Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 15 April 2021
I felt it was like a woke Princess Diaries, only better.
Tackles gender issues and ignorance head on but through a whirlwind romance. I really appreciated learning about intersex as this is something I now realise I don't know enough about.
The plot really challenges the reader to think about perceptions and social ignorance's but does it in a such a brilliant way.
The Queen is more like Alice in Wonderland's and Sam's quick reaction to just up and travel with Remy whom she's known a day adds to all the melodrama that goes with this and I love it. Some great minor characters too, Pierre is cheeky and fun, the Queen herself adds an extra something.
Modern, fun, a serious message but within a fun light hearted setting.

Although this was an interesting concept, the writing absolutely didn't live up to it. The language was confusing, the romance was a little too fast paced for me, and I really just couldn't immerse myself. This just wasn't for me, but if you're into a queer fast romance novel, this is for you. Remy and Sam did have good rapport at some points, but this reads more like a first draft than anything else.

I loved this book. Longer review in progress... This is the type of a book that everyone who doesn't understand differences needs to read. I considered myself a well educated and understanding on sexuality and gender issue. I was amazed at how ignorant I really was.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

Coming into one's own is never easy. Being a member of a Royal Family and trying to meet everyone's expectations adds more depth to the freeing of one's self. This is a romance, coming of age and finding your strength story. It is a one sitting read that will have you feeling all types of emotions. I for one am happy to read more intersex romance. Hope this isn't the last.

I just really couldn't connect with this one. I did like Remy as a character and the plot was pretty decent, but I couldn't vibe with it.

This book was definitely interesting. I honestly considered putting it down and not finishing it a couple of times but the plot was interesting enough to keep me reading. There were some plot issues that were harder to wrap my head around but I honestly think my biggest issue was the characters.
Not to give too much away but I just felt that all the characters, in relation to Remy, had some sort of unresolved animosity and anger toward each other that just suddenly turned into love? It was confusing to read and I don’t think I loved it that much.
On the other hand, there was a lot of representation, as someone who does not identify as intersex or LGBTQ I cannot attest to how accurate the representation was but there was a lot of discussion and I felt like it was relatively informative and open.

Thank you for the opportunity to review.

2.5 stars, rounded up.

This was a fast-moving, very inclusive romance with a real The Princess Diaries meets grad school vibe. I enjoyed the story and the characters but you have to excuse a lot of stilted conversations and plot holes to get through it.

If you're looking for a believable romantic timeline, this is not the book for you. Within 72 hours of meeting, Remy and Sam are on a plane together for an overseas adventure. To be clear, this is before they've even decided if they like each other as people. At this point, they're basically acquaintances. Sam can't stand Remy's personality, Remy finds Sam accepting yet overbearing, and they're both just very attracted to each other. They have yet to have managed more than a few hours together without someone being offended or annoyed, a last-minute overseas trip should be a breeze.

I appreciated the inclusivity of the narrative and the overarching storyline. I did find Kolven's writing to be a little rough in some instances. Instead of feeling natural, a lot of the relationships seemed forced or awkward in an attempt to be more inclusive. I found Sam lecturing Remy about their choices to be pretty hypocritical for someone meant to be the poster-child of acceptance and a lot of the conversations seem stilted or uncomfortable. It feels like a lot of the characters go into monologues in normal daily scenarios and manage to pull off speeches with an incredible level of detail and supporting evidence on the fly.

Overall, a lot happens in a very short period of time, but the message within these pages is an important one. While I wish the writing was more natural and the plot was more believable, I did enjoy this story.

Enjoyed this book, slightly daft in places but an interesting way to explore issues around being intersex. Remy is heir to the throne in a small European country in the Alps, they are also intersex which complicates things as far as the line of succession goes. They bump into Sam on the first day at university and are immediately intrigued by Sam's fiery spirit. Sam is at uni to start a PHD in Gender and sexuality in the European elite, yes, in deed what are the chances. Remy almost ruins their beginning by being an awful snob but manages to persuade Sam to return home with them when they are summoned because the Queen has a cold. The story that follows is engaging, sometimes farfetched but fun. The characters are well written especially the more minor Royal assistants, the plot is well paced with an exciting final act. There are important issues explored around monarchy, gentrification and being intersex. There are a couple of questionable moments but overall this is a well written novel that tackles important issues.

With thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. I loved the idea of the story plot-princess who is searching her sexual interests. But I kinda didn't like the nagging and bickering between the main characters. They were friends, and enemies and lovers... What? When? How?
I missed more genuine connection from them. This was new to me author, I liked the gender issues and questions, but I just wasn't that interested in reading the book. For me it was a long read.

Really enjoyed this.
I felt it was like a woke Princess Diaries, only better.
Tackles gender issues and ignorance head on but through a whirlwind romance. I really appreciated learning about intersex as this is something I now realise I don't know enough about.
The plot really challenges the reader to think about perceptions and social ignorance's but does it in a such a brilliant way.
The Queen is more like Alice in Wonderland's and Sam's quick reaction to just up and travel with Remy whom she's known a day adds to all the melodrama that goes with this and I love it. Some great minor characters too, Pierre is cheeky and fun, the Queen herself adds an extra something.
Modern, fun, a serious message but within a fun light hearted setting.

I thought the book was ok. The author did a great job with the gender issues. However, I didn't understand why Remy and Sam were friends. Remy was a princess who was very mean to Sam at times. Sam confuses me when she at the drop of a hat goes to Europe with Remy who just humiliated her and knew for about 3 days. Regardless, there were some aspects that I enjoyed such as Remy willingness to work on her relationship with her mom.
3.5 Stars.

Thank you Bold Strokes Books for giving me this ARC via NetGalley for my honest opinion,

Parts of this book I really liked. Parts of this book was just ok for me. I enjoyed the representation of an intersex character and that be a part of who they were and not their entire plot within the story.

This for sure was an interesting read. I did enjoy it more than the Holiday Detour. Remy and Sam meet on the first day of grad school. Remy is attracted to Sam, but Sam thinks that Remy is a snob (which she is). The first part of this romance goes really fast. It sort of put me off with the speed of which Sam lets Remy sweep her away to her homeland of Montamant. I can see where Kolven was trying to go with this, but a bit more time could have been spent setting up Remy and Sam getting to know one another better. Even though I like both Mains, some of the supporting characters were exactly likable. The one thing I found most interesting in this entire romance is learning more about Remy being intersex. I did some googling on it on the side to get more educated on the topic. I did like the mystery around the crown and the prime minister. There for sure some things I liked here and some things that I found odd. I ultimately wish there was a better connection between the mains.

3.25 stars.

This arc was provided by netgalley and the publisher for an honest review.

𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗜 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁.

This book is nonsensical like the title in many ways and I had to suspend a great deal of disbelief. Like what royalty lives alone in a Boston graduate school without protection officers and security vetting of the neighbours? And what royal guest is given so much leeway to speak her mind in front of the Queen and Parliament?

But if this is what Kolven needed to grab my attention to raise awareness about intersex people and the stigma that surrounds them, I'd say she met her objective. Intersex identity is often forgotten or overlooked because people still don't know what it means. So I'm glad Kolven chose to write this with the message that there is no shame in being intersex and intersex people don't need to be fixed. Kolven uses Remy, the first in line to the crown of a fictitious country called Montamant, to show us exactly that. Remy is in the closet about being intersex and non-binary and struggles to conform with gender expectations, which was a reason why she left Montamant. That is until Sam, an American lesbian from across the hallway, disovers their secret and becomes Remy's biggest supporter in life. When the Queen catches a cold, Remy steps in to perform the Queen's duties and brings Sam along with them.

This book can be a hard read because the characters can get rude and hurtful to each other at times. But the enjoyment I got out of Remy's journey of opening up and finding their place in society was pretty great. Plus how Sam protected and supported Remy until the end really warmed my heart no matter how unrealistic it seemed.

I think Kolven's debut is rough around the edges but her heart is in the right place and I enjoyed this book.

Ehh. I see a lot of potential in this author but this book was a miss for me. I don’t know what it was I couldn’t get into the story, characters, there was something missing. I’ll still suggest it as it was obvious the care and thought behind the attempt was honest and well done.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Remi and Sam just met and they are flying off to her country? Like seriously, they met 3 days before. That’s not realistic at all. I just realized that I didn’t like the characters. Remi was an arrogant @ss and Sam liked to say that she wasn’t hanging out with Remi for her money but liked to throw a fit when Remi didn’t take her to the nicer restaurant or buy her books. And then there was all this buildup to see if her country would accept Remi and it’s like they accepted her within 2.2 seconds.

I really wanted to like this more, but one thing that always puts me off in romance is treating each other poorly and then making up 500 times. It makes it hard for me to enjoy anything else.

That being said, this book did dive into a lot of important issues and I’m glad I read it for that.

Jane Kolven's debut The Holiday Detour was a bit of a miss for me, but I could see the potential in the author's writing style. The writing style is the reason I decided to give this one a go. I am happy to see this one is a bit better, but still not really to my liking.

Remy is European royalty and fled to Europe to become their own person and live their life a bit before taking over the crown. Remy is intersex and was never really accepted by anyone in their circle. They are starting graduate school in Boston, this is where they meet Sam. Sam is a lesbian and happens to be assigned to the housing across the hall from Remy. Sam doesn't tolerate any of the rich kid snobbery Remy projects and lets them know this. Within a couple of hours, they force this bond between them and become friends of sorts. Sam understands Remy in a way no one has ever taken the time to do, and that only after such a short time... A day or so later Remy is summoned home to Montamant because their mother the Queen has a cold and can't perform the royal duties. Remy asks Sam to come along to offer them support. Remy hasn't made any public appearances since the start of puberty and the people of Montamant have no idea Remy doesn't look like the princess they are expecting. A week of celebrations and royal duties, an annoying mother, and a preachy Sam about gender has them falling in love and uttering those words, of course.

Not unlike Kolven's The Holiday Detour the couple in this story moves fast. Traveling overseas with some royal you've known for 5 minutes is interesting and maybe a little stupid. Since the story takes place in a little over a week everything happens rather fast and the I love yous just come out of thin air for me really. I see Remy and Sam more like friends with the potential of more in the future, but not at the stage of love in a week. It happens too soon and their differences are too big to just go there so quickly. And as with The Holiday Detour there are just some parts that don't make sense to me. I like Remy for the most part, but they are trying to free themselves from the royal life while in the US, but they expect to be treated like a royal (the snobbery). I expect someone to do a little research before venturing out. Also, Remy hasn't been in Montamant for years and I assume they haven't been treated like a royal wherever they were, so why expect some sort of service now? Sam is super preachy about all the gender things, even when it really isn't her place to say something and Remy doesn't appear to want or need her help all the time. But theirs is a confusing "relationship" to me anyway, so what do I know. If this insta-love thing is what Kolven's books will be I am not sure I will give another one a go. Insta-love isn't something I enjoy, but the author's writing is good enough for me to be curious anyway. And with the blurb for this one I expected Sam and Remy to have known each other a little longer before their big adventure starts...
2.75, which is an improvement over Jane Kolven's debut.

I absolutely loved Jane Kolven’s first romance, The Holiday Detour, and I’ve been waiting impatiently for the release of her sophomore effort, The Queen Has a Cold. I knew from the description that it was going to be another light-hearted and frothy (yet very meaningful and insightful) queer romance, and I wasn’t disappointed.
The book focuses on two characters: Remy and Sam. Remy is the intersex heir to the small European nation of Montamant, while Sam is a lesbian looking to pursue a graduate degree. After their initial meet cute, they’re swept away to Montamant, where Remy’s mother Clotilde has a cold. Hijinks ensue, until at last Remy and Sam are able to set out on their royal romance, with the monarchy saved and their feelings for one another out in the open.
The Queen Has a Cold is everything that you could want in a book of this sort, and Kolven manages to thread the needle between social commentary and light-hearted romance. From the moment that Remy and Sam meet, it’s clear that they have feelings for one another; however, in true romance fashion they continue to spar and tease and criticize. Each of them brings something unique to the relationship, even as they each have to contend with their own limitations. Remy has to learn to let go of some of their upper-crust snobbery, while Sam has to recognize that her SJW zeal, while coming from a good place, isn’t always the most effective means of getting people to change their minds.
It takes a very brave author to be willing to wade into the fraught territory of intersex romance, but this is what we’ve come to expect from Kolven. As she did in The Holiday Detour — in which a lesbian cisgender woman falls in love with a nobinary person — she manages to address the issue of intersex identity with tact and grace. Throughout the book, we get a strong sense of what makes Remy tick and the struggles that they’ve had as someone growing up in a very public way. Kolven makes it clear, however, that Remy isn’t just a victim of social prejudice. They’re a person of many layers and contradictions, just like everyone else.
If their nonbinary gender is a key part of Remy’s identity, class position is a key component of Sam’s. Given that she hails a middle(ish)-class family from Indiana, she initially sees Remy as just another spoiled wealthy brat, and it’s only when she gets to know them better that she sees them for the complicated person that they are. American readers will no doubt sympathize with Sam’s plight as she struggles to navigate first the hostile environment of American graduate school as a poor person — her unpleasant encounter with her potential faculty adviser is a bit too on-the-nose — and then the unfamiliar world of protocol and tradition at Montamant. Through Sam, we’re allowed to see that an institution as seemingly old-fashioned and out-of-step with the modern world does have room for change and adaptation.
In the hands of a less competent author, all of this could have fallen flat or, even worse, veered into the offensive. Somehow, however, Kolven manages to capture these characters’ struggles without making them into stereotypes, and all while enmeshing them in a madcap adventure. The book really heats up once it becomes clear that the prime minister is scheming to abolish the monarchy and that, as a result, Queen Clotilde plans to send Remy to have surgery so that they fit into the role of a female-bodied princess. While Remy uncovers the fact that the prime minister is secretly on the board of a French real estate company, Sam discovers (in the archives, of course), that there is in fact a precedent for the royal heir to be neither male nor female. Meanwhile, it’s also discovered that Sam is in fact a descendant of British and French royalty, meaning that she can actually be with Remy as a consort. If all of that sounds exceedingly unrealistic, that’s because it is, but it’s important to remember that we don’t read romances like this for realism; we read it for escapism, to get out of the humdrum lives that we inhabit. As implausible as it might be that Sam is the descendant of some forgotten British noble, we take it in stride because that’s what we’re primed to do in this genre. Besides which, who doesn’t want to see these two characters get together in the end?
If I have one complaint about this book, it’s that we don’t get more of two of my favorite secondary characters: Madame Pouvoir, the queen’s secretary, and Remy’s best friend Pierre, who it turns out is secretly gay and in love with an Italian. The mark of a good book, in my view, is its ability to give us side characters that have their own personalities and their own inner lives, and that’s what we get in The Queen Has a Cold.
Of course, no review of the book would be complete without mentioning titular royal. Clotilde is no Queen Elizabeth, but instead a middle-aged woman with a fierce desire to protect the monarchy and her own position. We don’t get a lot of attention to the inner workings of her mind, but it ultimately becomes clear that, though she’s been rather cruel to Remy throughout their life, she really does care for her child. Their reconciliation, which includes Queen Clotilde reintroducing her child to various assembled notable in new, gender-neutral terms, is one of the most moving parts of the book.
The Queen Has a Cold is the perfect romantic read, and it shows just how much Kolven has matured as an author since her first book. You can tell that she has a firm command of her material, and it’s evident in every aspect of the book. I can’t wait to see what she has in store for us with her next romantic adventure!

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

Remy is royalty but she finally out under her family thumb when she goes to graduate school. She intersex and finally she can be herself but she immediately clash with the girl name Sam across from her dorm room.

Sam is studying to get her PhD in gender studies nothing going stand in her especially a snobbish girl name Remy. As they grow closer despite their issues Remy is call home to help while her mother is sick. It just that sometimes I was wondering why Remy and Sam like each other the way they treat each other.

This was ok read the author did well with gender issues with care and respect. I just thought this book was a bit to preachy it kinda had me want to skim pages just to get to the end. I’m still read from this author because their aren’t a lot of characters who are intersex and did great with the gender issues it’s just this book fell little flat to me.