Broken Princess

A Dark Paranormal Romance (Feline Royals, Book 1)

By: Alexa B. James

Narrated by: Bridget Bordeaux, Jake Bordeaux

Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

In the Ocelot Kingdom, feline shifters rule, and humans are nothing.

As a princess, you’d think I lived a blessed life. But like all second-born children of shifter couples, I am a lowly human. The most I can hope for is that when my older sister takes the throne, she’ll consider me unimportant enough to let me marry for love.

First, I have to get her to the throne.

After a devastating betrayal by our father, I vow to get Camila the crown - now. To become queen, she must collect an amulet that contains secrets to the mating rituals of each feline clan. I’ll do anything to help my fragile sister gain the first amulet, even if it means seducing Lord Balam, a jaguar noble who's as terrifying as he is irresistible.

To my surprise, something inside me awakens at his rough treatment and dirty talk. When he introduces me to pleasures beyond my wildest imagination, I am drawn into the secret world of shifters where every man wears two faces and a vulnerable human body like mine is a liability.

As we navigate the hidden dangers of the feline world, I must decide how much I’ll give to get my sister to the throne. Because the next amulet may cost not just my body, but my very soul.

TW: Contains material and themes not suitable for sensitive listeners. Suitable for readers 18+

Perfect for listeners who love:

+ HOT reverse harem/whychoose romance

+ dark romance with triggers & taboo themes

+ badass princesses with big hearts

+ a plot full of twists and turns, quests, and political intrigue

+ panty-melting steamy scenes

+ scheming royals

+ sexy big cat shifters

+ fated mates & mating frenzy

*This book was previously published under the title Chasing Her Cats. The content is identical.

©2019 Alexa B. James (P)2021 Alexa B. James

Enjoyed!

I really enjoyed this audiobook. The narrators gave a great performance. This was a very interesting paranormal shifter romance. A human sister is willing to help her powerful sister claim her throne at any cost. This is a very steamy and action-packed listen/read.

Good Read

Broken Princess (Feline Royals #1) was a good read by Alexa B. James. Itzel is a common human as the second child of a shifter. Her father is the Ocelot Nation's King and never allows her to forget it. She is technically a princess but her sister Camila is the heir to the Ocelot throne. Itzel enjoys herself, runs wild with stable boys, and advising her sister. Her father decides to force her hand, and it causes her to dive headfirst in a plan to immediately get her sister to the throne. She volunteers to help Camila seduce a shaman and is drawn into the mysterious world of shifter mating rituals. I enjoyed reading this book and cant wait to read more in this series.

Different

This is the first book in the Feline Royal series and is primarily about the second child born to the King of the Ocelot Kingdom, Itzel. Her sister, Camila, is the firstborn she's the heir and a shifter whilst Itzel is human and is considered worthless. Itzel aka E will do anything for Camila, so decides to help her collect an amulet from the other kingdoms so can become Queen meaning the end of her father's rule.

the author introduces us to a different, well thought out world and sets the scene, there are lots of steamy scenes but be warned some may have triggers so be aware. That said I still enjoyed visiting this world and will definitely listen to the next book.

The narration by Bridget and Jake Bordeaux was very well done and added to my enjoyment of the story

I was given this audiobook as a gift and am voluntarily writing my review.

Broken Princess

This is the first book in Feline Royal series. In the Ocelot Kingdom the first born heir is a shifter and raised to take over the crown in time. The second born child is merely a human and treated like scum. Even though Princess E has the title, she is still considered worthless in her father's eyes. Her sister Princess Camila has to collect an amulet from the other kingdoms before she can become Queen. E will do what ever it takes to help her sister take the crown from her father's rule. This book has some steamy scenes but also may have slight triggers for some. This is leading into a #whychoose book. I am very interested to see where this series is headed. Bridget and Jake Bordeaux did a great job narrating!

Fantastic listen! Phenomenal narrators and great story! Want more!

I really enjoyed this story! It is a little on the darker side as things are definitely twisted but the story doesn't feel super dark overall due to Itzel, our main character. There are definitely a lot of twists and turns in this book and it was different than anything else I've read. I loved the way that the story built and the way that we learned about the world. We are not bombarded with information on details of how things work for the most part. The details all come up and out as they are needed in the story. It felt more fluid and real to me this way. Itzel is fully human and she has really not had things easy even though she is a princess. She is treated as second class, a throwaway since she is fully human and not a shifter. But she doesn't really fit in other places either because she does live in the castle (mostly) and isn't a shifter so other shifters are pretty much above her. Her dad is a twisted SOB and really doesn't care for Itzel at all. He seems to just see her as a type of property, what he can get for her, what she can do for him/get him and no care for what it can/will do to her in the process. For the most part she was ignored and got to have more freedom growing up but things take a twists. I am not a big fan of her sister Camila either. At first she seems fragile and to care for Itzel but the more the story went on, the more I started to question this. She seems a little more calculating and devious than she has been given credit for so far and the façade that she cares for Itzel starts to crack in my opinion. I was definitely drawn in from beginning to end. This story held my attention the entire time and I can't wait for the next one. This story definitely ends on a cliffhanger and with bits dangling out there and I am very intrigued to see how they come back.
The narrators did a phenomenal job with this book! They seamlessly switch between male/female characters (male does all male, female all female voices throughout the book). I loved having that interaction with them. It brought an additional element to the story for sure! They did a fantastic job with the accents as well. I had no problem figuring out what character was talking by the voice and accent immediately. I truly loved the way that these two narrators brought this story to life! I will definitely be checking out more of their work as they did such a fantastic job!
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

Hot and heavy

While there are a lot of triggers in this book, it is written very well. There are so many questions and underlying issues that need to be solved. I can’t wait to see what happens next for the sisters.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is the first book of the series and so much stuff happens in this book. Let's just say she well do anything to help her sister become queen, even though her sister to me seems weak to me. Jake and Bridget did an amazing job narrating this book ❤

A Different/Taboo Rake on Shifter World

Well, I wasn't expecting that when I was given a free audio copy of this book to review... Let me just start by saying, I am pleasantly surprised and intrigued with this book and the plot. I'm not going to summarize the book as authors/editors/etc. do a far better job than I can do on that and this book's summary is spot on.

Although this is a duel narration, the main narrator of this book is Bridget Bordeaux who, as always, does a fabulous job. I love listening to books read by her and have many of them. The male narrator, Jake Bordeaux, also does a fabulous job [I believe they are a couple and most books read with Bridget are also dually read with Jake]. Anyways, they did amazing and they deserve all 5 Stars I gave them [which is nothing unusually as they always get that ranking from me].

As to the story, can I just say... WOW... I wasn't expecting that! Now, I will not ruin this for first time readers, but I will say if you have triggers, this book may not be for you as there is some serious dub-con and non-con going on in this book. So, please do not listen or read if these are no go areas for you as the book is good and shouldn’t be docked stars because a listener/reader couldn’t handle that warning the author clearly states in her summary.

Now for a more detail review with minor spoilers regarding characters, your gonna have to look it up on my Goodreads as I’m not trying to spoil anything for readers without a spoiler tag (which audible I don’t believe has).

Book rating, I give this 4.25 stars, round down to 4 stars! This book keep my interest and was definitely a page turner. It was fast pace, an easy read with lots of drama and I was excited to see where this book was going. I mean I finished the book in less than a day so there's that! I was really intrigued by this world and how the author wrote a shifter book unlike any I have read before. So, why the .75/1 star deduction? Some of the drama was just a tab vivid and much :/ even for me! And, the cliffhanger was just not a good one but maybe that's because I didn't like Camila. HAHAHA! I will be finishing this series as I'm so curious as to where this story is going!

Action-packed, some steam, challenging characters

A story about Itzel, second daughter, a non-shifter and as such, second-class citizen in the Ocelet Nation where first-born sister Camila, a shifter, is in line to rule. Itzel devises to seduce another head of state to obtain amulets on behalf of her sister, the holding of which would put Camila on the path to rule, and ideally fairly unlike the reigning King, their father.

The main characters did not hold much appeal; the heroine, while altruistic, too often yielded to her plaintive, and in my view, manipulative sister. Itzel’s blindly giving nature didn’t make the story credible and detracted from my enjoyment. Also, the heroes while likable were not particularly noteworthy.

Pace was good, not slow, nice flow of events. Lots of action and great world building. Only a bit of “on screen” steam but what was described was hot. The story contained some dark themes, but the overall plot was not dark. I liked the why-chose nature of the romance with the gradual introduction of Itzel's partners.

Narration Performance
The voice actress, who performed primarily, demonstrated a great amount of range, shifting (pun intended) from character to character, female or male, and changing accents. The (male) voice actor’s performance of the male characters was good, accent slightly exaggerated. Neither acting rendition elevated the story sufficiently to captivate me, that I could lose myself in the experience. Both narrators' deliveries were too fast.

Overall, while I could appreciate some aspects of this romance -- the world building, the variety of shifters and why-choose, and the action, this tale did not strike a cord for me for the main characters.

Great start to a new series

Great start to a new series. I like how the story keeps you guessing what’s going to happen next. I can’t wait to listen to the next book in this series. I would definitely recommend this book to read or listen to.