The Prince's Heart by Ben Chalfin
Rating: 4/5 stars

First Impressions:
The Prince’s Heart is a sweet and charming story that delivers cozy vibes and heartfelt moments. It’s a quick, easy read with a light and comforting atmosphere, making it a good pick for when you’re in the mood for a romantic and uplifting tale.

Plot & Pacing:
The plot was fun to follow, with a few twists and turns that kept me engaged. While some of the twists were a tad predictable, others added a nice surprise to the story. The mix of love, heartbreak, tragedy, and sweet little moments worked beautifully to create a well-rounded narrative.

The pacing did feel a bit rushed at times, especially when it came to the romance. The insta-love aspect of the story felt a little too quick, and I found myself wishing for more time to let the relationship and emotions truly develop.

Worldbuilding
The fantasy elements, while present, were fairly light, and I would have loved to see them explored more deeply, same goes for the overal world.

Characters:
The characters were fun and relatable. I really felt for them, and their emotional journeys were engaging to follow. Darien was a great POV character, but I couldn’t help wishing for a dual POV to see more of Tag’s perspective. I think this would have added extra depth to both their romance and the story overall.

Romance:
The romantic pairing between Darien and Tag was absolutely adorable. Their relationship had a lot of sweetness and heart, though I do wish the insta-love aspect had been developed more gradually to allow for a stronger emotional connection.

Writing Style:
The writing style had a charming and cozy tone that fit the story well, but it was occasionally clunky, especially in some of the dialogue. There were moments where it leaned a bit too much on "telling" rather than "showing," which took away some of the emotional impact.

As a reader with dyslexia, I found the book overall to be a smooth read, though there were a few phrases that made me double-take, thinking I’d misread, only to realize it was just how they were written.

That said, I really appreciated the shorter chapters, which kept the pacing light.

Final Thoughts:
The Prince’s Heart is a sweet, cozy story with a lot to love—fun characters, an adorable romance, and an uplifting tone. While the pacing and fantasy elements felt rushed and the insta-love could have been fleshed out more, the heart of the story shines through. A few extra pages could have elevated the characters, world, and relationship even further, but this is an enjoyable read for fans of a quick, feel-good romance.

I also have to mention the cover—it’s absolutely gorgeous and perfectly fits the vibe of the story!

Overall, this was a delightful 4-star read, and I look forward to seeing more from Ben Chalfin in the future.

When I requested this novel I was expecting a fantasy novel with romance. This was a straight up romantasy (and even the fantasy part was very negligable). I don't feel like I can give an accurate review, because I'm just not a romantasy fan. The writing was good. If that's your genre you might enjoy this, but I hesitate to give it a rating, because it was just not the book for me,

Thank you to NetGalley, Ben Chalfin, and the publishers for allowing me access to the e-Arc.

3.25 stars

Overall, I enjoyed most of the story. I didn’t mind the “insta-love” to me it just felt like they were meant to be. Yes, it could have been drawn out a little more. I felt like Darien's character changed in the last 30% which made me not enjoy it as much. I also didn’t enjoy where the villain reveals all the parts. I thought it would go differently. It did give me RWRB vibes which I loved. I will pick up another book by this author.

<i>The Prince’s Heart</i> is a clumsy yet, at times, endearing story about a prince forced to choose between duty and desire. This book centers around Darien, the prince and second-in-line for the throne of a small kingdom. He meets Tag, a lower-status relative of a neighboring kingdom’s royal family, and the two fall desperately in love. However, Darien is forced to choose between a life with Tag and an arranged marriage which will help secure his kingdom’s safety after tragedy changes his life forever. This book is charming, yet overall fails to establish the tense atmosphere necessary to make the conflict in this book impactful.

The biggest positive thing about the book is that it is a sweet story. This book is relatively short for a romantasy, and this makes it a quick and fun read. The romantic pairing is sweet, and its easy to root for them throughout the novel. There’s also a really fun collection of side characters—Darien’s siblings have fun interactions with him, and are characterized well for being such a quick read.

The biggest shortcoming of this book for me was that the main romantic relationship was insta-love. It was the kind of romance where the point-of-view character sets eyes on the future love interest for the first time and is instantly smitten. It only takes a few conversations for the pair to get together. As someone who enjoys reading about the yearning in a romance plot, this wasn’t a satisfying romance story to me. Furthermore, it lowers the stakes of the novel as a whole—if the pair could fall head-over-heels in love after a few conversations, certainly the potential loss of this love isn’t a huge deal, as it doesn’t even feel like the pair know each other that well. Throughout the book, lip service is paid to the idea that the couple won’t work out for a variety of reasons, but even during these scenes it never really feels like the relationship is under threat. This may be less of a negative for readers who enjoy insta-love as a plot, but it didn’t work for me and this took away a lot from the conceit of the novel.

The dialogue in this book is also often very clunky. This problem is twofold: first, when it comes to exposition, characters just say things to serve the plot rather than because it makes sense. For example, there was an instance where Darien said to Samis, who is crown prince of the kingdom, a version of “You remember how the kingdom was founded by our great-great grandmother who found to free us of the empire, yes?” as a way of introducing the political history of the region. This is just clumsy, because yes, Samis should know this, and this happens repeatedly. There are a ton of facts dropped this way, and they all feel out of place. Given the novel is first-person POV from Darien’s perspective, I feel like a lot of this could be communicated with narration and not have the break the believability of the book (especially since Darien is a huge history nerd, and thus could be charactered by the way he gives narration if he goes out of his way to think about the impact of the nation’s history on current events). The second problem is that the narration often fails reflect much of a character’s emotional state. A lot of the dialogue is surface-level and somewhat repetitive and feels shallow as a result. For example, when Darien is dealing with major life tragedies, the start and end of what Tag has to say to him is “It’ll be okay.” It just feels like super shallow support to give to someone dealing with major life tragedies. A lot of the dialogue is on this level, and it makes the characters feel immature.

There’s also a major lack of logic in how things work. I can’t give any of the egregious examples without spoiling the ending, but a minor example will suffice. At one point, Samis and Darien need to talk in secret. They decide that, in order to be secret and avoid being overheard, they should leave the royal palace (where they have private rooms and the ability to tell servants to leave them alone) and instead go to a public tavern (which is described as being full of people). You know, so no one hears what they’re talking about. This sort of logic is pervasive throughout the book, including in how the major conflict is resolved. There are a ton of assumptions that just don’t make sense, or plans that hinge on very specific things happening that always just work out perfectly despite it. I understand that the point of the book is the conflict in Darien’s heart, not exactly how plans are executed, but becomes very distracting throughout the book.

In the end, while this book is overall sweet and charming, I just struggled to feel the weight of the relationship and found both dialogue and plot to be on the clumsy side. This together made the book a less-than-impactful read for me. I would recommend it to readers who like a short and satisfying romantasy, particularly to readers who like it when the couple gets together quickly and the tension instead revolves around them staying together.

A charming, low stakes queer romantasy, perfect for people who enjoy the thrill of an instalove story.

While the themes of The Prince's Heart did not quite grasp at my own heart, there's nothing in here that could persuade me to say anything negative about the book. Any, and all shortcomings are a matter of preference (I prefer a bit of thrill, and a heavy slow burn for romance), which is not at all author, or the novel's own fault..

The Prince's Heart is a quaint little trip out of our own world, and a chance to cozy up and fall in love.

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.