Book Review: Nobody in Particular by Sophie Gonzalez

Official Synopsis: Princess Rosemary of Henland can’t afford distractions. She’s working tirelessly to repair her image following a scandal that lost the trust of both her country and her best friend. Unfortunately, when a beautiful and funny new student joins her boarding school, Rose finds herself quite distracted indeed.

Attending Bramppath College on a music scholarship, talented pianist Danni expects to be an outcast amongst the wealthy children of the elite, but she is pleasantly surprised to be taken in by the ex-best friend of the princess. The more Danni gets to know her new classmates, the more intrigued she becomes by Rose.

When somebody sees something they shouldn’t and rumors circulate throughout Henland, Rose and Danni must either find a way to deflect the ever-increasing eyes on their relationship, or end it altogether. Because one thing is clear: if Rose’s fragile reputation takes any more hits, the palace will do whatever they must to separate Rose and Danni. Forever.

Apparently I've been into boarding school romances recently, or at least my Netgalley shelf makes me think I am. This story is a bit different then the other ones I've read, with tit being sapphic and queer, as well as there being that royal vs commoner thing. You can tell this book was close to the author's heart, in the way it was written and care that was taken with the characters.

Danni moves to Henland after her mom remarries, ending up being the strange new girl in a new country, where she is now in boarding school with a bunch of royals, including the crown princess. As Danni is trying to figure out her space in this group, with most people who have a lot more than she does, she finds herself connecting to the princess' former best friend, and learning more about the insides of their world. As Danni works on her music, the reason she even got a scholarship, and tries to keep up with her new friends, things start to get complicated, especially where Princess Rosemary is involved.

Princess Rosemary has a lot to prove, and a lot to lose. After having a 'scandal' break when one of her friend's passes away on a trip, she has to keep everything together in order to prove she is right to take over the crown...eventually. As she tries to concentrate on keeping her name clean, and following the rules, she also struggles to keep together friendships that were impacted by what happened. That's when she meets Danni, an American who doesn't know about her past, and barely seems to recognize her as a princess. As she and Danni grow closer, the more Rosemary has to lose, especially since she has feelings for Danni, but the crown will never accept that.

There were a lot of parts of this book I really liked, and others that were just too repeative for me. The book is written as a dual POV, so we get ideas of how both Danni and Rose feel, but also how they keep thinking they are in the wrong. For the first times it happens, it makes sense, but then they keep falling into that hole and after a while it got draining. I am fine with them realizing their feelings might be an issue, but constantly being stuck on that was a lot, especially when they were spending a lot of time together.

One of my favorite parts of the story was the plot twist, with how Rose is outed and how the crown handles it, but also how Danni is involved with it all. There is a lot of media based drama, and how there are sources from inside the school that are telling the reporters everything. I also liked how the friend group worked through their issues and trauma with what happened, and how they were able to come together in the end.

Overall, I liked this book and am a big fan of the royalty/commoner love stories. This story is also YA, so nothing too scandalous happens within it.

I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars.

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