4 stars - An engaging and fun book that was a bit slow to get going but once it did was cute and cosy. Had a great time reading it

This was a fun novella with a lot of potential! It laid the ground work for the (hopefully) series quickly but efficiently.

I think there were one or two things I'd loved to have quickly clarified, for example that the humans already knew that fae existed, as well as their land/country (Nat seemed surprised to see them, but not at their entire existance). Also, at one point Berin was referred to as an elf but then later said he was fae? Not sure if that was just an editing error.

It took up to 40% (per my Kindle) for Anya and Ryn to officially get together, even though he had been referenced as her boyfriend? It seemed a bit long to drag that out. However, the beginning of their love story was very enjoyable to read (though I felt the writing of Anya's thoughts were a bit juvenile surrounding it). I enjoyed seeing how fierce a friend Nat was once the story picked up.

Overall, it was a quick and fun read (finished in just over an hour). I think it would be perfect for people starting to dip their toe into the fantasy world.

Thank you to The Publisher Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op, The Author Akira Varma & NetGalley for an advanced reader copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest review.

This was awful. This isn't that special from any other fae stories out there.. The book doesn't start great with the trigger list. All you had to do was state the triggers and not go on a tangent.

Getting through the book was hard, and honestly was not fascinating at all.

The Forgotten Prince—Thread of Fate Series Book 1 by Akira Varma

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for providing a copy of this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Story: The novella starts off with a prologue following Samira’s escape from their kingdom with her infant son—a bundled Prince Aleryn—nestled in her arms, both having suffered emotional and physical injury by the Mairene guards pursing them. The foundational premise of the prologue was great. It tells us how the prince would never grow up to be the royal he should, how he shouldn’t exist, and the sacrifices Samira had to make to keep them safe, but it never explains why. The only notation is that her brother took the throne, and it was rightfully Aleryn’s. But all this information would have been better served woven through the entire story instead of being a prologue, but that’s not what I care about.

What I care about is the only cool detail in the prologue is never followed up on:
“He was only alive now because one of the villagers sacrificed their own baby and smuggled Aleryn to safety. For all that the guards knew then, Aleryn was dead.”

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE VILLAGER SACRIFICED THEIR OWN BABY? It is implied that the baby was killed, but who did it? Was it done in front of the guards? How did they not know it was their Prince? Why would the villager do that in the first place? What forced this to even happen?

I have so many questions, and if I am completely honest with myself, this was the only thing I cared about through the rest of the novel. I kept waiting for this fact to matter. I waited for the information to come back around. It never did. I’m still disappointed.

I carried that disappointment all the way through the rest of the novella.

The rest of the story is fine, but the world building is non-existent, which allows my disbelief to run rampant and brings out my more critical side. What I mean by this is that the way the prologue is written, you would think this is a more classic fantasy setting revolving around the patriarchal kingdom of Mairene, but what you get is the modern, almost urban, setting of the western world which means, there should be real-world solutions to these magic problems, but there is no exploration of that at all.

The Characters: Natasha was the only character I genuinely enjoyed, and she was neither the MC nor the love interest, which is a grade A bummer. Anya and Aleryn are both written pretty flat. There is no real distinction between them and every other insta-love/fated-mates trope that involves what could be described as a real-world human and a fae.

The Quality of the Writing: This novella, which is a third person narrative story told through Anya, the human baker’s POV, stands at 137 pages long, and it still took me several hours to read, mostly because of the grammatical errors and juvenile prose forced me to go back and re-read sentences, paragraphs, or entire pages, to understand what the author was intending to say. The sentences are stiff and stilted, and often the same length for several paragraphs, which leads to a boring, repetitive flow. There are also repeated details not only on the same page, or same chapter, but sometimes within the same sentence, that are written in a way that I believe is unintentional, as it does not provide any layers of depth to the story and makes for an agonizing reading experience. If the author had used a critique partner, or editors on the line and copy levels, it would have been a more pleasurable reading experience.

The best line in the novella is:
“And with that a blinding light cascaded the valley illuminating the dark, cloudy morning skies with the brightness of a hundred suns.”

You do not see this level of prose again for the rest of the novel; this line is found in the prologue and its glory was spoiled by the following lines two paragraphs later:
“The boom came later though, piercing the ears of everyone close to Samira – killing them instantly.
And with that came the screams of the tortured soldiers caught in her power.”

Soldiers can’t scream if they’re killed instantly. Also, this is a pretty stunning exploration of what the MC’s power may become later in the novella, and it is such a shame that it’s so blandly explained.

Overall Thoughts: While the story synopsis seemed intriguing, the characters and story both lacked the depth that would allow me to read over the juvenile prose and grammatical errors. It reads much like an un-edited first draft. For those reasons, this author is not one I would choose to read another book from, as the overall quality of the product does not meet my requirements for enjoyment, and I am still so insanely mad that the villager’s infant sacrifice was never brought up again. It was such a cool detail that went completely unutilized.

When the queen begged for her son Crown Prince Aleryn "Ryn" Sinear to be safe, he was taken to the huma world for hiding. When he meets Anya, a human baker - there is an instant connection. Their budding relationship is soon tested when trouble walks into the bakery.

This novella drops the reader right into the action. We get a quick prologue about Aleryn & his mother, the queen and then jump to meeting Anya and her BFF Nat. The story is very fast paced which does impact the character development and world building but if you are interested in a quick read, this is just what you'll want to pick up!

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Forgotten Prince, a novella following Ryn a fae prince who has been in hiding since birth within the mortal realm. His family had originally help the throne before it was seized from them by their uncle. The first half of the novella reads like a meet-cute contemporary romance so at first my attention was not held as much as I would've liked. So the first half of the book was not too fun in my opinion. When I continued reading though, the second half of the book picked up a lot diving deeper into things that held my attention and interest. I was excited about continuing it.

It did seem that the characters Theo and Ryn were missing something making their characters come off as boring and plain. With Theo, we know nothing about him. The book itself needs a bit of work seeing as it came off as rushed and had a major set of typo errors in Chapter 3. An example of this is "At least you have the new five days" It reads like it should be "You have the next five days" In chapter 4 there was a sentence where Nat's name was not capitalized. In Chapter 9 the use of "hee" instead of "her" and paragraphs with repeated sentences. In chapter 10 "I just came back from the bakery. She's not there. The bakery is..." "The bakery is trashed. I'm coming back from there. I couldn't find her at the bakery." In this case, it can be blamed on the panic from the character however it felt very clunky. They also skip overexplaining the existence of fae and humans do not react to the revolution, although nowhere in the world is it established that humans have an awareness of other realms existing. In chapter 12, there was a line "Your time is coming boy. He is coming for you, boy." I know they're trying to create a scene of drama but it just comes off as strange who would talk to someone in that way?
In chapter 13, there needs to be some clearing-up done since it isn't straight on what happened to Anya. If she is potentially being assaulted or groped, it should be stated and handled clearly.

Fated Mates, a mild romantic setting, and a dual point of view set from Anya our female main character, and her friend Nat. The chapters that included Nat were enjoyable and her personality was better than that of Anya. No hate to the writing and their styling of writing Anya, it just seems that things for her could have been written differently.

I enjoyed that it was short, sweet, and cozy. It felt rushed and unfinished, however. I did find the writing to be average, it didn't get in the way of the book's flow. This book has a list of trigger warnings at the beginning which is good for those that are triggered by certain things. It gives a warning to a cliffhanger as well. If there is a second book to come out within this series I would possibly read it but that is only in hopes that it would be a better flow in comparison to the first book. I would just hope it includes more fantasy action and romance which are a preferred genre of mine. To those that enjoy a blend of contemporary cute romance but the inclusion of Fae fantasy being packed into a short novel then this book is for you!
It overall needs more editing and huge improvements on the writing within it. It reads like a Wattpad fanfiction written by a high schooler or middle schooler who was just getting their start at writing books. With major works and a few editors, it could be improved and be a good book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Victory Editing Netgalley for sending this arc reading for my review. The opinions listed above are all my own of course.

I REALLY wanted to love this story but it just didn’t quite hit the mark for me.
The start was amazing and I was really hopeful based on the premise presented in the prologue.
To be honest the beginning of the book felt rushed. I wish that the author had spent more time character building because I felt like I didn’t know enough about them or their personalities to become invested.
I wanted so many more chapters just on Anya so that we could get to know her before she was introduced to Ryn.
I wanted SO much more on their love story because it felt really rushed despite the time jump.
The descriptions of some things also felt a little bit repetitive and unnecessary.
The story has so much promise and I really feel like it could be amazing if it was fleshed out more. I feel like this is the first draft and I would have happily read 300 more pages just building up the love story, getting to know more about the characters before the action and kidnapping happened.

This novella was cute. The plot was interesting, and the location is adorable. A bakery with an FMC who always has doughy hands? Adorable. And an MMC who’s mysterious and devoted with a hidden past? Super cute.

However, there were a lot of inconsistencies that kept tripping me up. I don’t generally review based on grammar or writing style, because I feel it doesn’t help anyone. But there were a lot of repeated sentences and incorrect wording that could have easily been fixed with a simple proofread. At one point one character is given two different eye colors in adjacent sentences.

Overall, it was a quick cozy read. I’m inclined to give the second one a chance when it’s released.

The Forgotten Prince feels like an unfinished book. There is an insta-love mated relationship, but there's not enough character development or world building here for me to care about what happens to them. Most of this book has Hallmark movie vibes, but with fae...except these fae can easily be substituted with any scary thugs since their only magic seems to be to heal themselves. Nat was by far my favorite character. She was a real one, and I appreciated her calling out our main characters on their tomfoolery.
Overall, this story was interesting enough that I finished it in a couple of hours, but it needed to be longer to be more complete. Less talk of muscles and kneading dough, more telling me what a fae is like in this universe and why it's a separate yet secret kingdom from where humans live was necessary.
Thanks to the author and NetGalley for this ARC!

Loved the description of this book, I feel like it really hooked me and I was excited to read it. The beginning got me and was so sad! While reading I felt it was a little rushed, especially the romance. There could’ve been more lead up. With that being said, I prefer slow burn romances so someone else could totally love this. There were a couple twists and a cliffhanger which are always good!

"The Forgotten Prince" by Akira Varma introduces readers to Aeryn, a fae prince leading a humble life as a carpenter in the human realm, and Anya, a human baker. The premise, blending baking and fae elements, captured my interest, along with the captivating prologue that sets the stage for their encounter.
Nonetheless, the novella could be improved through comprehensive editing to address grammatical errors and repetitive language. Despite these aspects, the story unfolds rapidly, weaving together Aeryn's regal heritage and Anya's humble nature as their bond strengthens. While the narrative delves into their relationship, I longed for further exploration of their histories and the captivating faerie realm.
Overall, I found "The Forgotten Prince" enjoyable yet felt it lacked depth that could be expanded in future installments. The potential for a full-length novel or a series of novellas to delve deeper into character dynamics and the rich faerie realm leaves me intrigued and eager for more.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC

A good start to a new fantasy series. I loved the concept of the banished prince, that was really interesting. I also found it so cute that out fmc was a baker and owned her own bakery with her best friends. We like an independant woman! I did however wish that the book was longer, because I didn't feel we got enough action or exploration of the relationships. But I'm sure we'll see more in the following books.

I appreciate the opportunity to read and review an ARC.

What I expected from this book after reading the description was a cute and fluffy bakery-based romance with some fantasy elements weaved in. I don't feel like that's what I got. The book was an effort to read, and that was a shame, because I wanted so much to like it.

The writing style didn't move me at all. There were a lot of flaws in it. The language was very simple and repetitive - often to a fault. The same descriptions were used over and over, often on the same page. The dialogue was unnatural - it just didn't flow the way people actually speak. The choices made just felt very unnatural to me, too.

I felt very little connection to the cast. I didn't much like Anya. She didn't annoy me, per se, but she didn't invoke any strong reactions from me. None of the characters really did. Ryn, I liked a little more than Anya, but not by much. He felt like a very idealised and unrealistic version of a man. Honestly, none of the characters felt realistic or fleshed out at all. They were all two dimensional. You expect that to some extent from a book so short, but I feel like there was so little character development here.

The romance, the thing that drew me to want to read and review this book, I felt was very lacking. The entire development of their relationship was hidden behind timeskips. I just don't feel like I can get invested in a relationship that I don't see unfold in front of me, especially when so much of the plot relies on their relationship being established. It disappointed me. I didn't want to be told that they fell in love. I wanted to experience it. I admit that I'm used to reading much longer stories that have more opportunity to develop a relationship, but I have read plenty of books that do a good job of creating a good compelling relationship in just two hundred pages. It is possible. This book just didn't quite hit the mark.

I did like the pacing, though. Despite the timeskips that I feel skipped past the plot that I wanted to read, I didn't at all feel like I was trying to slog through a dragging slow plot, or trying to keep up with a plot that was running too fast. The plot felt steady. It just lacked things that I would have liked to see.

Overall, I'm rather disappointed with thins one. I loved the concept and the idea of a cute short romance, but very little about this book made me want to keep reading. This book just didn't work for me at all, but I'm sure it would work for other readers. I don't think I'll be continuing the story when it is released.

♡𝐞𝐀𝐫𝐜 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰♡
4 🌟
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𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬 :
•faes
•fated mates
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This is book one, also a novella in the, "Thread of Fate series." This is a quick easy read with a Fated mates mixed with fantasy and Faes. This is a good beginning to a series. I like how this novella gives you backstory about the characters and what's to come in the next book.
𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒆!
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Thank you, Netgalley, and eArc Victory Editing for giving me the (eArc)-eBook for my honest review.

3 stars!

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of The Forgotten Prince in exchange for my honest review.

I liked this novella. It took me only just over an hour to finish. I did think the writing was the weakest aspect for me and at times some of the details/words chosen were repetitive but that doesn't mean it wasn't a good story.

I think where this fell just a little flat for me was the Rom-Com/Mortal side of the story. I think going into it I was expecting more of the Fantasy element but was very happy when the story went back to the Fantasy realm.

I wished Ryn was a little more complex (that doesn't mean he wasn't great, nor does it not mean I didn't find him charming and mysterious), however, I really enjoyed Anya.

All in all, I do want to continue this series.

too boring to even finish, the writing is subpar, the characterization is surface level and the romance is too boring to care about

This was such a great novella and I can't wait to see where it goes from here! I was invested right away but wish there was more :)

Thank you to Netgalley for this Arc in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked the concept of this book, but I was craving a lot more detail. I understand the concept of mates but needed a slower burn, even if it was just the characters having confusion with why they felt the way they felt. It felt forced and rushed.

I enjoyed the characters of Anya and Nat and learning about their bakery. I felt like Aleryn and Theo lacked a bit of dimension.

There are a lot of questions I have. For instance, why do they not have pointed ears if every other fae does? How are the fae hidden from the humans? How did their family learn to blend in?

I did enjoy the action fantasy portion of this book the most and would read the second one hoping it answers my questions.

Nice story with so much potential however since this was a shorter story the plot felt rushed and there was very little character development or world building. I'm hoping the next book is longer and can explain a bit more for us. I typically like short stories however I find in fantasy it is hard to fully capture the readers attention when we are used to such amazing world building like Blood and Ash and ACOTAR.

This book may have left you feeling like everything was rushed and lacked depth. Despite being 104 pages long, there was a noticeable absence of buildup and character development. The writing felt repetitive, with unnecessary repetition of words and phrases. The ending didn't deliver the twist you were anticipating and felt predictable from the beginning.

Regarding chemistry, it appeared that Natasha had better chemistry with Ryn and Anya with Theo, rather than with their supposed mates. While it's the first book in the series and there's potential for development later on, the connection between Anya and Ryn felt weak.

Overall, while the premise was intriguing, the execution fell short. The writing was basic, with typos and grammatical errors, and the characters' decisions felt questionable. The book could have benefited from being longer to allow for better development of the love story between Anya and Aleryn.