that O'Keefe removes Brenna's tendency for rose-colored glasses. The gloves are off and if Gunnar is going to be a dickhead, well she's going to save their country without him.
I have an interesting history with royalty books (I don't actively dislike them, but neither are they favorites) and I mostly liked this one. There were times I wanted to slap Gunnar into next Tuesday and there were times I wanted to shake Brenna for wearing her foolish heart so prominently on her sleeve - but there's great tension, the anger and attraction between the two electrically leaping off the page. It's trademark O'Keefe with a royalty candy-coated shell.
Final Grade = B-
