Special Shelf! In that Crown Duel kind of way. 
 Originally posted on Small Review 
 Way back in 2012 I asked you for book recommendations based on my Special Shelf court fantasy favorites (think, Crown Duel, The False Prince, Poison Study, etc). Scarlett recommended The Decoy Princess, and she was fairly confident that I would love it, and she was absolutely right! 
 Seriously, this book has it all: court intrigue, a totally sleepover-worthy main character, a swoony slow burn romance with a guy who stands on his own as a worthwhile character, a swoony villain who is actually interesting in his own right, peril, fun side characters, chases, magic, horses, murder, impending war between kingdoms, ah this book has everything I love! 
 Even though the book ends pretty much midway through the overarching story (though not on a big cliffhanger--think The False Prince type of ending), I've been pushing off reading the sequel because I've been wanting to "save it." By this point, though, I really need to re-read the first book before starting in on the second because all the intrigue details are a little fuzzy now. 
 Which is totally fine because as a Special Shelf book I fully intend to re-read The Decoy Princess until my copy falls apart. It's that kind of love. 
 The Decoy Princess is written by "Dawn Cook" but really that's just another name used by the dark urban fantasy author Kim Harrison. I've never read anything under her Kim Harrison name, but I'm guessing the tone is very different. The writing style used in The Decoy Princess is extremely reminiscent of my other fantasy favorites Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith and The Conjurer Princess by Vivian Vande Velde. Basically, perfect for me. 
 Originally posted on Small Review