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In The Prince, Natalie “Natalia” McLennan takes you on her journey through New York showing you the high’s and low’s she experienced being New York’s number one escort.  The autobiography begins with a young Natalie who is a tap dancing princess. We find out that her father walked out on his family not too long after she was born and her mother worked extra hard to give her and her brother a good life. When Natalie finished high school she went to college and tried her hardest to break in to acting. After moving to New York and getting a few parts here and there while living with an abusive boyfriend and began to party nonstop.

This is when she meets Jason who would later become her boyfriend and pimp. Natalie who takes on the name Natalia is introduced to the escort world on a whim. Her first appointment went so well and she made enough cash that not too long after she jumped in completely.  Almost instantly the two create New York Confidential together and sky rocket to the top of the escort business with Natalia as their number one asset. Through most of the book we are given glimpses into the kinds of clients that Natalia meet with and the routines that took place with each different client. In between the details of the dates we are shown details of the inner workings of the business as well as the relationship between Natalie and Jason as well as how she interested with the other girls of New York Confidential. Throughout the book Natalie uses more and more quantities of cocaine and eventually as things in her life get more out of control she dips into harder drugs that almost physically destroy her.
What makes this autobiography a good read is the total honesty that is given. If anything about her life was left out it is not obvious. The writing is good enough that you feel like you are reading more of a story than someone’s biography. She isn’t just talking about herself or bragging, she is telling her story. You are shown all the highs, that even looking back on they still hold some glimmer of happiness that she experienced, and all the lows, even the ones that are terribly embarrassing, like breaking your tooth off in a bath tub while you’re out of your mind on drugs. She lets you in on the thoughts that she felt during each episode. Natalie gives the audience her un-corrupted thoughts. This means that when you get to the part of her story where she wants to get out of the escort business and try to start new you experience that with her. When she tells you that she had fun early on in the career and gladly gives you details you know that was how she really felt at the time. Natalie left nothing out and is totally honest with her feelings, she makes it hard for anyone to try and judge her for the choices she made. The book rally makes you wonder what you would have done in her position. She did what she did, and while by the end you know she isn’t interested in going back to that life style she doesn’t seem to regret having gone through it all. If she could go back in time there is a chance she wouldn’t do it all over again but she isn’t whining or asking for sympathy. She’s showing that she is strong and even after going through hell she can get back up again and keep on going.

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