The Prince's Heart is a queer romance set in the fantasy kingdom of Soeria. Our MMC, Darien, is the prince of Soeria. As second in line to the throne, he's content to let his older brother handle matters of court politics. What Darien most wants is to find someone who could love him for who he is and not for his title or position. When he meets Tag, he thinks he might have finally found this person, but when tragedy strikes will Darien have to choose between duty and love?

I loved the premise of this book. Darien is a great character and I was really rooting for him throughout this book. There were times, though, when I felt like I was rooting for Darien and Tag way harder than they were. I wish I had seen them, Tag especially, fight harder for what they wanted. The book started off strong, but it did drag a little in the last half, which is really when things should have been picking up. There were so many times when I wanted to shake these characters! I really felt for Darien throughout this book as he's put into some impossible situations and is trying to navigate them in a way that protects his country and the people that he loves. Overall, I thought this was a good debut novel and I'm excited to see what comes next from this author.

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and Rising Action Publishing. This is my honest review.

The Prince’s Heart by Ben Chaflin is a fantasy romance about a prince who struggles between love and duty. The story has some nice moments, and the setting is vividly described, but it didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

The pacing felt off; some parts dragged, while others seemed rushed. I also found the romance a bit predictable and the dialogue somewhat forced, which made it hard to fully connect with the characters.

Overall, this book may appeal to readers who enjoy a straightforward romance with a fantasy twist, but it wasn’t quite my style. I’m giving it three stars as it might be a better fit for others.

Thank you to Rising Action Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

the writing style in this book was good... it flowed quite well. Sadly, I didn't find I connected with the story very well. I'm not sure I can put my finger on it, but the characters lacked a bit of depth. I found I didn't really care too much about what happened to them. Darian was interesting. He is in the role of the second-in-line who suddenly finds himself on the throne. Tag didn't interest me very much...perhaps I didn't get to know him well enough. He seemed to do little beyond complaining.

Thank you Ben Chalfin and Rising Action Publishing for providing me with this e-arc in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own.

Ugh, I wanted to like this book so bad. The Prince's Heart is a low stakes, but emotional, mm romantasy. It sounded great and right up my alley, but I had some problems with it. First, this is definitely a ROMANtasy, the fantasy is just the backdrop to the romance, but that's usually how it goes for romantasy, so this is a very personal complaint because the romance just wasn't to my liking. I'm not a fan of instalove, I like built up and tension, yearning, and this had none of that it's pretty much love at first sight. And while for me it was a problem, I know that some people prefer this type of romance, and if that's your case you should definitely read this book!
The writing was very fluid, the pace was clunky in some parts(but maybe they will correct this in the last edits before oficial publishing), but it's a very fast paced book in general.
The plot was heavy in the political aspects of a monarchy, and the twist was very predictable.

Like I said before, all these are personal likings, so to end I'd like to point out one thing. If you like historical romance and the love at first sight trope you will probably like this book, and should give it a try.

2,5, actually.

This story was... kind of strange in its execution. Darien is a prince who seems to fall in love pretty easily, despire the summary promises a slow burn: In the span of two chapters, Darien has already falling in and out of love with one random character (that never comes back again) and has begun to like Tag (the actual love interest for this story).

And here is the weirdest thing about all, Darien is obsessed thinking people don´t see him but only his title. And then is quickly sure that Tag is different to any other person, that he sees pass through that. Yet, if you read the book, you will quickly realize that Tag puts a thousand excuses not to be publicly with Darien. Mainly because Darien is a prince and he doesn´t want that exposition (see the hypocresy?)
So there´s no slow burn: they quickly like each other and begin dating secretly. And... there is a fade to black early at some point, where we just asume they are happy together (although momentarily).

I didn´t like Tag one big. Not only the romance paled for what I just mentioned, but Tag is that kind of character who does nothing for the plot. He just cries and complains that life is so hard. He played no role at helping Darien save the kingdom, he just left home when they told him to and then waited for Darien to come back to him... And randomly decided to accept him back despite the title? Idk, this could very well not have ended there and have both characters play a back and forth where they break up and come back together at random.

Though, now that I think about it, Darien is not much better either: He just lets things happen to him.
The king wants him to marry a random prince cause it is supposedly good for the country? Okay, let´s not complain because they wouldn´t understand. Tag doesn´t want to make their relationship public even after everything? Okay, let´s not confront him either and let him leave. The evil fianceé confesses to his face a conspiracy plot to get the crown? Okay, better not tell the council and just be miserable while Darien alone thinks of something (no, seriously, I didn´t get this part: what is the council for if they are not going to be informed there is a murderer close?)

I imagine the author didn´t want to delve in a plot of war, because it would complicate things further. But really, I think that was exactly the path to go. Just hiding things from the people who were supposed to know and help is the typical thing a kid would do, not a (future) king. Plus, the way Darien got rid of the villain was so... childish and absurd. It went right by mere chance, I´m sure of it.
In barely 3 chapters, all conflicts were randomly solved and there was no more trouble ahead, happy ending included.

Overall, I would recommend this one for a teen who likes to read about princes and fantasy realms without much depht. If you´re in for the romance though, get out. It´s not worth it.

Honestly, I was mostly confused by this book. The tagline describes this as a romantasy for fans of Red Queen and Throne of Glass, and I'm genuinely not sure what is meant by that. If you have read either of those books, there really isn't much similarity you will find here.

There only thing I can think of is the royal setting, and that too is pretty much the extent of the Fantasy aspect of this book - a fictional royal family from a fictional kingdom dealing with politics of other fictional kingdom.

That said, I do think it does a great disservice to the book by setting expectations that are not exactly true.

At its core, The Prince’s Heart is a queer love story about a prince desperately trying to hold onto the love that he has found while also dealing with devastating personal tragedy. It's a charming love story with truly lovely and sweet characters that I was rooting for, despite it all.

Thank you so much to Rising Action Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a heartfelt twist on the classic duty of love choice. Watching these two find themselves and figure out what they want, who they want, and who they want to be was so good!

I liked the bones of the story, the general idea. But, unfortunately, the pacing really kept me from loving it. The pacing of the romance as well as the sudden time skips both made the romance lack depth as well as made my mind stumble during the reading process.

The Prince's Heart by Ben Chalfin is a delightful LGBTQIA+ romantasy that expertly blends love and duty in the magical realm of Soeria. While Prince Darien’s chemistry with Tag is heartfelt, the pacing sometimes rushes their romance, leaving some character depth wanting. The writing is smooth and engaging, making it perfect for its young adult audience. Overall, it’s a charming story filled with political intrigue and a refreshing story.

I had huge hopes for this book: it's presented as a queer romantasy and what can be better than that? However, after reading maybe 50% of it, I felt like I am too old for this as the target audience for the book appears to be teens aged 14-16. As a young adult I found this book to be a bit lacking.

/Below will be some spoilers!/
We were promised slow-burn, but it's not: I was looking forward to seeing romance slowly blooming, however, we already got a fade-to-black scene at 26%. That's not a slow-burn... Also, I found the pacing of the story very questionable. Many time skips that ommited (possible) crutial relationship-building scenes. This issues connects with another one: the love / courting between Darien and Tag just.. came out of nowhere. They meet, they find each other beautiful, they talk (Tag is different from others just because he doesn't care for Darien's rank) and then after a couple of weeks of thinking about each other, they just decide to court each other? I really didn't find any signs of their love and how it came to be.

When it comes to relationships, I really found the one between Tag and Darien boring. Tag is one of those characters that gives up at first obstacle ("No, Darien, I can't be with you" was said maybe 5 times), cries and just overall appears to be absolutely useless, just waits for Darien to do something. As someone who was a Prince and then became King, Darien has no backbone. Evil fiance killed his dad & brother and he does nothing, but agree to a marriage? In what universe? I feel like my biggest issue is that I couldn't relate to the characters because they seemed so young and childish (15-16 y/o) but that might be wrong because even though it's not mentioned, you can figure they are 20+. The characters lacked passion, motivation, will-power. And the constant crying. Just no.

The only fantasy is that the story takes place in an immaginary world where same-sex marriage is normal & not something that people question (wish it was so!). I did expect a bit more, well, magic, but it was just an expectation I created in my head. And everything worked out so smoothly without a hint of stuggle really.

What I did enjoy was the writing style. It was easy to read, nicely flowing and overall good. I do feel like if this book reaches its teens' target audience (at least I assume that's who are the potential readers for this book), it will be well appreciated and loved!

The Prince's Heart is such a great story! I loved every single second of this amazing story. I recommend everyone to read this book as fast as they can because it's really good and the characters are fantastic.

This was a lovely LGBTQIA+ Romantasy. I really loved the setting of Soeria. Lots of politics come into play which is my favorite in books! Prince Darien Garros was a wonderful character. The poor guy having to make the impossible choice between love and duty. Tag Leara was so dreamy and sweet and perfect. I loved their story and reading about the choixe Darien has to make the consequences involved. This is my favorite type of fantasy. It was wonderful! I read this one FAST because it was addicting in the best way. Can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy!

"The Prince’s Heart" by Ben Chalfin is a romantic fantasy novel that weaves themes of love and duty. The story revolves around Prince Darien, the second son of the royal family, who finds himself unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight following a sudden tragedy. This life-altering event challenges him to navigate the complexities of his newfound responsibilities. This slow-burn queer romance centers around the prince's royal obligations while he tries to follow his heart, which both inspires and complicates his life.

While I appreciated the action and romantic elements threaded throughout the book, I did long for more character development and backstory upfront. For me, even more exploration of the characters' histories and motivations would only enhance the novel. Overall, I think that "The Prince’s Heart" will appeal to fans of authors like Foz Meadows and Alexandra Rowland, who appreciate an action-filled romantasy.

I would like to express my gratitude to NetGalley and Rising Action for providing an advanced reader copy (ARC) of this novel.