I really wanted to like The Royal Matchmaking Competition by Zoiy Galloay.  I loved the plot idea, I was ready to be whisked away into a fantasy world and the fantasy struggles and see what happened to Princess Qloey, and see how she handled each situation.

Unfortunately, this book was a major let down.

The plot of this book, is kind of what drew me in.  Princess Qloey is seeking a husband, and honoring a treaty among the land, 11 princes and 1 commoner is going to be competing for her hand in marriage.  However, one of these would be suitors is an assassin. 

I understand, that is a YA fantasy book, designed for an audience younger than I am.  However, I love YA books.  I may not always enjoy reading about teenagers, but I love the world building and the challenges are posed.  This is not a good YA book.

The biggest problem, is Qloey herself.  I think the author wanted to write her as this intelligent, sweet, kind, individual, who cared about politics and people, but the author missed the mark.  Qloey came off as a ditz, who as about as interesting as the butt piece of a brand new loaf of bread.  Throughout the entire book she couldn’t remain consistent on her thoughts and ideals, and it truly felt like she was trying to change her personality based upon who she was talking too.

For example, one of the 12 bachelors attempts to kiss Qloey on the first date.  She does not like this, and ends up “deducting points” from him overall on whether or not she will choose him.  She states it is too forward, and just not a good thing.  However, not too long later, she is on a first date with another contestant, and they end making out, and she loves it, and thinks it is amazing.  The author also tries to portray as this political savvy individual who is trying to do what is best for her people, and then she also wants to rearrange the order of her dates, because she doesn’t want to see them in that order.  After it is pointed out to her that changing the order will cause political issues, she kind of pouts and asks if it can be done anyways.

While the entire book wasn’t awful, it stays mind-numbingly inconsistent for the first 60% of the book, and by the time it starts to get interesting, I was just eager for it to be over.  I could see how this book could be fixed, but I feel like the author either didn’t listen to her editor, or her editor did not do that great of a job in helping her determine what would be good and bad to add to this book.

Somehow, there is going to be a sequel to this book, starring Qloey’s son, and honestly, I have no idea where that plot is going to go, because everything seemed fairly wrapped up.

The one really good thing about this book, is who Qloey ended up choosing overall to be her future husband.  I won’t spoil who it is, and why she ended up making that choice, but it was essentially the only time Qloey really made an intelligent and wise decision for not only herself, but her future kingdom as well.

Overall – I wish this book had been better, because I loved the plot idea, and loved where it could have gone.  However, the author did not give us a character to root for.  Instead the main character, whose POV we read through in the entire book, is just bland, and not consistent from chapter to chapter, and in some instance, from page to page.

The Royal Matchmaking Competition: Princess Qloey: Teen & Young Adult Fantasy Romance – Zoiy Galloay

Cost* – eBook is $0.99 and Paperback is $10.53. 

*Cost is based upon what the book cost when book review is published