A Princess in Theory
by Alyssa Cole
The recap
Naledi Smith is an overworked epidemiology graduate student in New York, a woman who trusts data and very little else. So when a stream of emails insists that she is the long-lost betrothed of a prince from a faraway kingdom, she does the sensible thing and dismisses them as the most obvious scam on earth. The messages, however, are real. Prince Thabiso, heir to the throne of the small kingdom of Thesolo, has been searching for her, and when he finally tracks her down in the city, he makes a rash decision. Rather than announce himself, he lets her mistake him for a new hire and sets out to know her as an ordinary man. Alyssa Cole spins the old prince-in-disguise fairy tale into something sharp, contemporary and very funny, setting royal fantasy against the grind of graduate school. Naledi is practical and prickly, Thabiso is endearingly out of his depth, and the book glows with banter, warmth and a fictional kingdom drawn with obvious affection.
Why read it
For readers who love a fairy-tale premise with a clear-eyed modern heroine, and for anyone who has ever deleted an email that seemed too good to be true.
Fun facts
- 01
The New York Times included it among its 100 Notable Books of 2018.
- 02
It was also named a Kirkus Best Fiction title and a Library Journal Best Book of 2018, and Kirkus gave it a starred review.
- 03
It launched Cole's Reluctant Royals series.
