Nobody in particular is my most recent ARC read and you are definitely going to want to mark your calendars for this one.

This is a queer royalty romance that takes place in Henland, a country barely holding on to its traditions. We follow Danni, new to both the country and the boarding school that the most wealthy and important students attend, as she learns to navigate her new life. We also follow Rosemary, the crown princess, who is haunted by her past but determined to do what is best for her country.

This book has amazing depictions of the complex friendships between teenage girls. It tackles heavy topics like grief and homophobia with candor and sensitivity. Rose and Danni both have interesting and relatable journeys as they learn more about themselves and their classmates.

It’s got fun moments, sad moments, and everything in between. This is truly a book worth reading!

Thank you, Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the advanced digital copy!

This book follows Princess Rosemary of Henland can’t afford any distractions. She is trying to rebuild her reputation after a scandal that cost her both the trust of her country and her best friend. But, when Danni, a new student on a music scholarship, arrives at Bramppath College on, she finds herself quite distracted.

This is my first Sophie Gonzalez book and I loved it! I haven’t read many Royal/Commoner romances, but this one was so entertaining and fun to read. This story gave me The Prince and Me (but gay) and Red, White, and Royal Blue vibes. I especially loved the dual POV, I feel like romances are sooo much better with them. The yearning and tension between Rose and Danni and then their relationship was so cuteeeeee.

Nobody in Particular by Sophie Gonzalez absolutely GRABBED my attention with its premise and it definitely delivered although I had a few issues with it.

I felt like the more serious topics were slightly glossed over. I do think that the plot was at a good pace and the significant events in the book all had their purpose. I just felt that some should’ve been a bit more fleshed out.

Main one being a character technically experienced assault and then got drunk as a coping mechanism and this was all brought up like twice after? And then the girl got outed and she was just fine? She was upset for maybe two minutes before confronting paparazzi and was completely fine after. How?

Other than the glossed over portions, the story was really enjoyable and the characters all had distinct and likeable personalities. Each had different flaws they worked through to better themselves as well. I also absolutely loved the relationships in the book. The friendships were top tier with people going through trauma together and confiding in each other while also just laughing like regular high schoolers, it was precious to see.

As well, the star couple of course, their journey was quite interesting to read through. They each had problems (one maybe a wee bit more than the other lol) but they worked through them together, messiness and all. They really saw each other for who they were and were just so sweet to each other and they changed the country together like couple goals?

This book was great and if you want a messy queer royal romance with a happy ending, this is a great pick.

This was a sweet, quick read. Perfect for fans of royals and intrigue. It feels very CW. There are moments that feel top mature for teens with drugs and alcohol, but the cw is known for almost glamorizing that sort of thing so it fits into the wealthy boarding school theme.

Lots of fun twists and turns. Great pacing and a touching romance.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. The premise had so much potential and I was really excited because I’m always looking for romances that I connect with, but I just wasn’t enjoying myself.

I didn’t vibe at all with the writing style, and I didn’t connect at all with any of the characters.

this book just had me giggling and blushing non-stop. the yearning! i have a soft spot for royalty romances, especially after reading rw&rb, so i'm very happy to say that this does in fact deliver with all the swoon. such a treat to read!

This was my first Sophie Gonzales book and I will go back for more. I enjoyed the story overall and loved sapphic representation. While I wish I fell harder for Rose and Danni, I think their relationship was developed well and I liked that the secondary characters got their time to shine, too. As a queer, recovering Catholic, I appreciated the Catholic guilt and expectations of the Catholic country even though I was having war flashbacks from it. Something that kept taking me out of the story was the underage drinking and substance misuse. It just did not feel authentic in the story. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Absolutely loved this! I always love a prince and the pauper story and a queer version of that is absolutely up my alley, the relationship between the two main characters was fantastic and the story of grief and understanding ones emotions almost made me cry i did not expect that at all.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this book in exchange for a review.

I gave this one 4.25/5 stars


This sapphic, YA, coming-of-age, royal and commoner book follows Daniela “Danni” Blythe as she navigates life in a new country at an all-girls catholic school. As a scholarship student from the States, and a closeted bisexual, she fears she’ll be bullied all over again until she meets Molly.
Molly, who isn’t talking to her best friend Princess Rose, but gladly helps Danni acclimate and make friends.

Princess Rosemary is all-too-aware of how important her reputation is with the citizens of her country, especially after the events of the previous year. But with Molly icing her out and seemingly replacing her with the new girl, she’s desperate to know how to fix things— and to know Danni.

What starts as a friendship that might be a means to an end turns into more when both girls realize how much they like the other. But her future as the Queen will always get in Rose’s way.



Overall thoughts:
I loved this book. It was so sweet and it tells such a special story. It’s about acceptance, grief, the fear of coming out, the importance of feeling your feelings, and standing up for yourself. Friendship, love, doing right by yourself. So many beautiful things.
I love that every major milestone between Danni and Rose occurs in the woods, it’s great symbolism for the forbidden nature of their relationship.
It gives me such joy to know that young women will have such a beautiful representation of queer love and acceptance.



Tropes:
-new girl at school
-RoyalxCommoner
-forbidden love
-found family
-hiding in plain sight


What I loved:
Danni and Rose’s relationship
Molly and Eleanor
The grief storyline and watching Rose come to terms with her feelings
Danni’s character development
The epilogue !!!

What I didn’t love:
Harriet and Alfie
William and the royals insistence that Rose marry a man
The way Molly treated Rose before they made up
Danni felt almost… too mature for her age


Overall I loved this book so much and wish it had been around 10 years ago when I was in school.

All girls boarding school? Disgraced princess? The new Sophie Gonzales?! Say less. This was such a fun, romantic, drama-filled romance from Gonzales (as always!) and I couldn't put it down!

Nobody In Particular is a book I only wish was written when I was in High School! It’s a story about coming of age, love, yearning, pain and what is perceived vs what is actually truth. The characters were really well written and their development, especially Roses was beautiful to see. This is a slow burn, forbidden romance that was incredibly sweet. Ultimately I LOVE the overall message about being true to yourself and choosing your own journey. Thank you, NetGalley & the publisher for allowing to read this ARC!

I loved this book so much!! The romance, the drama, the love story, everything was perfect!! It was fun to get to know the characters in this book!! I liked seeing what it was like to be a part of the royal family. This book I won’t soon forget because it was just that good!! A big thank you to NetGalley, Wednesday Books, and St. Martin’s Publishing Group for this ARC!! I loved every second Danni and Rose were together and it was such a joy to read and experience for the first time!! I will absolutely be recommending this book to anyone who loves these kinds of stories!! Sophie Gonzales is an amazing suthor and I can’t wait to see what I read next!!

Normally, Danni and Rosemary wouldn't meet. Danni is talented at music but otherwise an American commoner, nobody in particular, and Rosemary is a literal princess who has, historically, blown off the weight of her position. But in boarding school, they overlap—and they start to find that their circumstantial differences might mean less than they think, and also that staying together might cause insurmountable problems for them both.

Gonzales established herself as a "yes please" kind of author for me with the first book of hers that I read, and since I have a weakness for boarding school stories and princess stories (may these weaknesses never fade), this was not exactly a hard sell for me. It's about what you'd expect: cute and pretty light and with the occasional castle thrown in.

What really interests me, though, is the author's note at the beginning of the book. It's long enough that I won't quote, but Gonzales says that the first draft was written eleven years ago—but that at the time publishers told her, over and over again, that queer royal romance was too niche. This was of course wildly untrue, as many books published since have proven...and it wasn't all that long before Gonzales's draft went from too niche (according to the publishers) to something that had already been done, including with an unnamed, unrelated book that was especially similar.

Obviously we know this background only because both Gonzales and the folks at St. Martin's eventually went forward with publishing this book! But that author's note gave me so much food for thought throughout the book. Because: I am one of those readers who would have found this so valuable (and validating) a decade or more ago, when I was still struggling to find queer books that didn't hinge on violence and homophobia. Part of me is pretty annoyed that publishers didn't think there was a market for this book back then. And...I'm pretty sure I've read that unnamed, unrelated, similar book as well. Actually, I'm pretty sure I reread it—completely coincidentally—a few weeks before reading "Nobody in Particular". (I am sometimes very consistent.)

Some parts of this book do feel a bit dated—there's a big to-do about one character coming out, for example, in a way that I associate more with less recent queer lit. (Although obviously coming-out stories are still valid and important, there's something of an arc to the way queer lit has told its stories over time—from queer characters meeting serious violence or being run out of town, to queer characters getting a happy or happy-of-sorts ending but only after lots of homophobia along the way, to extremely angsty coming-out stories, to much more matter-of-fact coming-out stories, and eventually to stories in which the characters are just comfortably queer to begin with and get on with their lives and romances. And then the whole thing started over with stories featuring trans characters...) Would I have been thinking that if I hadn't read the author's note, though, and also every piece of queer lit I could get my hands on in my teens and early twenties—perhaps not! I think I was both the right and the wrong reader for this: right, because (again) of that weakness for boarding school stories and princess stories and also Gonzales's books in general; wrong, because I do sometimes have such weird and specific tastes and because I know how much Gonzales has evolved as a writer in the past decade (as in: I know, because I have read her more recent books) and part of me wishes—unfairly!—that I could see what she might have done with this story today.

All of which is to say: if you're looking for a boarding school story, or a princess story, and want a fairly light, quick read, this is one for you! Rosemary and Danni can be *absolute dummies* at times, but that is not criticism; that is the state of teenagers and also YA lit in general. This isn't the most realistic of stories, but that's sort of the point; it's pure escapism at times, so buckle up and put on your plastic crowns and settle in for some princess fantasies.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Nobody in Particular was exactly what the sapphic community needed. I originally was intrigued by this book because of the cover and synopsis but what I was surprised by was the depth of the story. Danni and Rose's story was so heartwarming and the addition of the royal plot and boarding school made their romance higher stakes. While I would absolutely recommend this book, it is definitely upper YA as it deals with heavy topics such as an overdose and drug use which I have not come across in many YA novels.

I had to dnf this book because the writing style felt too young for me. The concept sounded cute but unfortunately the princess diaries charm just didn't deliver like I thought it would.

I absolutely loved this book! The writer has such a way of writing characters that feel real, and Nobody in Particular was no exception. A sapphic romance with royalty, a boarding school setting, and a bit of drama? Yes, please!

I really enjoyed the dual POV. Both Rose and Danni had such distinct voices, and I loved getting inside their heads. Rose is under so much pressure to fix her reputation, and you can really feel the weight of her choices. Meanwhile, Danni is just trying to find her place at this super elite school, and I loved how she navigates the social circles. Their chemistry is so good. Every little moment between them had me rooting for them even harder.

The boarding school setting was also chef’s kiss. It added just the right amount of drama, secrets, and tension. Plus, the friendships and social dynamics made everything feel so immersive.

If you love stories with forbidden romance, strong character growth, and all the emotions, definitely pick this one up. I already know I’ll be thinking about Rose and Danni for a long time.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the early copy!

Nobody in Particular is a beyond adorable YA romance where an outsider goes on scholarship to a boarding school with a princess. Did it have every trope? Absolutely. But the characters were great, and it was a fun, fluffy queer read. I loved our 2 main characters and read this one over 2 days.

Thanks to NetGalley, Sophie Gonzales, and St. Martins Press for the chance to read and review. My opinions are my own!

I thoroughly enjoyed this read!
I am such a sucker for royalty romances, and this was the sapphic romance to fill my Barbie Princess Charm school heart. The authors note at the beginning made me so thrilled to dive into this story, as I understand completely where Sophie Gonzales is coming from, to work on something for so long and have it form such a beautiful story is incredibly inspiring.
That said, I love these characters and I could read another hundred pages of Danni and Rose together.

this was truly a work of art. so many wlw books are so hard to get through or feel unrealistic, but this one was really great

I was eagerly anticipating this as I am a huge fan of any novel containing royal figures. I enjoyed the setting and the yearning between the two characters!! However, there was something missing for me. I just wasn’t too invested in Rose and Danni’s relationship. I enjoyed the realistic and understandable third act conflict though.