Long May She Reign

It's King Jorgen's birthday celebration and all the members of the court are enjoying the party. Freya is a deceased noblewoman's daughter and very prone to anxiety when encountering crowds. When she starts getting a panic attack during the party, she and her best friend Naomi decide to take a ride back home to the safety of the lab. Unfortunately, the cake is poisoned and most of the court is dead, instantly elevating Freya from 23rd in line to the Queen. Now, she has to survive, find the actual murderers and win the acceptance of the people while trying to convince her detractors that she wasn't the culprit in the first place. For this task, she gets help from her new heir Madeleine and the dead king's illegitimate son Fitzroy. How she navigates all these tricky situations and comes out alive is the rest of the story.

I had hopes from this book because it had a lot going for it – the circumstances of her succession being quite similar to the premise of the show Designated Survivor was how I got interested; this was a stand-alone fantasy novel which is so hard to find; and I just wanted to read a new author (for me). Though this book had lot of potential, the plot was actually quite simple. There was no thrilling suspense regarding the search for the mass murderer and when the true culprit was found, it just seemed too simplistic. There was some conflict but it never seemed like there was any danger. Despite these problems, I really liked reading the book. Freya was such an introvert in the beginning, only finding solace in her science; but she has tremendous growth in the story and due to her genuine compassion, shows that she can be a good ruler, albeit a scientific one. There is very little romance and I kind of like that – fantasy novels becoming more romantic and less fantastic is quite disappointing to me and I was happy that this book didn't go that way. But the best part of the book was definitely its female friendships; especially Freya and Naomi and sometimes also Madeleine. Reading about the dynamic between the two best friends made me nostalgic and miss my best friend who I haven't seen in years. I really think more books need to have healthy female friendships where the girls bond over things other than boys. I just wished this book had a little more complicated plot; nevertheless, I finished it in one sitting and had a good time reading it. This might be a good recommendation for readers new to the fantasy genre.