This was not good, it was too light on all things except tedious tension. It felt like Alice in wonderland poured itself over Arthurian Legend

Gwen is having a pretty tough day. She has been dumped by her boyfriend, decided to have a quiet night, and then her house (parent's house) catches on fire. All because of some old cat, called Merlin. Now she is stuck in some weird kingdom called Avalon with elemental powers she has no idea how to control, and the only way to get out of there and back home is by making nice with the grumpy prince.

Mordred didn't really want to be the bad guy but he was. The whole kingdom thought he was. He was only doing what he thought was best for the kingdom. Keeping the magic in one place, in the crystal, and stopping the fighting between the elementals, by trapping them in the crystal. But he has no-one he can trust. Not even his knights.

Who is right? Is it really best for the kingdom to keep anyone with elemental magic in the crystal? When it comes to the crunch, which side with Gwen pick? Will she end up in the crystal herself?

This is the first in a series that I could see myself finishing. I mean, the angst is not huge and it is rather funny in some areas, but it is still a good read. I especially liked the cranky old cat, Merlin, but poor Gwen! Merlin was not very forthcoming with details at the start of the story. Spice was nice but a bit light on consent in some parts.

Big thanks to Netgalley, Bookouture Audio, Second Sky books and Kathryn Anne Kingsley for this early release audiobook.

To Charm a Dark Prince is perfect for fans of the ACOTAR series! I really enjoyed this enemies-to-lovers story with angsty lust and adventure. It is definitely on the younger side of YA with minimal spice, but the slow burn tension is definitely there. The narration wasn't my favourite, but it wasn't terrible. I look forward to listening to more in the series!

Thank you to Bookouture Audio, Second Sky Books and NetGalley for this ALC!

I loved every second of this audiobook narrated by Madeline Pell. I was hooked from the first chapter! It is an enemy-to-lovers story full of angst, passion, and adventure. ACOTAR fans would love this.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher & author for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book it gave me cruel Prince vibes along with the slow burn and grumpy sunshine tropes 🤗
I would say it was more on the younger side of ya than older but was still a good read.

To Charm a Dark Prince dives into the world of Avalon and King Arthur Lore in an easily accessible manner. While this story uses information and baselines created in the King Arthur stories, you, as the reader, do not need a huge background or understanding of these stories.
Focusing on Gwen, a fresh high school graduate who suffers from high anxiety and panic attacks, this book follows her as she is forced into a world of magic and sorcery. While I sympathized with Gwen for her anxiety, using it felt like a device to create events in the story. Gwen could not attend college with her friends because her anxiety was too bad to risk her moving away from home; her anxiety was often a way to make her look inexperienced and young compared to other characters in the book.
The main relationship in this book is an enemies-to-lovers/ grumpy x sunshine relationship between Gwen and the Dark Prince, Mordred. This book was fast-paced and had a really fantastical world full of magic and interesting politics. I recommend this to anyone looking to escape reality with a morally gray male main character.

To Charm a Dark Prince was an okay read. It was an Arthurian retelling but had more Beauty and the Beast vibes.

It was easy to listen to as an audiobook but I don't think I'm going to remember much about it. I didn't really connect with the characters and their motivations. It read very YA but with a little spice. And the fact that the fmc was so young at only 19, made the romance feel a little icky because it was darker.

But I think anyone under 25 who likes dark fantasy romance would probably enjoy this book.

This is a clever new fantasy series with a King Arthurian feel to it. When Gwen is literally "dropped" into Avalon, she immediately is put on emotional high alert to keep from being discovered. Those who come from Earth are often assassinated or placed in a chamber where their powers are utilized and they are isolated.

Gwen, however, seems to capture the interest of Mordred who makes it clear he can't have a romantic relationship with anyone, especially not her. Because if things don't go right, he'll have to shackle her.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: The narration for the audiobook wasn't bad. Its wasn't the best or worst - - it was somewhere in the middle.

Thank you to NetGalley for the early copies of both the ebook and audiobook.

dnf at 42%

Is this the same Kathryn Ann Kingsley whose books are hyped to heaven for the well-executed villain romances? Are we sure? Because this was the most mid execution of that trope I have come across yet. I deleted the audiobook almost midway. Apart from the fact that To Charm A Dark Prince is Arthuriana (vaguely), I also can't be bothered with an "antagonistic" love interest who introduces you to their puppies. I'll try another one of Kingsley's novels, but this was a bad disappointment.

mystery, magic and betrayal.

I breezed through this book in almost no time.
And while listening to the story, I often found myself torn as to how I wanted the book to end.
Even though I found that our heroine Gwen often came across as rather clueless, I wouldn't say that it was purely her fault. As she was virtually forced to leap through a magical portal which transported her to the magical realm of Avalon at the beginning of the story. Once there, Gwen falls into the hands of the dark ruler - Mordred, the Prince of Iron.

I feel like the book went by incredibly fast, and it felt like I never got a good grasp of the time span of Gwen's time in Avalon. Which is why some of her feelings didn't really come across as genuine, plus I'm not sure if it was ever mentioned how much time passes in the real world while Gwen is with Mordred.

Still, one thing is for sure, my interest is piqued, in part because of the ending of this book, so I'm keen to find out how Gwen's story continues in Avalon.

“To Charm a Dark Prince” was a disappointing read. It’s a Arthurian retelling that centers around a young, modern girl being drawn into the mythical world of the nights of the round table - sans Arthur. Our main character, Gwen, is naive and immature and I found her character motivations to be un-compelling and, at times, nonsensical. In this mythological Arthurian land, Gwen ends up in a rather forced love triangle between the knight, Lancelot, and the dark prince, Mordred. I didn’t find her to have any chemistry with either of them. Modred was posed as a hot, morally gray, villainous, yet alluring character, but he lacked any redeeming qualities that would make the protagonist attraction to him make any sense. Lancelot was flat and forgettable.

My main issue with this book was that is written in an extremely YA style. That usually isn’t enough to make me dislike a story. I don’t mind a younger approach in instances where the characters are still dynamic and interesting. Even poor character crafting and world building can be excused in some instances, but what really irked me was that it was a YA reading level with explicit scenes. This effectively makes the book inappropriate for preteen/teen readers who may be drawn to the story. For that reason I don’t recommend this book.

I received this audiobook as an arc from NetGalley. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

I give this book a 3.5. It was a lot of fun, and I did really enjoy the characters. At first, I found Gwen just a tad too . . . personable? Relatable? I don't know how to describe it but she just felt like she was written to be the quirky everygirl that all readers could relate to, which I guess is the point but I didn't love. But as the story went on, her voice became more endearing and I did end up really liking her.
I've read a few other books from this author and her descriptions of spice scenes have been some of my favorites, but this one lacked in that department a little bit. That being said, I am really excited to see where this story goes and will definitely be reading the next one. I'm hoping for the best for our dear Mordred and Gwen!

The narrator for this also did such a fantastic job, she was so much fun to listen to and I love the voice she gave to both, Gwen and Mordred. I will say she made Lancelot a bit annoying, but I think that was intentional, and boy, did it work! Amazing job!

Thank you Kathryn Ann Kingsley, Bookouture Audio, and NetGalley for this advanced listening copy in exchange for my honest review.

To Charm a Dark Prince is a reimagining mash up of King Arthur and The Wizard of Oz. I think this series has a lot of potential. The plot is really interesting, but it took a little for the plot to get moving. Gwen is a little immature in my opinion, but she did get thrown into a world she didn't even know existed, so maybe that will change as the series progresses. This book ends on a pretty big cliffhanger and I am eager to see what happens in the next book!

rating 3.5 stars

First, I thank you very much for letting me listen to your work. I really had a blast listening to this and I am left wanting more.
I however, hated the fact that the main character Gwen, seemed to squeak all the time. I feel like women do not squeak nearly as often as romance novels portray and it was a point of annoyance for me. Also if I had a nickle for every time the word 'Opalescent' was said, I would be a very rich individual.

All that aside, it was a very clever story that is a very interesting mix of King Arthur and the Wizard of Oz in some ways. The characters are funny and the banter doesn't leave you lacking. The clear connection between Gwen and the Male main Character Mordred is a slow burn that will leave you yelling at Gwen by the end of it.

I thoroughly enjoyed that even though it is based off of an existing myth/work, it has a life all it's own and I would certainly read the next book. I need to know what happens!

Thank you NetGalley for proving me with an audiobook arc! All opinions are my own

I couldn’t get into this as much as I thought I would, as Kathryn Anne Kingsley’s Harrow Faire series was absolutely incredible. Harrow Faire will go down as one of my favourite book series, but sadly this didn’t compare.
I liked:
1. The writing. Skilled to perfection and flowed like butter, Kathryn’s talent for writing really shows.
2. The setting! Avalon was a very interesting concept in which the world building was created from. The realm of magical creatures and loving beings born of magic was a joy to read about.

But I also wasn’t keen on:
1. The character development, I didn’t feel a connection to any of the characters which is why a star is bumped off unfortunately. I didn’t feel the romance and the tension, the one liners that have your heart racing!
2. The love interest wasn’t for me, I like my mmc’s to be a bit more dark grey on the morally grey scale, and while the mmc in this book did kill various people in brutal ways, I didn’t feel the danger.
3. The pacing, I feel one scene jumped to another, almost chopping and changing and I became a little confused as to what was going on.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad book, just not my cup of tea. But everyone’s reading experiences are different so I think you should still give this a shot! What someone else’s taste in books is, what someone’s opinions and feedback are, doesn’t necessarily you will agree! You might end up really enjoying this book, because I can definitely see the appeal from an outside perspective 🫶🏻

Wow - what a brilliant first book in a series that is new
With Avalon, knights and decisions about what to do!
Magic, elementals, powers and much more
A fantasy romance with this new world to explore.

Gwen escapes a fire by following Merlin, her cat,
Down through a portal, not sure where she's at.
With a burning new ability and mystery, too,
She has so many choices about just what to do.

With tales of Arthur and so many of his knights
Magic and mystery, and putting wrongs to rights.
There's potential romance, attraction, too,
But can they trust to the feelings to be true?

If you enjoy the tales of King Arthur and his knights
Then this book with its added magical mystery and plights
Could well prove to be the brilliant read
That you decide next you'll need!

The narrator is great, expressive and clear,
Bringing to life the drama, dilemmas and fear,
As into this fantasy your knowledge is grown
A pleasure to listen to or to read on your own.

For my complementary copy of this, I say thank you,
I throughly enjoyed reading it and this is my honest review.

Oh, this was a really fantastic read! I loved being in this world, of a land of magic of Avalon-one that has been locked down by Mordred. But not because he was a bad guy, but because of the destructive nature of all that magic.

I loved reading this book! Gwen is a normal girl with plenty of anxiety, thrown into this magical world, all because of her asshole cat, who is more then he seems. I loved getting to know this world with her, as Mordred was showing her around.

Mordred has trust issues. They came to Avalon because Arthur was dying, and in hopes that Avalon would give him magic so he'd survive. But it was given to Mordred. And eventually, he got attacked by the rest of band who came with him, people he was close with. Which has made him all closed off and brooding. I really enjoyed watching them fall in love!

That ending though? I just wish that they could've come up with a better solution. She only did what she did because she learned that one thing, but he did have a good reason for doing what he was doing. So really, they just needed to come up with a better method to keep the peace. Which hopefully will be what happens as the series progresses!

Loved reading this book, and I'm so excited to continue on with this series!

***NOTE: 4.5 stars rounded down to 4.***

Thank you to NetGalley, Second Sky, and Kathryn Ann Kingsley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an HONEST review.

Mordred is the perfect villain. Just perfect. My favorite thing about him is that he didn’t deny it. He knew that he wasn’t a good guy. He also thinks that he doesn’t deserve anything good. Definitely swoon worthy MMC that I will remember forever.(He also kind of reminded me of Rhysand so fans of ACOTAR; consider giving this a try)

Gwen seemed sort of young but I didn’t hate that(?) At first I was kind of annoyed by her but as I kept reading I ended up loving the way that her character evolved. It sort of seemed like she was finding herself and usually I’m not the biggest fan of that in books but I really enjoyed it in this one. I also had to keep reminding myself that she was only 19 and that does explain why she seemed young. Being close to her age, I also found her relatable, it just took me a little while to warm up to her.

It also felt like I was discovering this new world with her; almost like I could see it all through her eyes. I think Kingsley did a really good job with the world building in this book.

Galahad was so easy to love. To me, he was like the comfort character of this book. For both Gwen and Mordred. He was like the neutral ground that could bring the two together.

Overall, this was a really fun read. I say “fun” because I didn’t find it too ‘serious’. It never felt like I was really on the edge of my seat. Instead, it felt like the whole story was meant to unfold slowly. I never ‘needed’ to know what was going to happen next. I just really enjoyed the story as a whole.

I am SO looking forward to continuing the series! Book 2 can’t come soon enough!

To Charm A Dark Prince by Kathryn Kingsley invites you into a captivating world of dark fantasy romance. Transported to Avalon, Gwen's encounter with the enigmatic ruler, sparks a slow-burning attraction amidst a backdrop of danger, conflicting emotions and deception. Kingsley's vivid descriptions grab your attention and don’t let go, in turn creating allegiances where there shouldn’t be. Plus these Grade A, morally grey characters add depth, though most of their motivations remain unclear. This book delivers an enticing start to the series & promises an enchanting journey into a world where desire and danger intertwine. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I am eagerly looking forward to discovering the unfolding events in the realm of Avalon and, more importantly, the ever-evolving relationship between Mordred and Gwen. The novel "To Charm a Dark Prince" encompasses a slow yet captivating narrative filled with intense emotions, sensuality, and acts of treachery. With its fast pace and irresistible allure, once you start reading it, you will find it impossible to tear yourself away from its pages.