#SeriesinaMonthChallenge A Princess in Theory and An Avocado Tree (in theory)

The hubs and my dear daughter eat avocados all the time, so I thought, why not try to grow a tree from one of the pits that usually goes into the compost bin.  Hope springs eternal as they say.

Here is a link to the handy Good Housekeeping Article on how you can grow an avocado tree from a pit. 

I have a planter all ready to pot an avocado tree provided that my pit decided to make roots. 

I'll keep you all updated on the pit situation moving forward, you shall be the first to know if we get growth!

And now on to the first book in my #SeriesInAMonthChallenge!  A Princess, in Theory,  the first book in the Reluctant Royals series by Alyssa Cole. I was able to borrow the audiobook from my library so I listened to the book at 1.5 speed via the Libby App. 

The audiobook is read by Karen Chilton who is incredibly good.  She gives each character their own voices with just the right accents.  If you are deciding between reading the book and listening to the audio, in this case, do yourself a favor and listen to this book.  

Reading this book, I'm amazing at how Alyssa Cole is so skilled at taking the tropes of fairy tales and regency romance and updating it so that it is grounded in the 21st century.  This book starts off with Naledi Smith getting emails she thinks are spam telling her she is supposed to marry an African Prince!  It's like someone said to Alyssa Cole, I bet you couldn't write a story based on an email scam and she said, watch me! 

In this story, we have Naledi Smith who was raised in the foster care system and doesn't know her roots. She is studying epidemiology as a graduate student.  Along comes Prince Thabiso who plans to swoop in and tell Naledi he is her Prince, and that they have been betrothed since they were practically babies. But then there is a misunderstanding and now the Prince is some guy named Jamal who is a server.  Sparks begin to fly, Prince Thabiso has to keep up his pretense and we know the stage is set for a great romance with comical elements and smart, smart people. 

It's so delightful and I am glad that I decided to read this series in a month!  Alyssa Cole writes intelligent,  environmentally-responsible characters who fall into steamy romances and she doesn't forget to add some humor along the way.  Go ahead and read this one and next week I'll be reviewing A Duke By Default the second book in the series featuring Naledi's BFF!

4.5 Stars to A Princess in Theory!