A review by mara97
The Prince's Loving Guards by Beau Van Dalen

4.0

I'm a bit more mixed on this volume. On one hand, it felt like Hal became a more complex character. It was no longer him being horny and finding someone who is attracted to him, but more so about his trauma of growing up and his not quite healthy home life. The smut, once again, was good and I got my double penetration (it was not an end all be all, but if we are going to make it smutty, at least gimme the good stuff). The guards, once again, were likeable and distinct enough to not feel too overwhelmed. What I will say, and that is my personal opinion, that this volume was a bit of a mess plot wise. A novella simply don't have enough space for huge worldbuilding and many plot threats, but first we had Hal's illness (which somehow lasted a month? Or it was a mistake, i don't know), than the whole palace part, and then we moved to Hal's personal home. Also the dynamics were a little off; I personally though they had better chemistry in book 1 than 2, as they were more involved during the first one. it felt like all the instances were one-on-one instead of a group effort but for the very end. Also, I was a little confused that Hal only now started to realize that he might have romantic feelings, while the whole time, he not once wondered if he would find someone to marry. He just envisioned his future with his guards and no further. Additionally, I will say that the descriptions still were not my favourite. There were moments I had to reread parts beause I missed things.As mentioned before, I did enjoy this book overall, but I am curious if the author's full-lenght work runs into the same issues, or that this was the issue of 'too many ideas, but only 30k words'.