I was a little disappointed by this book to be honest. The premise sounded interesting but it felt very predictable. The story was a little slow and the writing was not the best. I got pulled out of the story by the choppy dialogue. I probably will not read the sequel.

I really enjoyed the characters and the worldbuilding! I thought the romance was sweet, and I am looking forward to more books :)

this was a great start to a novel, the characters were great and I enjoyed the plot. It built it's world perfectly and introduced what was needed to in this book. I look forward to the next book in the series.

Will is a thief whose current assignment is to steal a mysterious ring from the royal palace of Ambrosia. All he wants is to live a life of luxury, while keeping his illegitimate birth a secret. The son of an unknown noble, he has the ability to use water magic, something only the gentry possess. Then one might he meets Aiden. Aiden is a prince ill at ease, engaged to a girl he can’t love while his power-hungry uncle blackmails him with letters to his former lover that may reveal the secret that he is gay. After a chance meeting, Aiden hires Will to steal back the letters and as they grown closer, they begin to fall for one another, creating a dangerous alliance. In the background, revolution stirs in the city and whispers of a lost prince entangle the two boys in a web bigger than either of them could have guessed.

This book is mostly supported by the well-rounded characters as well as the budding romance between Will and Aiden. The subplot of revolution and Will’s mysterious past keep the action fresh and propel the plot forward at a good pace. The magic system and politics, while intriguing, are only briefly explained and could have been more developed for a richer world-building. The editing needs work as well to fix several inconsistencies (the princess’s eyes turn from blue to green, the season changes from summer to spring and back again, cycle of the moon also changes). Overall, it was a quick read with a slow-burn romance, a dusting of magic, and a side of political intrigue that ends with a cliffhanger for the next book

I received a copy of this book to review from Netgalley and all opinions are my own.
An intriguing start to the series with quirky writing and interesting characters. There is a lot of action within this book especially in the last few chapters. The story is quite interesting though it becomes laboured at times with the storylines predictability making it less engaging.
OK the whole, a good read.

There is potential but that isn't evident through just this book alone so I would personally wait and see what readers think of the series as a whole before deciding whether or not to dive in. It says "in the style of captive prince" but it definitely doesn't grab you in the same manner.

DNF at 48%.

Will is a commoner and a thief, a commoner with water magic - something only nobles from Aqua, the underwater kingdom, should possess. One night he stumbles across a young man trying to save a young girl in one of the notorious areas of the city, he is shocked to see the young man use serious amounts of earth magic - what is a nobleman doing in the slums? The next day his uncle orders him to break into the royal palace and steal a ring from under the King's bed. Will is surprised to see the same young noble in the palace and learn that he is Prince Aidan.

Aidan is the second prince of Ambrosia, his father is forcing him to marry a princess from the neighbouring kingdom of Chronos to create an alliance between their kingdoms. Aidan doesn't want to marry anyone, especially not a woman, but it is forbidden for the aristocracy to have same sex relationships so his love for Orion, the son of Ambrosia's Minister of Law, must remain secret. Unfortunately for Aidan, his abusive Uncle Nicholas, the Prince Regent has incriminating letters between Aidan and Orion which he threatens to share with the King, unless Aidan steals a key to the travel line chamber.

I loved the premise of this, opposites attract, LGBTQ+ fantasy involving political upheaval. Unfortunately, 48% into the book and nothing seems to have happened. Also, the book is told in alternating chapters by Will and Aidan but there is no change of 'voice' between a prince and a commoner, no change of language and it feels like a relentless stream of 'I, I, I, I, I' page after page, after page. So almost six months after I first started reading this book I am giving up. The pace is too slow and everything feels all too predictable.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This book was really fun.

the story, the magic and even the romance were good, I love magic books, it is always fun to read them, and this story was really good.

It was a quick and easy read which is why the story felt a little bit flat to me. I didn enjoy the read, and I did like the characters, I just felt like it needed a little more. I still want to read the next book!

I absolutely loved this romance! It was sweet and brilliant, the characters are awesome and the worldbuilding amazing!!!

I really liked the premise going into this book, but I was so overwhelmed by the pace of this that it made me extremely dislike the book. The characters were interesting to read about, but I felt like their chemistry was a bit off and that they had no real reason to like each other. The ending was surprisingly good and it made my opinion on this book a little bit better.

I absolutely loved this MM romance.

Such a great book with a solid storyline and great characters.

I eagerly look forward to reading more from this author.

A definite recommend!

I really tried to give this book a fair chance as I am desperate to find a new fantasy series, not to mention this one was saphic. However, the writing of this was extremely poor, leaving me to cringe on almost every page. I could not get through this because of that and ended up having to DNF about 100 pages into it.

It was engaging, did not drag which is a plus for me. Good for those who like perspective change - between the two characters. Good form of going where you did not think it was going to go.

This was a fun read and grabbed my attention from the get-go. I liked that there was LGBTQ+ representation in there—the struggle of needing to keep secret hits hard tho. I need to know what happens next!

'My story starts like any normal story - with a stolen diamond necklace.'

I am a sucker for a great first line and this was a good one. I was captured from the first chapter by a amusing and cheeky character. I liked the story and then other characters but I love Will, he just made me laugh!

If you are looking for a good cheering up and an easy read this is the book for you. I can't wait for what happens next!

The book was well written, held an interesting plot, okay characters and a non-surprising ending. It's an interesting and quick read, told from two perspectives which was in my opinion a good approach for this book. The book, however, held no dramatic twist or any particular surprises - you could predict where this was going a long way off. That did not make it any less entertaining and I especially loved the cover, even though the art is rather simple. The writing is unchallenging, stylistic and keeps you in an easy flow without dragging too much.

I received a free ARC by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Well, that was fun. The Prince and the Thief was full of twists and turns. It was also full of secrets and Aiden wasn’t the only one keeping them.

There’s more to Will than the fact that he’s a thief, just as there’s more to Aiden than the fact that he’s a prince. From the time that they met each other they knew that each of them wasn’t quite what they seemed.

The Prince and the Thief was set in a world full of magic meant to be practiced only by the royal class. Where social status was everything and prejudice was everywhere. Not even the royal class had it as good as the non-royals thought – hence the importance of well-kept secrets.

Since this is the first book in the Ambrosia Royals series, I can’t wait to see what the author has in store next… and for who. 😉

When Prince Aiden of Ambrosia hires thief Will to steal back some incriminating love letters that his uncle is using to blackmail him, neither has any idea that the situation will soon become a lot more complicated than either of them thought.
The writing is, yes, a little rough around the edges, with a tendency towards info-dump, but there is only room for improvement. Yes, the story is a little tropey, but for the most part the tropes are used well, the main leads are likable and I want to see how their relationship progresses.
Story ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, so I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for review.

TWs: Mentions of sexual assault and rape, pedophilia.

In this book we follow two characters, Will, a jewel thief that wants nothing more than to be rich, and Aidan, the second prince of Ambrosia who has a secret that could shatter his reputation if it ever came out. When the two of them cross paths, they form a partnership from which they both hope to get what they want. But as new secrets emerge, Will and Aidan are forced to fight on opposite sides.

I found this book lacking plot-wise, as it felt like it had so much potential to be more than it ended up being. The characters felt flat and lifeless, and I didn't care much for any of them. The world was intriguing with the streets breaking apart and shifting, and I wish we would've gotten more about all that concept.

Overall, this book was a fast read and very easy to follow, but it unfortunately wasn't for me.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.