A little competition can bring out a lot of feelings

Synopsis

I’m determined to win over the one guy who hates me…but I never expected to fall for him

Being a prince may seem like a fairytale, but to me, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. That’s why I’m excited when I get permission from my uncle—the king of Norway—to go undercover as a student at an American college for a year. And I’m even more ecstatic to be selected for their football team. Soccer, I mean. The only problem? Farron, the team captain, dislikes me on sight. Determined to win him over, I start a charm offensive, but nothing works. He only hates me more.

Until the animosity comes to an explosive release…and we end up kissing each other. How did that happen when neither of us has ever been attracted to a guy before? Farron wants to let it run its course and get it out of our system, but I doubt that’ll work. I’m falling for him hard, but he has no idea who I really am. I fear that if he finds out, he’ll never speak to me again…

The Prince and the Player is the first book in the Prince Pact series and features an undercover, sunshiney prince and a grumpy, handsome soccer captain, two guys who mistake hate for attraction, a double bi-awakening, and two opposites who attract each other like magnets.

The royally romantic, enemies-to-lovers college romance for fans of Casey McQuiston, Alexis Hall and Jax Calder.

My review

Being a prince is not easy. Even if Tore himself is not the first in line for the throne, he still has many responsibilities. And he knows that the list will only extend. So now is the time to enjoy some freedom, and go on a sabbatical and go experience the American college life for a year. There Tore will be part of the football team, or like the Americans call it, soccer team. But he didn’t expect to be clashing with the captain of the team. For a reason Tore doesn’t know, Farron cannot stand the newest arrival. Especially when Tore shows his worth on the field. It all comes clashing in a way neither of them expected: in them kissing. Never did they think to be falling for not only the same sex, but for each other. But are they really falling for each other, or is it more a chase of getting each other out of their system? And what about Tore not telling Farron who he really is, the exact kind of person, that comes with money, that Farron despises the most?

There are plenty of stories where a royal person wants to pretend to be ‘normal’ and goes undercover in a college or university, getting a taste of that life. Both in books and movies that is a trope that has been used several times. And I have to admit, I am a sucker for such tropes. And the extra addition of this being a MM love story, well it was not only brave but even more perfect!

While growing up, we all have that fantasy that being a prince or princess is truly something special, something of a fairytale. But with age comes also wisdom, and we all know that being royalty isn’t all that easy at all. Being royalty brings a lot of responsibilities, and in a world where royalty is often seen as superfluous, it’s also a matter of surviving.

Even if Tore isn’t first in line for the crown, he still has many responsibilities, even if he is a young man with the whole world at his feet. He doesn’t know much beside the royal life, but he knows that he is living a privileged life. A privileged life, but not a free life where he can do what he wants, what he dreams of.

So I could understand how he wanted to see what a normal life looks like, now that it still all possible. Because the more time passes, the slimmer those chances are getting. It was truly a  case of now or never.

I liked Tore from the very start. He may be a prince, but he is genuinely a nice guy, with a positive attitude and just goes for it. Even in a country that he doesn’t know, where even the words have a different meaning, he tries to blend in. And I liked it the most that you can take a prince out of the circle of royalty, but you can never take the royalty out of the prince. He keeps being polite, even using perhaps fancier words than needed in college.

But he blends in, makes new friends, even if he is still keeping his real identity hidden from everyone. Because he wants people to accept Tore, and not Tore the Prince.

However, not everyone is ready to accept Tore in their midst. Because Farron is not only against everyone with money, but he is also in a way jealous of the talent that Tore is on the field. Tore is everything that Farron wants to be, and he feels a real competition with him.

I could understand a little bit Farron’s feelings towards Tore, but initially I couldn’t grasp why he was feeling so deeply and so negative. Slowly, bit by bit, his upbringing and his difficulties during that upbringing were revealed, and I not understood Farron much better. But I could also understand his thoughts and why he feels the way he feels towards Tore, even if Tore himself didn’t  do anything wrong to Farron.

As a reader, we of course know that their animosity will climax in a great kiss. A kiss that I was anxiously waiting for it, but shocks both young men. Not only does the realization that the ‘hatred’ is in fact something else hit home, but also the fact that the sizzling kiss is with another man, makes the both of them question, well, everything they thought they knew.

It was nice reading how different they each react to the kiss. Tore is like the Prince he is, he is stoic about. Well, in the sense that he goes with the flow, tries to understand what it all means and what his actual feelings now truly are.

While Farron has the complete opposite reaction. He is totally freaking out by the event, not understanding it at all. And while things get heated up with Tore, Farron also often shows a cowardice behaviour. But we also know that he is acting out of fear and of not understanding.

As a matter of fact, I could understand both reactions, no matter how different they are. Acting in one way or another is something very human, and we are not the same, so even our actions are not the same.

Of course it’s obvious that Tore’s secret is coming out at one point in the story, bringing down everything the pair has been attempting to build, or to understand. But after the initial shock, and the needed time to digest it all, there is also a level of maturity in the characters. A level that brings both characters in understanding each other even better than they ever did.

This is the first book that I have read from this author. And I liked it how the characters in this book aren’t the standard couple. Because in the real world, nothing is standard anymore. Standard is overrated, as it puts people in boxes, while people should be allowed to be who they are, in or out a box.

I loved this book, and I cannot wait to read what other stories and tales are waiting for the other princes like Tore!