Sometimes, it feels like an author wrote a book *just for you*, and sometimes that book also contains some wonderfully steamy scenes too.

Alyssa Cole has ruined me for other romance novelists, and I am glad for it. Her characters, especially in How to Catch a Queen are relatable and fully fleshed out. She gives them agency, and feelings, and (yes) sometimes very good one-liners.

I think what I love the most about Cole's work, beyond just this one (though it is stuffed with goodies), is she always includes moments of kindness and some very solid advice. Not mention some amazingly quotable lines. Shanti is no exception, though her self written Field Guide to Queendom is a little heavy handed, but that's just Shanti.

The chemistry between her and Sanyu is wonderfully wrought and balanced by exchanging power dynamics as both come into their own.

Sanyu might be my favorite of the love leads Cole has written thus far in her contemporary royals series. His motivations and personality work so well together, and his anxiety is written accurately without getting in the way of the rest of the story -- but it is a part of him.

I don't think it's necessary to read her other series first, although this spin-off series does reference those characters, but I'll recommend starting with A Princess in Theory anyways!