Review: American Prince (New Camelot Trilogy, #2) by Sierra Simone

AJ

Buy:  Kindle Ebook  |  Paperback

Review

“It was the purest heavens in the midst of the worst hell, and I loved every minute of it, even though it was all underpinned by a lie–my lie—and I knew one day it would burn down around me.”

Unpopular opinion alert :\

After loving and DEVOURING the first book in this series, American Queen, I was really excited to continue on with the intense love story between the President of the United States, his Vice President, and the woman they both love. There is SO much love out there for this book, and I get it, I absolutely do, but I struggled with this one, which was sadly a bit eye-rolling and overly dramatic for me.

Like the first, the writing is strong, the feels are intense and the sex is hot and steamy with strong Dom/sub themes as Ash, Embry and Greer begin to embrace their secretive and oh-so-steamy relationship.

“Fuck, I can’t stop,” Embry says as I writhe and moan underneath him. “I gotta—I have to—”
“Do it,” Ash says roughly. “Show me how much you like using my wife. Show me how grateful you are.”

This book is written in the dual POV of Greer and Embry, picking up where the first one left off, and diving straight back into that nasty cliffhanger. And here is my first eyebrow-raising moment…

Spoiler
After being kidnapped, drugged, taken hostage in another country and almost raped, Greer’s first priority after Embry bursts through the room to rescue her is to have him pretend to rape her in the very room where she was being held. Let’s not worry about actually escaping the compound and getting to safety, nope, let’s get down, dirty and kinky right here, right now. Like that’s not going to come back and bite them…

The story moves between the present and the past, and with most of the book being written in Embry’s POV, we get to see the in-depth backstory of him and Ash, and wow, what a twisted tale! Dark, sexy and intense, finally seeing their history adds depth to the already and fascinating dynamic between them as well as delivering a strong m/m love story.

I met his eyes, which were almost black in the dark. “Whatever you want.”
“What I want will have you flat on the ground with tears in your eyes. You think you want to give that to me?”
“No.” I swallowed. “I want you to take it from me.

I will break from loving him, I think. I will split with it, burn with it.

The romance is strong, the intensity remains high, and the passion is definitely there, and again I was sucked into the unique relationship between these three intriguing characters. Their love story continues to change and develop, and really liked watching it happen.

If I ever thought Ash held all the power in their relationship, I see it clearly now. Embry holds my husband’s heart in his hands and he doesn’t even know it. He’s too busy looking at the details of Ash’s faces to see the expression, too busy being in love to see how loved he is.

But for me, there was just too much drama! My biggest issues with this book –

Spoiler
the freaking secrets! SO many secrets, and then the whole ‘I’m going to break up with you and lie to you and not tell you why because I have a secret and I’m protecting you in the long run…’. Blah. Not a favourite plot device of mine in the first place, but this one just got way OTT for me with the plot twists, blackmailing and outright hugeness of all of the secrets. I’m sure it’s supposed to be shocking and intense, and while it is that, it once again had my eyes rolling as all is revealed.

But having said that, I am still interested in the overarching story, and I’ll definitely continue on with the series to see where it all goes from here.

The book ends with another cliffy (though not as painful at the first), but it’s an ending that leaves a lot of possibilities for the next book, and I’m keen to see how it’s all going to end. That, and I’m desperate for one character in particular to get what is coming to them (God, how I wish I could be the one to deliver it!).

It was good, but not great. 3 stars.

 

The New Camelot Trilogy

   

American Queen (#1)
Review
Buy:  Kindle Ebook  |  Paperback

American Prince (#2)
Review
Buy:  Kindle Ebook  |  Paperback

American King (#3)
Review
Buy:  Kindle Ebook  |  Paperback