I almost wish the team was more prominent, but I do get the Grace is the most important, as you know, the princess and everything. The book got infinitely better when the rest of the gang turned up from All Fall Down. I forgot that the might have been some romantic tension between Grace and Noah, but I always saw them as 100% friends, so when they were close, I was just like ‘Yes, friendship goals.’ Megan, Rosie and Lila were just as great as they were before. There was a lot of scheming, but also a fair amount of action, with everyone heading to a prison in Russia, and ferreting around in an old and abandoned US basement, so top marks for balance! At one point, she agrees to a betrothal with Princess Anne’s son, and I was so pumped for some The Selection based shenanigans, but on the other hand, Grace and Alexei are an OTP, so I was pleased when the prince relationship didn’t amount to much.

I much prefer a character that can appreciate that working as a team has its benefits, and that there doesn’t always have to be a solo sacrifice to get the best outcome!īut, of course, Grace had a big sense of self worth because she was the one they were after as the secret princess of Adria, with the power to bring down the corrupted government. It was repetitive and a little eye-roll inducing.

But, overall, I thought the pacing was slow. A lot of the book compromises of Grace having the same ‘I’m going to end this’ conversation with all the people around her. It’s a punchy beginning, and does well to remind you of the peril that faces the trio if they return to Genovia Adria. So, the book opens with Grace and Jamie and Alexei having fled back to America to escape the ‘evil’ councillors who want to kill them. Be warned, I’m going to be talking about the ending, so if you haven’t read the series yet, or are just interested, there will be spoilers! So, with rocky expectations, I dived into The the Key and Lock Her Up, but was pleasantly surprised to have a solid conclusion to a series that started with a bang and ended with a knotted bow. Take the Key and Lock Her Up by Ally CarterĪfter not loving the sequel to the Embassy Row series, See How They Run, I was a little nervous to how I’d take the final book! But, it was still one of my most anticipated books, because I feel like Ally Carter will always have my loyalty, no matter what.

Embassy row book 4