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A review by horrorbutch
The Prince's Loving Guards by Beau Van Dalen
5.0
Disclaimer: I received an ARC in a giveaway by the author.
In this really good and interesting sequel to the first book in the series Prince Hal returns to his father knowing he'll have to reveal facing the Serpent and what happened to it. Thankfully his supportive guards are there to keep him company.
My favorite thing was seeing Hal become more confident and trust himself a bit more. Even though the perils he is facing are just growing in number, the fact that he knows he can rely on his guards was lovely to read.
I liked the way their relationship deepened in this one. Due to some time passing and circumstances forcing them to rely even more on each other, I also found the fact that their feelings for each other grow to be realistic and sweet.
I also enjoyed getting to know Hal's guards better, especially Kaiser's backstory and the fact that we can see how much they care for Hal in ways that exceed their guardly duties and their sexual attraction to him (the way Elwood took care of Hal when he was ill it was soooo adorable and sweet!!!).
Another thing I found really cool was how Hal describes his genitals during sex. Every trans person has different things they like to call their genitals but seeing a pre-T person refer to his genitals as both a cock and a pussy/cunt was refreshing to read. And even though dysphoria does still play a role it seems to be (for now) a bit less of a struggle for Hal, since he's loved and accepted as a man the way he is and that's beautiful!
And finally I really quite enjoyed seeing the way the magic system was explored in some more detail, hinting at really interesting future possibilities.
All in all I really enjoyed this book. The writing felt a lot more intruiging to me than in the first book (which I still liked, don't misunderstand, but this was just even better!), especially because we got more answers to the world/character building questions raised, while still leaving me intruiged for even more answers by raising other even more compelling mysteries. I also felt that the pacing improved, allowing time for both caring and sexy times, while keeping the suspense alive. This was a truly worthy sequel to the first book and I can't wait for the next book in this series because the only thing I "disliked" about this book it is that it's rather short in length and thus leaves many questions unanswered. Know that you will be left wanting for answers to quite a few questions, but I am hoping they will all be answered in future books :)
In this really good and interesting sequel to the first book in the series Prince Hal returns to his father knowing he'll have to reveal facing the Serpent and what happened to it. Thankfully his supportive guards are there to keep him company.
My favorite thing was seeing Hal become more confident and trust himself a bit more. Even though the perils he is facing are just growing in number, the fact that he knows he can rely on his guards was lovely to read.
I liked the way their relationship deepened in this one. Due to some time passing and circumstances forcing them to rely even more on each other, I also found the fact that their feelings for each other grow to be realistic and sweet.
I also enjoyed getting to know Hal's guards better, especially Kaiser's backstory and the fact that we can see how much they care for Hal in ways that exceed their guardly duties and their sexual attraction to him (the way Elwood took care of Hal when he was ill it was soooo adorable and sweet!!!).
Another thing I found really cool was how Hal describes his genitals during sex. Every trans person has different things they like to call their genitals but seeing a pre-T person refer to his genitals as both a cock and a pussy/cunt was refreshing to read. And even though dysphoria does still play a role it seems to be (for now) a bit less of a struggle for Hal, since he's loved and accepted as a man the way he is and that's beautiful!
And finally I really quite enjoyed seeing the way the magic system was explored in some more detail, hinting at really interesting future possibilities.
All in all I really enjoyed this book. The writing felt a lot more intruiging to me than in the first book (which I still liked, don't misunderstand, but this was just even better!), especially because we got more answers to the world/character building questions raised, while still leaving me intruiged for even more answers by raising other even more compelling mysteries. I also felt that the pacing improved, allowing time for both caring and sexy times, while keeping the suspense alive. This was a truly worthy sequel to the first book and I can't wait for the next book in this series because the only thing I "disliked" about this book it is that it's rather short in length and thus leaves many questions unanswered. Know that you will be left wanting for answers to quite a few questions, but I am hoping they will all be answered in future books :)