I’ve heard great thing about Alyssa Cole so I was excited to receive a copy however I could not get into the story or the romance between the characters. It felt way too impersonal but I do still want to read another book from the author.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for my advance reading copy!

Alyssa Cole’s How To Catch A Queen is the first in the new Runaway Royals series. Set in a fictional African country, surrounded by other fictional countries, it took me a few chapters to find my bearings and understand the world and its history. As I figured things out, and got to know the characters, I fell more thoroughly into the story. King Suyan marries Shanti, the woman picked by his advisors to be his first wife, at his dying father’s bedside. She is fully prepared to be queen, to help Njaza evolve into a better, more modern monarchy--but Suyan ignores her. For three months.

I loved watching their relationship grow from the first overtures of friendship and teamwork into a true partnership, with deep admiration and love. And I loved the richness of their culture and religion. And like Cole’s other romance, she brings the steam and it is HOT!

I featured How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole as book of the day on all my social media platforms and will include it in a monthly roundup of new releases on my blog.

I'll read anything Alyssa Cole writes. Imaginative yet grounded, pure escapism plus real themes, and swoony love scenes. This book was a fun connection to her Reluctant Royals series, and I'm eager for more.

I really wanted to love this book. The cover is beautiful and the synopsis sounded so good. Unfortunately I never felt the love between Sanyu and Shanti. Their relationship wasn't just a slow burn it was nonexistent. They never spent time together. Instead I found myself drowning in boring over the top details of royal life, and the politics of being the queen and king. I did like that Shanti wanted to make a difference. She wanted to make things better. That she stood for what she believed in and wanted to be a good queen. Sanyu on the other hand I didn't like that much. I felt he didn't have much of a backbone and let his advisor do all his thinking. It also bothered me how little he cared for or thought about Shanti. She could have been a chair for all he took notice.
By the time I warmed up a bit to Sanyu it was too little, too late. The advisor drove me crazy. I hated him so bad. I wanted him to get some real comeuppances for the crap he did but nope. The ended felt rushed, and the advisor issues got glossed over. While there were parts of the book I liked, overall it was just an okay and at times boring read for me. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I felt the love between the main couple or the advisor would have got what was coming to him. This is my first time reading Alyssa Cole and I would try her again but not this series.

Life is full of ironies. How else can I explain the amount of time it took me to finally pick up the first of Alyssa Cole’s much lauded Reluctant Royals series earlier this year? I’m supremely glad that I did as otherwise I would’ve missed the full universe that Cole has set up in this loving royal romance collection, something that brings a family nuance to her sister series Runaway Royals — How to Catch a Queen being its first entry.


How to Catch a Queen is indeed a fittingly ironic title to a story that revolves around the quick marriage of the main characters, Shanti and Sanyu, which features no chase at all. Shanti, an aspiring queen who made her brief debut in the first book of the Reluctant Royal series, quickly snaps up the request for a queen by the neighboring kingdom of Njaza on the Royal Match app. She has, after all, always studied and worked to one day become queen. Her ambition proves handy as when she arrives in the kingdom she finds out that the prince, Sanyu, had no hand in choosing her and that Njaza royal tradition dictates that they wed immediately so that Sanyu can assume his place as king — while his father is literally on his deathbed. Resolving to do what she must in order to be the best queen possible, Shanti swallows any misgivings she may have after receiving this bleak and hasty news.

Sanyu on the other hand has lived his whole life with a ball of nerves. Growing up anxious with the weight of the throne against his shoulders, he’s done his best to run away from his fears and please his father and adviser who always seem to point out how he can never measure up. Sadly, his nerves and grief gets the best of him in the first few months of his marriage to Shanti by convincing him that it’s best for both parties, and perhaps even the kingdom, if he leaves her to her own devices. It is only after Shanti speaks up during a council meeting that he realizes that she may offer strengths to help him overcome some of his greatest fears and work through his anxieties. What follows in the story is a connection between two pragmatic, progressive minds closely followed by their deep needs for human connection that borders on hesitant hope and careful love.

Just as with Cole’s other books, I left this one feeling like I would easily take more. Her seeding of characters from previous novels and ones to come are well situated, enticing the reader to get their hands on the whole set. Her sense of worldbuilding through quality character motivations, regional politics, and cultural traditions frame dynamics that make her stories rich, vibrant, and addictive. Don’t be a reluctant royal runaway as I was. Read these two series!

Is there any feeling as exhilarating as your most-anticipated release of the year living up to everything you hoped it would be? I’ve been counting down the days until I could dive into Alyssa Cole’s How to Catch a Queen, the first in the Runaway Royals series, and it was absolute perfection.

Cole plays with the laird takes a wife trope (and the princess/knight trope) to deliver a hard-won romance for Shanti and Sanyu. Shanti is a heroine you want to pledge your fealty to—she isn’t just dreaming of making the world better, she’s actively making it so (even as others mock her ambition). Meanwhile, Sanyu’s entire world feels upended and he’s starting to realize that he needs to take charge of his life and his kingdom.

How to Catch a Queen skillfully explores the multitude of ways there are to be strong—as well as how damaging it can be to demand unwavering strength from anyone. And, as always with Cole, friendship is the foundation on which greatness is built. Both Shanti and Sanyu learn to rely on the support systems that they have, to be less afraid of opening up, and to enjoy the simple pleasures of goofy group chats with friends. I’ll just say that fans of the Reluctant Royals series (particularly book three) will be very happy with the cameos here.

Shanti trained her whole life to become a queen, and while others only saw a frivolous pursuit of a girl looking for wealth and power, Shanti and her parents understood she was meant to help others. Her dreams look to be coming true when she is selected to marry soon-to-be king Sanyu of Njaza; however, she soon discovers that she is a queen in title only, without responsibility and ignored by almost all.

Sanyu grew up in the very large shadow created by his father, Sanyu I first king of Njaza, and royal advisor, Musoke. Fifty years ago, the pair lead the rebellion that freed their tiny nation. Sanyu fears he will never be the ruler he was groomed to be and even considers running away. But he knows he cannot leave his country without a ruler, so he accepts the mail order bride Musoke procures for him, as there is requirement the king must be married.

How to Catch a Queen is the first title in Ms. Cole’s new series, but it is in the same world as her Reluctant Royals series, with several of those characters making appearances. It is standalone, though, so no worries if you aren’t familiar with the earlier titles. The story is one of a marriage of convenience, following the tradition that the Njazan king be married. However, he cannot stay married after a four month trial if the woman is determined not to be the True Queen. Sanyu grew up never knowing his mother, and watching queen after queen leave the castle after only a few months. He also was judged harshly by like-a-second-father Musoke, who constantly criticized Sanyu in order to help him prepare to become king.

As in previous stories by Ms. Cole, How to Catch a Queen is more than just a simple romance; she addresses issues such as gender inequality and anxiety disorder in the narrative. Njazan is built on some pretty outdated principles, and Musoke is clinging on to the old ways. Sanyu suffers from his “not-fear,” which is crippling at times, causing him to act indifferent to the injustices he sees around him. He is also torn because of what he was taught growing up to what he knows in his gut isn’t right. The author does a great job of showing/not telling Sanyu’s anxiety with the way he describes his not-fear and inability to stand up. I enjoyed seeing him realize what Musoke is doing to his country and trying to take a stand. I did have an issue with how easily it seems the antagonist is redeemed, but I’ll assume it happened off page.

I also really enjoyed Shanti… she could be written off as a flake, as a crown-chaser, gold-digger… but she wants to make a difference in the world. She is confident and patient, which helps her eventually develop a relationship with Sanyu. She is also able to communicate effectively her needs, desires, and disappointments, and with Sanyu open to listening, the pair turn their mutual desire into a partnership and eventually love. On the surface, the two main characters could look weak, immature, etc. But through each character’s POV, we see their heart right from the start. Add in the tension created due to the time limit of the marriage trial, and my heart was racing the whole time. Yet, I love how the couple takes time to get to know one another. They are a wonderful match.

In the end, I’m very happy Ms. Cole is continuing with her “royals” world with the Runaway Royals series. Ms. Cole successfully blends a wonderful romance with meaningful narrative through smart storytelling.

My Rating: A-

Thank you so much for getting me an early copy of this title! I was so excited to read it, and we got it in store for our romance section. The cover art is gorgeous and everything Alyssa Cole writes is phenomenal.

I wanted to love this one, but with so much focus on the political side of things it just didn't work for me. I don't really want this level of world building in a romance even though I appreciate the time and effort it took Cole to create this world for the readers. Just not for me!

I was gifted an e-ARC of How To Catch A Queen by Alyssa Cole via NetGalley and HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review on the heels of reading When No One Is Watching.

In How To Catch A Queen, we meet King Sanyu II, who has been preparing for the task of taking the throne his entire life and yet has been running from the responsibility as often as he can. That is until he is summoned back to his father’s deathbed and forced into an arrange trial marriage with Shanti, who has wanted nothing more than to become Queen in this lifetime. What neither Sanyu nor Shanti can anticipate is how much they’ll each need one another if they are to be successful in their reign. Neither believe they’ll need love to do so and major changes to the traditional way Njaza has been ruled.

One thing that is for certain is that this book is filled with TENSION! From the tension that exists between the old regime and the new, the sexual tension explored between the two mc’s, and tension between the king and his people. While it starts out a bit slower, as Sanyu begins to awaken to the possibilities of what could be for Njaza and his relationship to his wife, the pace quickens and it turns out to be a page-turning novel filled with steam, lots of twists and turns, stolen kisses and sexcapades.

I couldn’t stand Musoke the entire book! He was essentially the perfect antagonist. But, it was amazing to see Shanti take several turns at reading him appropriately!

The Reluctant Royals is a series I hold dear and the Runaway Royals will follow in its footsteps as a beloved series.

Shanti and Sanyu were first introduced as a married couple in A Prince on Paper and the two were clearly stuck in a loveless marriage. How to Catch a Queen further examined what brought the two together and how they both became so lonely. Sanyu was reeling from his father’s death and desperate to not mess up his new role as king. His perfect match was found in Shanti who had aspirations of becoming a royal and inciting change. Their romance unraveled in a course of 3 weeks as the two learned to work together, see each other as equals, and find love along the way.

While How to Catch a Queen had its romantic elements, it felt as though it was Alyssa Cole’s entry to fantasy romance. As Cole has mentioned, she was interested in discovering the perfect government and that was the main focus of How to Catch a Queen. Despite such a heavy topic, How to Catch a Queen still captured Cole’s trademark humor and brought back characters from the Reluctant Royals family.

Karen Chilton returned as narrator for the Runaway Royals series and I have always enjoyed her narration and it was especially helpful when learning to pronounce character names.

I love Alyssa Cole's royal books. I was intrigued by these characters when they popped up in A Prince on Paper. Royal marriage of convenience in a flagging African nation. What more could you ask for?

Shanti has aspired to be a queen her entire life. She's trained for it, literally, by learning languages, getting educated, staying on top of current events. I had to suspend belief a bit here because I live in the US and people don't aspire to become royalty. But this is a royal romance fiction book and these nations are led by royalty so I guess it makes sense. At least Shanti took it seriously and was prepared to do good work in her role. She signs up for a royal matchmaking service and is connected with Sanyu. He must marry before his father passes away and he takes on the crown. It's a marriage of convenience but she hopes they can be partners in leading the nation.

Sanyu is the only child of a king who has had a LOT (a lot a lot a lot) of wives. I won't spoil why the king has married so much but the culture doesn't hold women in a high esteem and they marry for a few months before being shipped off and a new wife brought in. I did enjoy that the culture values triad relationships because you don't see that diversity in many contemporary books. Sanyu is a reluctant heir and feels stifled under the mantle placed on him. He's in a fog for the first few months after his father dies and seemingly forgets he even has a wife. She catches his notice in a political meeting and he starts to realize hey, this lady is kind of smart.

They build a friendship as he learns his new role and she aids him with her training. It was slow going. This is definitely a slow burn it was also frustrating. Sanyu made some boneheaded decisions and I could.not.stand how everyone treated Shanti. She didn't do anything wrong and people were huge jerks to her. I am really interested in seeing more books in this nation/culture to see how things change with a True Queen in Shanti at the throne.

Overall, I would never not recommend an Alyssa Cole book. It was entertaining, the characters were fun, and it's a good escape from your normal world. This isn't my favorite of her royal series but it was darn good and I recommend you pick it up.

Alyssa Cole's newest romance is simply magical, featuring a heroine and hero that both face real-world problems in a royal setting. Shanti is super-competent but faces an uphill battle as a commoner and outsider who marries the king in a marriage of convenience in a nation where queens have not been historically valued. Sanyu is full of doubt and fears and does not know how to be the king his people need. Will they finally figure it all out together? I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to what comes next!

“Your council wastes me like it does all of Njaza’s resources.”
Queen Shanti
If you are looking for a romance where a Queen knows her self worth as well as the worth of the country in which she serves, then look no further than Alyssa Cole's How to Catch a Queen, the first book in the new series Runaway Royals. Shanti and Sanyu, the heir to the Njaza throne, are arranged to be married, before his father death. But as is tradition in Njaza, a king is only required to be married for four months, so that the King can guage whether his bride is worthy of being Njaza's one true queen. Will Sanju realize how valuable Shanti is to his life and his kingdom, or will he waste her love like Njaza's resources? I implore you pick up this excellent romance and find out.

I thourougly enjoyed this book, it was my first Alyssa Cole romance, and I now see why so many romance readers find her romances modern and refreshing. In my opinion, How to Catch A Queen is an intelligent, sharp, witty, and steamy romance, perfect for political junkies such as myself.

I was able to receive an Advanced Readers Copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When I first began this story, I didn’t really know what to think. It began kind of slow (the prologue and chapter 1) but it surely picked up at chapter two. As I was reading I was just thinking about how courageous Queen Shanti was. Sanyu is the king but he required a ton of encouragement and reassurance that he could do his job. I felt like the author did a really good job explaining things; i could picture everything as it happened.

This was an intriguing story and I truly enjoyed it.

In early pages of How to Catch a Queen, the first in a new romance series from Alyssa Cole, lifelong royal aspirant Shanti Mohapi has achieved her goal: she’s now the queen of the small African nation of Njaza. But things aren’t quite as she envisioned. Instead of giving speeches and affecting change, she’s prohibited from attending council meetings or giving her opinion in any form, and she barely sees her new husband.

It turns out that Njaza doesn’t subscribe to the “’til death do us part” notion when it comes to royalty; Shanti is only there on a trial basis and unless she’s proclaimed to be the “true queen” of Njaza (a title that no woman has yet held), King Sanyu will be sending her packing after the four-month trial period, per the country’s tradition.

The issue with that customary arrangement is that Sanyu finds himself drawn to his new bride and needs her expertise as he navigates his new role as king. He was raised under the strict, but sheltered instruction of his head advisor who also happened to be his late father’s closest friend. Sanyu was not raised to be confident and has a lot of pressure on his shoulders. Shanti, on the other hand, has been preparing herself to be a leader for as long as she can remember, so she has a lot of wisdom to offer.

The two begin to develop trust and intimacy as Shanti’s time in the palace begins to draw to a close and Sanyu must decide if he’ll stick to the old ways and allow his advisors to run the show, or if he will step up to the plate with the help of his new wife and lead his country into the future.
As a big Alyssa Cole fan, I was surprisingly let down by this new book of hers. I found myself confused about why characters from the Reluctant Royals series were so active in the text message inboxes of the two main characters; I know we met Shanti and Sanyu briefly in A Prince on Paper but if it’s necessary to know those characters to have an understanding of large sections of this new book, why not make it the fourth Reluctant Royals book?
I failed to feel the chemistry between Shanti and Sanyu and really, I failed to see much of a personality in Sanyu whatsoever. Also, his relationship with the head advisor took a strange turn toward the end of the book that I don’t think was properly built up.

Even though this is a romance and the course of the plot is expected to be fairly predictable, I found the story to be especially unsurprising. I’m assuming that was why there seemed to be far more steamy scenes in this book than in any of the Reluctant Royals books. The story seemed to need that help.

I did, however, enjoy the added mystery element of the missing god of Njaza. I wish this had been drawn out more and something Shanti was actively chasing down for most of the book because it was, by far, the most interesting part of the plot. I think I would have sped through this book a lot faster if that mystery had been pulling me along.

I will keep going with this new series because I do really enjoy Alyssa Cole’s books, but I hope the future installments have more to offer than this one and aren’t so reliant on the great characters from the Reluctant Royals books to provide personality to the story.

Alyssa Cole’s romances are always solidly reliable- she’s a definite expert at combining high-stakes plots, characters you can really care about, and plenty of steam into one swoony romantic whole. How to Catch a Queen is no exception. It does have a slow start, but I enjoy the political intrigue and world-building; also a bit of a con is the abrupt way the antagonist is dealt with (or rather, isn't, enough). But despite these flaws, it’s a fun read, and left me excited for more in the series!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the advance review copy!

I have loved reading Alyssa Cole's Reluctant Royals series and this first book in the breakaway series Runaway Royals definitely met my high expectations. I was looking forward to getting a better understanding of Shanti and Sanyu's relationship since we met them in A Prince on Paper. It was hinted at that there might be feelings behind the marriage of convenience and I really enjoyed the background to it all that Alyssa gave us. The book tackles anxiety, politics, empiricism/colonisation, and it does so while weaving in romance throughout. This book is less focused on the romance compared to other books in the series, so it was a bit of a jolt moving from one to the other. However, I really liked the extra nuance of this book, and it was still an awesome time. I'm looking forward to more books in this series!

I had to DNF at the 50% mark because this book bored me. I didn't get a sense of the culture of this fictional country. the couple had no chemistry and they were barely around each other. Lots of politics involved but also not much about policies at the same time.