Christian Fiction Devourers discussion

October's Book of the Month is Searching for a Prince by Toni Shiloh! Here is the GR summary -

Brielle Adebayo is fully content teaching at a New York City public school and taking annual summer vacations with her mother to Martha's Vineyard. But everything changes when her mom drops the mother of all bombshells--Brielle is a princess in the kingdom of Ọlọrọ Ilé, Africa, and she must immediately assume her royal position, since the health of her grandfather, King Tiwa Jimoh Adebayo, is failing.

Distraught by her mother's betrayal, Brielle is further left spinning when the Ọlọrọ Ilé Royal Council brings up an old edict that states she must marry before assuming the throne or the crown will be passed to another. Uncertain who to choose from the council's list of bachelors, she struggles with the decision along with the weight of her new role in a new country. With her world totally shaken, she must take a chance on love and brave the perils a wrong decision may bring.

This will be my second book by Shiloh. Though I don't gravitate towards books about royals, I'm looking forward to this one.

I'm really looking forward to this! It will be my first Toni Shiloh book.

I’m throughly enjoying this read!

Finished reading this book moments ago.

I liked this one and am hoping to read the next book, which is about her friend, Iris.

Beth wrote: "This will be my second book by Shiloh. Though I don't gravitate towards books about royals, I'm looking forward to this one."

I don't gravitate to books about royals often, either, but I liked this one better than I expected to. I am interested in reading more books by her, but since I'm not big on romance I am not sure when I will get around to it :)

You all have great taste. Read both of these and loved them. I liked In Search of a Prince better but both are so worth the read!!!

Started this today - this will be my first Toni Shiloh.

This book looks super interesting! Im definitely going to pick this one up!

I just finished last night, and really enjoyed it! Looking forward to the discussion.

I'm looking forward to this one!

I’m a little behind in my reading this week, but I did get started and am enjoying the first person narration quite a bit.

I am picking this up at the library today. Do you all discuss throughout the month or wait until the end?

Hi, Robin! Usually discussion starts mid-month. I'm a little behind on my reading, so I'm not ready to post any questions or anything, however, discussion with spoilers is welcome to begin for any readers that have finished it and wish to discuss! So you may want to tread carefully in the thread until you've finished the book and are ready for spoilers. :)

So, just a fun question to start us off, since this happens first thing in the novel - how would you react to your mother keeping this kind of secret from you? Similar to Brielle or in a different way?

I think I absolutely would have reacted similarly to Brielle. That's a HUGE thing to be keeping from your child . . . the one person whose life will change drastically because of it.
As a related aside, I absolutely LOVED that Brielle was like 'what? is this going to be some kind of "Princess Diaries" thing?'! That totally made me laugh that the universe in which Brielle lives also includes that book/movie series and that she saw the parallels.

I have to agree! I would have been very upset that this huge secret had been kept from me my whole life. Not to mention entire family members that I didn't have the opportunity to know growing up.

I did like that she mentioned PD, too! I thought that was a clever nod to the royalty genre overall and a fun acknowledgement by the author.

Like Brielle, I definitely would have wanted my best friend to come with me so that I wouldn't be alone as I'm discovering everything.

My first impressions on reading this book is that I’m too old for this? I’m mid-40s and I feel like this is a book more for a 20 something. It seems a little cheesy sometimes the interactions between Brielle and her friends. If I were younger I would be able to relate more and find it more enjoyable to read. Just a thought.

My other thought was that this is kind of like the Lion King, Simba and Brielle unsure about taking their rightful place to rule and there’s an angry uncle on the side…. 😆😆

Just finished the book today! I think it would have been a terrible shock, I couldn't imagine. That is such a huge secret to keep. But I don't think I would have pushed my mother away, I think I would have needed her more than ever!

I am excited to read Iris's story in book 2. So glad she had a good friend to go with her to Africa. And looks like she will be staying there too!

mmmm, for me it will be a big shock and also cause some trust issues with someone really important to me and who I trusted my whole life.

As a follow-up to the first question, do you think you would choose to be the heir to the throne or would you prefer to just meet your family and forgo becoming royalty?

It would be a difficult choice for sure. I am not sure what I would do. Would definitely meet the family, and then see what kind of support I would get. I am glad she chose her own husband, rather than going with one of the choices they gave her. I would also want someone I felt I could trust to help me and guide me and not keep secrets from me!

I was surprised and grateful she let her mom back into her life after that kind of secret.

I would want to have taken the position, but I would not have been good at it. Appreciated thinking about because of the book.

Love princess stories since good old Lori Wick. Hannah Currie writes princess books but they aren’t contemporary. I thought that was an interesting twist to be contemporary times.

I liked this book and was glad she was able to forgive her mother and let her back into her life.

I have no idea what I'd choose--it would partly depend on how old I was at the time.

I wasn’t a huge fan of this. I was bored by all the details on laws/government/business.

But the way Brielle used her prayer life to navigate through her struggles was inspiring. I will remember that for a long time.

I was surprised she pushed her mother away like that. Perhaps it’s because I am a mom, but I think I would have known that she was doing what she thought was best at the time. I guess I’ve worked through similar issues with my own mother too. No one is perfect, especially not mothers. But I would have been more upset at not knowing my grandfather. That would have hurt me more deeply.

I would probably have chosen to accept the title. Only because I am very loyal. I would have wanted to feel closer and more connected to the family I didn’t know.

I loved this book! I had my ebook, but I also managed to get the audio version from my library, and I thought it was really well done. It really added to the book.

While I haven't had a parent keep a secret like that from me, I don’t think I could have been upset for long and definitely I would hope that my mom would make the journey with me.

I'm not sure whether I would accept the title or not, but I thought Brielle was perfect for that role.