Katee Robert’s To Kidnap A Princess, part of the Dangerous Tides series produced by Bonkers Romance, promises a sexy swashbuckling sapphic romance tale. While the swashbuckling was definitely there, the romance between Juliette and Maura fell a little flat for me.
As opposed to some of the other sapphic romances that I’ve read (including the one in Queen Takes Rose also written by Katee Robert), I never really connected to Maura and Juliette’s story. So much of their problems seemed kinda childish, and it was weird that with all the power that Maura accumulated in her rise to captain of the Kelpie, she never thought of smuggling a letter to Juliette so Juliette didn’t have to resort to kidnapping herself to escape her father. I liked the two of them as characters, and I liked all the side characters we met on the ship and on the island; their relationship just wasn’t compelling enough for me. I did want to note that for those who appreciate books with LGBTQ characters that Maura and Juliette are not the only ones present in the book; the author includes others such as a new non-binary character who uses ze/zeir pronouns.
Like the books from the Peculiar Tastes Kickstarter, the books from the Dangerous Tides series exist in the same universe and share worldbuilding. Compared to some of the other books, To Kidnap a Princess spends a lot of time in Atlantis, and I loved it! Exploring Atlantis was definitely the highlight of the book for me. It was fun getting to meet all the different characters, like Eloise and Seiko. It was also fun getting to visit locations that have been teased like The Bawdy Banquet, and see some of the dangers that lurk in Atlantis’ waters (multiple different species of mermaids, including cannibalistic ones)
Overall, To Kidnap a Princess was an entertaining book but it definitely wasn’t Katee Robert’s best. Despite my reservations with the romance in the book, I was excited to learn more about Atlantis and be introduced to the character Bowen, who will be part of her series Crimson Sails (the first book Hunt on Dark Waters releases in November 2023). If you enjoy series that share worldbuilding but are designed to be able to read as standalone, this would be a a great choice.
Content Warnings (Courtesy of the Author): Explicit Sex, Blood, Violence, Murder, Threat of Sexual Assault (Non-Explicit, Briefly Referenced), Near-Drowning
About the Book
It’s been ten years since the love of Juliette’s life sailed away and never looked back. The date they agreed to meet again has long since passed, and Juliette isn’t interested in waiting around any longer. So she kidnaps herself! Unfortunately, things start to go wrong immediately… Maura might have fallen in love with a princess as a teenager, but as an adult she’s all too aware of the obstacles between them. She’s the most-wanted pirate captain in the kingdom Juliette is princess of. It will never work. But when she receives a distress call from her princess, she doesn’t hesitate to ride to the rescue… But it’s not the reunion Juliette wanted. After saving her, Maura is determined to stick her on a ship home. Juliette is having none of it. She’s got a secret key to Atlantis…she just doesn’t realize the portal will take Maura and her entire ship, too. Whoops.
Katee Robert is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance and romantic suspense. Entertainment Weekly calls her writing “unspeakably hot.” Her books have sold over a million copies. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, children, a cat who thinks he’s a dog, and two Great Danes who think they’re lap dogs.
Katee is represented by Laura Bradford at Bradford Literary Agency.
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