Beautiful and talented Princess Amanda, the next queen of Milathonia, has it all. Yet, she, along with her father and brother, are cursed with misophonia, the hatred of certain sounds. Isolated from other kingdoms, Amanda has lived a sheltered life. As a gifted artist, Amanda begs her father to let her attend the art academy in Zolonia. The king agrees, but only if she uses a fake identity and … finds the proper suitor.
Captain Dash Lysander, a returning war hero, takes a well-paying job as a bodyguard to an academy student. Traumatized by war, which included battling man-eating fleshers, Dash hopes he can do his duty without suffering from day tremors. Upon meeting his charge Dash is immediately smitten. However, his duty is to protect her, not court her.
Princess Amanda and Dash are drawn to one another. They do their best to stave their hidden passion despite the looming danger of fleshers and secrets that could ruin everything.
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She is a princess and she has everything but she wants to go to a art academy. Her father will allow her as long as she hides who she really is and as a bodyguard. He has just taken a job as a bodyguard which he hopes will help him in his battles against the nightmares. They find thrashing drawn to each other. Will secrets ruin it all? Will danger reappear? See how it will it go
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
A Princess Hates Noise Fairy Tale, a well written story that until I read this book I did not realize Misophonia is real. It is a form of OCO and came into being in 2000 and earplugs are used as one of the aids. Princess Amanda/Mandy and Captain Dash Lysander, both have traumas to cope with. Mandy does not tell Dash who she is. I enjoyed reading and seeing how they get their happy ending. I hope there is to be a story of Seth and Dr. Zanni. I received a copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Believe it or not, there are people who literally cannot stand the sounds of chewing, even beautiful princesses like Amanda, something she had inherited from her father, the king. While socially crippling, it will not stop her from attending the art academy under a false identity with special compensations made. One of those special compensations was a handsome bodyguard, a war hero down on his luck. Dash needed the money, but being near the secret princess may be too distracting to protect her properly as she searches for a suitor.
Eva Gordon’s KINGDOM MISOPHONIA is a sweet romance that grows around a very real problem that real people suffer from.(Note: I have a son and grandchild who would rather eat alone than be around chewing, so I get the challenges of this story completely!)
As danger lurks in the shadows, will the princess’s identity be discovered? Will Dash be able to protect the woman he loves when he is faced with his greatest nightmare, the one that leaves him trembling in fear and flashbacks? Will love help Amanda overcome her abhorrence to the sounds that drive her mad?
It takes a very talented author to create a fairytale type romance around something as unusual as misophonia or as devastating as PTSD, but Eva Gordon has done it while still keeping that fantasy feel with characters that feel brilliantly alive!
I received a complimentary ARC edition from Eva Gordon! This is my honest and voluntary review.
Recommend. Really enjoyable storyline that easily held my attention. The characters were relatable and the narrative well done.
Admittedly, I’ve never heard of Misophonia before, but I can easily understand irrationally hating certain sounds. It does sadden me that her kingdom and even herself just deal with it and treat it as a handicap, instead of trying to figure out how to use it to their benefit. As the princess she should be proud of it rather than trying to hide it. Empowerment aside, this is a fun, romantic story, with a strong heroine, heroic hero, ideals of trying to put academics first, standing up to bullies, and even some action adventure. Most of the time it seemed like her Misophonia wasn’t a problem since she had ear buds to distract her and the bulk of the book was really just about her worrying about her Misophonia all the time, making it a larger issue than it actually turned out to be. The point of view also switched to Dash who had the same problem with his day tremors that he worried about and obsessed about far more than he actually seemed to exhibit. I had trouble with the beginning of the book. Things got repeated far too often for my tastes. I lost count how many times the book stated that Amanda hated the sound of people chewing their food (though it is interesting finding out what all of her triggers are and some of the scrapes and situations she gets into because of them). Even the Fleshers were descriptively described several times over within just a couple of pages. The other thing that bugged me was that the second to the last chapter felt rushed. Almost like the author got tired of writing the book and just wanted it done already. A lot of important events and important dialogue happened off camera, or just summarized in a sentence, with a bunch of time suddenly skipped. There was even a cliched soul-mate romance that just happened with just a first look and then the book moved on to other things. Overall, this was an enjoyable read with likable characters, a fascinating new world, and topical awareness.
I loved this. Fairytales with misfit heros or heroines are the best. The plot is wonderful, the characters are great. This is a wholly unique new fairy for adults. I received a free review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Let me start by saying that fantasy is not my preferred genre but it doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy a good fantasy story. I also listened to the audiobook of this novel so the review is based on the story and the audiobook version. As a musician, I was drawn to the concept of someone struggling with misophonia and I also appreciated the depiction of a war hero suffering with PTSD. I enjoyed the majority of the story but there was some repetition throughout the book on what misophonia was for the character instead of continual building of that aspect of the story and I wished there was a little more to the ending/epilogue. It wrapped up just a little too quickly for me. The narration was okay and there were different voices for characters so it makes it easy to follow the story but at the same time, I didn’t fully enjoy the narration. I found some of the voices/vocal quality irritating so that distracted me for fully enjoying the story. This is just my opinion and reaction to the narrator and other listeners may be fine with the narration. I received a copy of the audiobook for free from the author at my request and am leaving this review honestly and voluntarily.
Great Story! I totally enjoyed listening to this exciting story and found it very interesting. I had never heard of misophonia before, but can commiserate with Princess Amanda and her family as I, too, suffer very slightly from an intolerance of listening to someone chew or clink their cutlery on their plate…especially the noise generated by one particular person I must deal with on a daily basis. The overall plot of the story is well written and also deals with her dashing bodyguard’s PTSD and the angst created by the unexpected love match that grows between the princess and her bodyguard. The narrator did a great job in bringing this tale to life. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
Well this was certainly a enjoyable listen Princess Amanda has one very strange affliction but so does her father and brother and others from her country Milathonia. They hate certain noises like snoring, loud chewing, sniffing these I can agree with but to them it can trigger rage. Princess Amanda is given the chance to travel abroad so that she can study her art but this is where things really get interesting. She gets to meet the handsome Captain Dash a war hero, she makes a friend, and fights the ugly beasts that were fought during the war. The story has romance, betrayal, twists and turns it touches on issues like PTSD, people who are sensitive to nosies. Overall it was a great story. It is certainly different but in a good way. The characters are well developed and the world building is great.
I’ll certainly be listening to the book again.
Tracie the narrator also did a great job, she used character voices and changed the tone of her voice to suit the situation.