A sheltered prince. A sudden death. An unexpected choice. How will Prince Marcelo react to discovering he¿s The Contingency Plan?For eighteen years, there has been peace between Sheburat and the kingdom of Zioneven. The untimely death of a princess throws the marriage arrangement — the final phase to complete the terms of the treaty — into disarray, and the contingency plan is put into motion. … motion. Now the Crown Prince of Zioneven gets to make his own choice from among the princess¿s younger siblings.As a rare royal son in the matriarchal sovereignty of Sheburat, Prince Marcelo grew up knowing he would never marry. Never. Royal sons did not marry. Period. Except, Prince Efren isn¿t from Sheburat, and he has other plans.
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I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful arranged marriage and royalty story. I just wish it was a bit longer. But in this short story, a lot was packed in giving a good world building and great characters.
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Ruthie –
This is a very short read – but actually packs a lot of punch in those pages. It turns our conventions on their head, with a matriarchal society, where royal boys are not tutored past the basics and can expect a lonely celibate life. However, this all changes due to a fatal hunting accident, and Marcelo finds himself not just married, but married to a prince.
I would have loved a couple of hundred pages on this story – mainly in his new home – but actually what we have is enough to give us a very clear indication that there is lots of hope for their future.
Angela –
One of the things I enjoy about being a blogger is the opportunity to read books that I would likely have never discovered otherwise. I’m sorry to say that I can be a little bit of a page-count snob when it comes to books and it’s rare for me to give short stories and novelettes under 50 pages a second look. Although I’ve gotten better about it over the last couple of years and have bought a few when brought to my attention, I hardly ever seek them out. The Contingency Plan is one such novelette that I would have missed out on because not only is it on the shorter side, but it’s also fantasy – a genre I’ve only recently rediscovered my enjoyment of – and to have missed it would have been a shame.
As for Prince Marcelo’s story, Albright does a marvelous job of giving the reader a look at a significant moment in the young man’s life. Marcelo is a royal rarity – a prince in a matriarchal society – and he’s lived a sheltered life with no expectations. He is, in essence, a pampered prince who has no demands placed on him and who is contentedly resigned to his life of celibacy as princes do not marry. But the unexpected death of his twin sister the day before she was to be wed in order to seal the peace treaty between his people and the Zionevens, throws a bit of a wrench into his plans for the future. You see, as death at an early age is common in medieval kingdoms, even those in fantasy worlds, the part of the peace treaty that outlined the marriage specified that in the event of Marcela’s death, the Crown Prince of Zioneven would choose another sibling to wed. SIBLING. Not sister, sibling. A single word and the acceptance of same-sex marriage by the Zioneven people change the entire course of Prince Marcelo’s life and The Contingency Plan gives the reader a front-row seat in Marcelo’s life the day that he learns this.
I found The Contingency Plan to be a very sweet story. I think part of the reason it works is that rather than trying to shove too much into it, the author focuses on two pivotal days in Marcelo’s life. Because we spend a good portion of the story in Marcelo’s head, it’s easy to see that he’s a sweet young man who understands and accepts his station in life, doing so without becoming entitled, cruel, or spoiled. Being as arranged marriages are common among royalty, it’s easy to understand why the story progresses as it does. As the reader learns more about Crown Prince Efren through his conversations with Marcelo, it becomes clear why he makes the choice he does and why he seems to show affection towards Marcelo on the day they meet. Albright weaves the story in such a way that I couldn’t help but adore Marcelo and have hope for him to find love with Efren, making me buy in to the happy ending that The Contingency Plan promises – the happily ever after that I get to craft in my own imagination for Marcelo and Efren. I thoroughly enjoyed The Contingency Plan and while I’d be happy to read more of Marcelo and Efren’s tale, I’m quite pleased with their story as written.
Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The Contingency Plan by Addison Albright to read and review for this tour.