Young Adult Book Reviews

Genre: Realistic Fiction with a touch of romance and mystery

Evangeline (or Evan) has known for awhile that she is the illegitimate daughter of the King of England, Alexander. However, she has never met him and very few people know of her existence. Due to her mother’s illness, she lived with her grandmother until she died and has been in boarding schools ever since. Unfortunately, she seems to find trouble wherever she goes and after getting kicked out of boarding school they reluctantly bring her to England where the Queen, Helene, and the legitimate princess, Maisie, are none too pleased. Everyone hopes to keep her identity a secret, but it leaks out shortly after her arrival and the media goes crazy. After failing to trust the right person one night, Evan finds herself assaulted and accused of murder, which she isn’t totally positive she didn’t do. Can she navigate this new public life without it completely destroying her? Will she ever connect with her father or half sister? Will she ever be accepted as her father’s daughter?

This book is fun right from the beginning and the intrigue keeps growing. The characters all behave in ways that seem believable with real emotions, motivations, and frustrations as life doesn’t turn out how they all planned. The pieces to the puzzle surrounding who is trying to frame Evan are there, but it takes awhile for them all to come together. Evan’s situation also seems very plausible once the entire story is explained. There is a little bit of mystery, romance, and family drama mixed into this truly engaging, fun story. Fans of the Selection series and the Inheritance Games series will enjoy this title and be eager to see more books in this series.