Came for the lesbians, stayed for the story.
That is all I have to say for this intro.

Plot Summary:
The Duchess of Kokora Phera has entered the marriage games of neighboring kingdom Ryene. However, her intention is not to marry the prince and gain immeasurable power, but to win back the love of her life, Rocelle. Though this may seem simple, Phera runs into numerous problems including stopping a bloodthirsty duel, fending off a vicious fellow contestant, and grappling with the fact that her beloved may love another.
Will Phera finally get her happily ever after?

Plot Review:
First of all, this book is hilarious.
I haven’t genuinely laughed at a book since my time reading “Jackaby” by William Ritter, but this book truly had a lot of good chuckles in it.
Including this gem:

“If your appearance were a horse, I would take it out back and put it out of its misery.”

And also this one:

“Oh?” Pellivar looked toward Leran before shifting his weight back in a dueling stance. “Ah, I see. Be wary, good man. For the sake of my honor and my warrior’s pride, I will not hesitate to strike down the elderly!”

I even laughed writing these out!
Anyway.
Besides the engaging humor, I found this book to be a really solid debut plotwise. The world building was excellent and extensive with a lot of details covering each kingdom and culture presented throughout the story. The idea of the marriage games was also interesting and fresh. I read a lot of books with this kind of basis for a story, but this one was rather unique and I appreciated that.
Concerning the magic system, at times I felt confused. I was being told what was happening and how things worked, but there were times when I couldn’t really grasp what was being explained to me.
This could be a result of info dumping or my overall stupidity.
For the sake of being able to give this five stars, I’m blaming the latter.
Another little thing that bothered me slightly was the fact that the marriage games, a very crucial part of this book, was more or less left as a background plotline. While the games, when they happened on page, were very unique and interesting, I would have liked to dive deeper into that storyline. But it was kind of a side situation since Phera is dealing with her messy love life and trying to prevent a duel between a fifteen-year-old boy and his brother.
Otherwise, this was a solid plot, especially for a debut novel!

Characters:
Phera. Phera. Phera.
What an amazing character.
I truly enjoyed following Phera throughout this book. She’s very passionate and witty, which I see a lot in books similar to this. But her character was done SO MUCH BETTER than other series!
She’s smart and intuitive, but makes mistakes and catches herself in lies that extend far past what she expected.
In short, she’s a flawed character, but one that I enjoyed immensely.
Regarding Rocelle.
I just really hated this character.
I hated how Phera described her as so good and pure, when she’s literally enjoying the way two people are fighting over her affections. She also acts as though it is not her fault at all. Yes, it’s not her fault that she fell for both of them and they fell for her, but she CAN decide to end this foolish competition and make it clear she wants one, both, or none of them.
Because toying with people like this really made her character seem villainous, which I’m not sure was the overall intention. Due to her actions, it was impossible for me to root for her and Phera’s relationship.
It was even hard to ship her with Dominic, who was one of my favorite characters.
He is also flawed, like Phera, but that is what makes him a good character, too. He’s strong and honorable, but has a violent streak that he fully acknowledges and resents. The scenes with him and Phera are some of the best and most honest.
Just wait til you get to the “closet scene” with both of them, too. It was a masterpiece of humor and fiction!
Another thing this book does well is take difficult topics and discuss them rationally and intimately. We get an amazing conversation concerning intimacy and what it means, as well as several discussions about what makes a person good and what makes a person bad.
This was so, SO refreshing! The reason I am disliking more and more YA reads is because they just never discuss topics like this, so I was glad to see this book handles such things in a very adult-like manner.
Back to characters.
Sorona and Ulric, our “villains,” were also very nuanced and complex characters. Sorona, for example, spends her time trying to diminish Phera’s standing and openly hates the Unsigned (those without magic). Ulric also has a dark side and even challenges his younger brother to a duel in order to gain power of his respective house. While these things are cleary terrible, there were many moments when I found myself questioning whether or not Sorona and Ulric were the TRUE villains of the story. There are moments when they act remorseful or their actions are explained in the grander scheme of things.
Their complexities were very interesting.
And I also have to mention our many, many side characters that are a real highlight! I loved Hespin, Leran, and PELLIVAR!
He was a very niche character with maybe three scenes, but he really caught my attention! I loved his character, and he was barely in it!
The fact that Prabala was able to make me adore these side characters is the mark of an amazing author and I’ll definitely be looking out for more books they turn out!

Overall Thoughts:
This was a truly amazing debut with intriguing characters, plot lines, and a ton of witty humor and I’m so glad I got to be one of the first to review it!

Extra Quotes (because I want you to read this book):

“Not selected a knight?” Pellivar spluttered. “But, then, how are we supposed to test ourselves against one of your famous barbarian warriors? It’s rather discourteous of you not to have brought one. We came all this way, after all.”

“Suffice it to say, the funeral was quite tasteful. Despite being closed casket.”


A big thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to review this ARC!

3.75 stars rounded up.

Love has never been so tense as it is in The Duchess of Kokora.

Phera enters into a competition for the royal hand in marriage of a neighboring country, but she's not there for Prince Dominic. Phera wants to win back her ex-girlfriend Rocelle, who is also competing. Meanwhile, political unrest stirs among the people of Ryene, and Phera finds herself right in the middle of its cause.

The premise sounded right up my alley - combining queer reality TV novel with a fantasy story is exactly the mashup I want to see. However, the competition mostly took a backseat to the worldbuilding so that I often forgot the women were even in a larger competition. The women competing were also allowed to be engaged to other people, competing for standing instead of for the prince, but they weren't allowed to be involved with each other, so that felt strange.

The magic system was pretty cool, and I very much appreciated the humor used throughout. Phera is strong and mischievous and fallible. I didn't like Phera and Rocelle together, which makes it hard to root for Phera's whole motivation for being there. For a lot that was going on, it didn't feel like much was resolved by the end, instead setting up for another book. Biggest takeaway: Phera and Dominic desperately need therapy.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

This was an amazing read! I loved the story line and things happened I never saw coming, It was a wild ride and I can't wait to read more!

Loved loved loved loved loved evry single detail in this amazing book. It was so special to read and to connect with the characters. Loved this experience.