How to Catch a Queen (Runaway Royals #1) by Alyssa Cole

 * * * * 1/2

When Shanti Mohapi weds the king of Njaza, her dream of becoming a queen finally comes true. But it’s nothing like she imagined. Shanti and her husband may share an immediate and powerful attraction, but her subjects see her as an outsider, and everything she was taught about being the perfect wife goes disastrously wrong.

A king must rule with an iron fist, and newly crowned King Sanyu was born perfectly fitted for the gauntlet, even if he wishes he weren’t. He agrees to take a wife as is required of him, though he doesn’t expect to actually fall in love. Even more vexing? His beguiling new queen seems to have the answers to his country’s problems—except no one will listen to her.

By day, they lead separate lives. By night, she wears the crown, and he bows to her demands in matters of politics and passion. When turmoil erupts in their kingdom and their marriage, Shanti goes on the run, and Sanyu must learn whether he has what it takes both to lead his people and to catch his queen.

Source: ARC generously provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

How to Catch a Queen is the first book in Cole's new Runaway Royals series and I think it's one of her best. I liked the entire set up of a reluctant and self-doubting king who has to govern a country built upon the legacy of his father, and at the same time learn how to be a husband to a wife he hardly knows. 

Sanyu and Shanti couldn't be more dissimilar upon their first meeting. He wants to run away from his responsibilities and the overwhelming expectations while she willingly walks into that. He's unsure how to lead or make decisions whereas she craves opportunities to do so. Shanti is severely disappointed to find out that she's not allowed to play an integral part of helping her husband to govern their country. Women have been traditionally sidelined in Njaza so Shanti's opinions do not matter. None of the queens in the past were treated well, either. The queens are simply disposable. Since she can't help her husband, much less see him, she finds other ways to help her newly adopted country.  She attends secret meetings in disguise outside of the palace. People who want to bring positive change in Njaza gather together to discuss how they can do so. Shanti brings her many skills and years of studies to guide her new friends and offer perspective. 

Sanyu has no idea what his wife has been up to. He's ignored her for the first few months of their marriage as he's been busy trying unsuccessfully to figure out how to rule. He has advisors but he doesn't have a firm voice. That's his biggest problem: he hears so many voices that he doubts his own ideas. Who hasn't been there? One day, after a rare and unexpected display of public defiance from Shati, Sanyu seeks her out realizing that she might actually be someone who could help him. Their relationship is one that grows throughout the story and it's rather slow burn. Sanyu seems almost lost compared to Shanti's bold certainty of who she is and what she wants. It's quite remarkable to read how his perception of her changes form one of suspicion (because, really who would walk into a marriage so blindly?) to one of wonderment. For her turn, Shanti sees Sanyu's potential. All she wants is to embolden him so he can trust his vision for his country and believe that he can make a proper ruler. 

The true standout of this novel is Njaza. Cole has outdone herself with the world-building and she's seen to every detail from its landscape and geography, to its religion and culture, to its history and customs, to its myths and legends ... you get the idea. She's painted an incredibly vivid picture for readers. This is a country that's shedding its colonial past and now seeks to build a bright future that integrates its pre-colonial history with a present that all its people - men and women - can be proud of. I was dazzled by all of it!

How to Catch a Queen was such pleasurable reading. I enjoyed the romance but I was taken in by the power play dynamics of running a kingdom that Sanyu was gradually becoming accustomed to. Both he and Shanti are impressive characters, and as I said already, Njaza is absolutely captivating!

~ Bel