Prince in Disguise by Stephanie Kate Strohm
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Someday I want to live in a place where I never hear “You’re Dusty’s sister?” ever again.
Life is real enough for Dylan—especially as the ordinary younger sister of Dusty, former Miss Mississippi and the most perfect, popular girl in Tupelo. But when Dusty wins the hand of the handsome Scottish laird-to-be Ronan on the TRC television network’s crown jewel, Prince in Disguise, Dylan has to face a different kind of reality: reality TV.As the camera crew whisks them off to Scotland to film the lead-up to the wedding, camera-shy Dylan is front and center as Dusty’s maid of honor. The producers are full of surprises—including old family secrets, long-lost relatives, and a hostile future mother-in-law who thinks Dusty and Dylan’s family isn’t good enough for her only son. At least there’s Jamie, an adorably bookish groomsman who might just be the perfect antidote to all Dylan’s stress . . . if she just can keep TRC from turning her into the next reality show sensation.
*Thanks so much to the publisher for sending me an e-ARC via Netgalley!!*
On what was supposed to be the last day of filming Prince in Disguise, when I thought we were done with the Reality Channel forever, Ronan revealed he was secretly a lord, and then he dropped to one knee and proposed to my sister. See? Ronan seemed nice, but he was probably insane. You don’t marry someone you just met. Did they not have Frozen in Scotland?
Okay, this book was adorable and fun AND HAD THE BEST DISNEY REFERENCES. I was dying with each witty Disney reference/comment that was made, and Strohm definitely has confirmed that she is a master of adorable, cheesey goodness – my favorite contemporary kind of novel. This story did drag in a few parts, and I started to get really bored – however it was cute for the most part.
“Little Match Girl? Because you were frozen? The Hans Christian Anderson story?”
“Yeah, I got the reference.” I returned to poking the puck. It was proving to be distressingly resistant to my attempts to pierce it. Like an actual hockey puck would be. “Not really my favorite story. Kind of a downer.”
“Unlike that heartwarming, not-at-all-depressing Hans Christian Anderson classic, The Little Mermaid.”
“It’s heartwarming when it involves singing crabs. Say what you will about Walt Disney, that man knew how to jazz up a real bummer of a story.”
The best part of this story was the comedy and wit. I read Strohm’s previous novel, It’s Not Me, It’s You, and I actually laughed out loud quite a bit in this one – it was the same case for this one. She just has a wit to her that seems so effortless and not forced. I screengrabbed so many lines because I just had to remember them to laugh at in the future. There were a lot of comic moments, too, and I love a book that can just launch out in a comedic moment without any effort.
I also really enjoyed the characters. Dylan was fantastic, and I can so relate to her being thrown into this situation. She was funny, she was so easy to root for, and she was just a fun character. Jamie was cool, as well. He made a few too many references that went right over my head, and but I mean, you got to love a man that will start singing, “Do You Wanna Build a Snowman” to woo a girl out of her room at night and then names expeditions like The Premeditated Trapdoor excursion. Literally, I feel like he is me as a love interest in a story. XD Both of them were fun, and I loved them together.
“Did you stash that flashlight down here?”
“The Premeditated Torch is, naturally, the follow-up to the smash best seller The Premeditated Trapdoor.”
“That is seriously the worst idea for a book series I’ve ever heard.”
“Balderdash. Dashing British hero and his plucky American lady sidekick explore uncharted territory? It’s brilliant.”
“Plucky?” Eh, I’d been called worse. “And this territory has already been charted. By you.”
“But it’s uncharted for you, my plucky American lady sidekick.” I turned to see him grinning at my side. “You can hold the torch, if you’d like.”
The plot was engaging as well. I loved the idea of a Bachelor- type show with a magical prince in disguise and then the accompanying reality show following them. There was some kind of mystery involved, and all the antics that followed in Scotland was great. It was truly a lot of fun.
Belle’s library was definitely mentioned so of course she has to be here!
However, some things felt like it just was repeating over and over. Like, it didn’t feel like the plot was moving and we were focused a bit too much on the comedy. At that point, it just felt kind of boring. I got disengaged with the story at some points, but it still was enjoyable overall.
This was a fun, enjoyable read, but it did dwindle in parts. I really enjoyed the characters and the comedy, and the ship was super cute. There were a few references that I did miss, but they were overall enjoyable. Three crowns and a Belle rating – which if I remember correctly did have a reference in here, too!
