Disclosure: I received this novella from NetGalley. I was quite surprised by this novella! Given the excellent content warning I chose to skip the prologue. I quickly was sucked into the romance of this novel and stayed for the fantasy. The plot and action were thrilling and the love story was perfect. And the cliffhanger! I’m really hoping for a sequel soon!

Minus 1 star for some unrealistic reactions from the characters and multiple spelling and grammar errors.

I loved the prologue of this book, and was intrigued to see where the story would go. The prologue and the rest of the story don’t quite match up, and while it’s clear how the main story connects with the prologue, the sudden change in the story wasn’t a change I was fond of. While I originally thought the book was going to be quite action and fantasy based, from what I’ve read it seems to be mainly a romance.

I found the rest of the book difficult to get into, as I didn’t connect with the characters and found the storytelling quite repetitive, with unnecessary details being overexplained. I try to finish every book I read, especially novellas as they’re quite short, but I couldn’t finish this one. I feel with some more editing to fix the grammatical errors and repetition, the book will be easier to read when it’s officially published.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick read and super fun. I am curious how the story continues given the ending our main couple doesn’t seem to be our true couple no matter how much I like Ryn and Anya and cute. The pull bêtween Ryn and Anya seems has switched to Theo and Anya and Ryn and Nate but time will tell. The story has tried and true premised but was kid of hard to fall into given the switch of romantic pulls

— 1.5 ⭐️. I don’t know what to say in literal meaning about this book. The prologue and the very few first chapters were good enough and entertaining. However, as the story goes by and how it wrapped up, it just doesn’t make any sense and too much missing pieces. As a reader of fantasy and liking the “Fae realm”, I kinda disappointed with this book

The story began after Anya (the no one and suddenly pop up character) found her like with the person who comes to her bakery repeatedly. She suddenly felt attracted to the man named Aleryn without any cause, then, they exchange few words and suddenly fucking already. On the next day, she was kidnapped because this Fae people wanted Aleryn and classic strategy appeared. That’s where the story “should be interesting”.

The characters are a so-so, I was liking Theo because of his appearance and his silver white hair in the first place but then, he seems stupid in a horrible way. Anya and Nat, they were loving but not on my categories. Even the main Male Lead — Aleryn was supposed to be “the cold hearted male lead” but the author failed to describe his characteristics in the meantime.

Too many questions and things needed to be revised to be honest, rather than analyzing the book. If I have more time to re-read the book, I might be able to point out several things to be analyzed later.

The Questions:
💭 Why does one of the villager sacrifice their son on behalf of the King. WHY?
💭 Why the wings were cut off (Berin, Theo, and Aleryn) plus what crimes that made them being punished?
💭 When was Aleryn and Anya become couples anyway? How come Anya suddenly say that he is the boyfriend?
💭 When was we introduced to Theo personally? We’re not talking about the little Theo, but we talking about the adult version Theo
💭 Has Aleryn ever mentioned about his uncle to Nat and Anya? Nope, I don’t think so, and how come Nat able to point out that Aleryn has uncle?
💭 When was Anya asked Aleryn about the scars (the cut off wings he had) on his back? Never. Then how come she could describe his expression???
💭 Anya able to hold Theo’s body as a human being compared to Fae strength? Nonsense, how come? Please do enlighten me somehow
💭 Theo as a Fae and the one who has responsibility to protect Anya is kinda stupid, don’t you think?
💭 Why does this particular Fae who help Anya and Theo kind enough to help them, why??

Analyzing:
🥯 Trying and be disappointed is better than wondering what the result would be without any progress
🥯 Creators, having your final creation admired by people give you tremendous joys
🥯 Great team work give the best result
🥯 Take precious things from your target and they will crawl on their knees

Assumptions:
🌳 Nat is Berin’s fated mate
🌳 Ryn’s crime was because either he is illegitimate son or his mother doesn’t want the son to be on Kingdom’s politics

This book is good in the beginning but getting more worse as the storyline goes by. Nothing was make sense and many missing pieces on the storyline. Even analyzing this book isn’t much and there aren’t much to be analyzed. I don’t know if this book is good enough to be categorized as fantasy. This failed miserably. Kinda disappointed. I don’t think I would recommend this book to anyone and continue the series, even though the end was giving us the cliffhanger and we have too many questions to be answered

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6528697982

Thank you to the publisher, author & NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I loved the prologue idea where you get to see Ryn's backstory and his mother before we jump to current time. I was shocked to see hair gel, vans, documentaries, phones, tv's etc and set in a modern world, where is started out in the fae realm not set in modern. It confused the heck out of me so there was lack of world building there. I think the author was potentially trying to go for a City of Bones kind of feel?

There are quite a few grammar & spelling mistakes throughout and a lot of repetatory words (ex - use of baby over and over again in the 1st chapter). I felt as though I was BETA reading a first draft so I was quite surprised by this rather than reading a finished product.

Because it was novella we didn't really get to see much of Anya & Ryn's love story and getting to know each other along with a whole lot of character development unfortunately. But I did really enjoy their banter and humor between them.

Great story concept and you can tell the author has creative ideas with potential, but it really needs tidying/ buttoning up in terms of editing. I will likely not be continuing the series because of this.

A fae mother sacrifices herself so her son can be free in the mortal world. There, he feels an instant connection with a baker. After months together, Anya is taken and Ryn has to return to the fae world he was never supposed to return to.

Tropes: hidden identity, soulmates

This book is a solid 3/5. The plot was captivating, the pacing was perfect, and the world building was gradual. However, I wish the relationship between Anya and Ryn was given more detail and importance to the story. Anya talks about how much time they spent together and how close they got, but we don't get to se any of that happening. I'd love to see them slowly fall in love as they learn more about each other. There's also a four month time jump where they are all of a sudden an official couple. If felt like the author wanted the relationship established to then add the plot, rather than letting the plot develop alongside the relationship. The fantasy elements were done well, but I wish the reveals were more gradual rather than info dumped. For examples, Anya could've noticed little nuances about Ryn and Theo that weren't exactly human, then it could've been revealed. Same goes for the Fae world; when Anya is taken there with Theo, she's not concerned that she's in a mythical world at all.

Overall, the book was enjoyable, but I wish there was more detail.

Thanks NetGalley for the free ARC. This was a quick and easy Novella. It was just enough to make me interested in more. I’d definitely read a full length book based on this!

Thank you for sending an ARC of the book, the forgotten prince. This is my honest review.

As a fan of fantasy novellas, i thought this was well executed. I also thought this could potentially be considered "cozy" fantasy for those who like a lower stakes vibe. This did follow some pretty popular storyline tropes, but it honestly didn't detract from my enjoyment. I felt like there was enough original aspects to really make this worth the read. I also very much enjoyed the characters, especially Aleryn.

Appreciation to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for access to this digital ARC in return for an honest review.

So pretend that this book doesn't feel like a middle school rough draft with endless grammatical mistakes, misspellings, and weird phrasing. The prologue is an emotional, dramatic start that then becomes a tired romance between a baker and a perfect, blue collar "man". Neither main character is particularly unique or giving main character energy. When the action starts, we finally see hints of Anya having a personality, but her best friend Nat is honestly the only character with any oomph. From there, the world building and entanglement of the mortal and fae realms is underdeveloped. The ending was unsurprising, cliched, and left me with the feeling very little had happened in the story itself. I don't see myself picking up the sequel.

thank you to the author + netgalley for the chance to read and review!

This book was definitely a cozy atmosphere and I loved the concept - a runaway, “forgotten” prince living in the mortal world and finding his mate, an average human who runs a bakery with her best friend.

The concept was very good, I just think it felt a bit rushed and repetitive throughout the story. This was definitely an “insta-love” type of connection and randomly fast forwarded 4 months into the relationship and I felt like I missed any sort of actual connection/progression being built.

I am intrigued by the storyline and what will happen in the next book as it does leave on a bit of a cliffhanger!

The prologue really got my attention. You have a mom running for her life with her infant son. You have fae and magic too…, then it becomes mundane and cozy in the mortal realm. The infant from the prologue is a forgotten fae prince living in the mortal realm doing mundane mortal things. He falls for a girl and she’s inevitably used as bait. The general plot ideas are good but the execution is lacking. The book is full of grammatical errors, repetition, and even continuity errors. It felt more like an unrevised first draft.

I honestly did not like this at all. In a world of Cruel Princes and any other faerie romance book, it seems very easy to repeat plots, characters, and world building in just a different font.

thank you for this opportunity!
i want to read the next book right now because i need to know more about the story.
i feel like the whole book was too simple; it was a very quick read but simple at the same time.
you can read the full review on my Goodreads!

This book was okay. The writing was not that great and it definitely needed more editing. And I was not a huge fan of the main characters.

I still read it all the way through, and I wouldn't say it was a terrible read. It was ok! The prologue set the story up beautifully, but everything else felt bland afterwards. The ending felt rather rushed too.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGallery for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was really excited going into this book because I’m a sucker for fantasy and with this being a Novella, I thought I was going to get sucked into an epic fantasy series with the way the plot was described. Man, was I wrong.
The story is about Aleryn ‘Ryn’ who is the forgotten Prince of the fae realm. It opens with his mom running for her life with him in her arms before he was even a year old. Flash forward decades later and you get the viewpoint of Anya, a sweet, kind, too naive for her own good baker. When her and Ryn meet, you can tell they have some sort of connection but nothing feels properly developed. At times the story feels jumbled together and rushed. The characters don’t have any qualities or depth that make you relate or care for them in any way.
And the cliffhanger ending wasn’t enough to make me itch for the next book. Which, mind you, this novella was released in April of 2023 and no other story for this series has been brought up or released. So you’re kind’ve just left hanging.
If this novella was released as an actual novel, I’d be more hyped about it. Then the author could’ve released a different novella that focused more on what happened in the prologue with Aleryns mother that gave us an even deeper backstory. This just wasn’t for me.

On top of all that, with the repetition and god awful grammatical errors, you’d think this was a first draft. I understand that ARC’s usually haven’t been edited yet but a simple once over of the story would’ve helped catch so many mistakes.

"The Forgotten Prince" promises an intriguing tale of mystery and magic but unfortunately falls short in several key areas. While the premise holds allure, the execution lacks polish.

First and foremost, the writing style is marred by superfluous repetition, grammatical issues, and continuity errors that detract from the reading experience. These niggles persist throughout, which makes the overall piece feel more like a draft than a finished product.

Despite these problems, "The Forgotten Prince" has its moments. The cosy atmosphere it evokes is enjoyable, and the story, despite its flaws, remains engaging.

With substantial editing, plus more attention to character development and world-building, this could have been a much stronger book. It is clear the author has a creative vision, and with some refinement, future works could certainly realise that potential.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley, for gifting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't realize this was a novella before going into it so I thought initially it was ridiculously fast paced. However, when I did realize, I understood the reason for the pacing. It was a very cute and fast read and the ambiance of the world really sucks you in. I cannot wait to see where the rest of the series goes with this.

I really wanted to love this book! The cover is beautiful, and the title is well chosen. I loved the beginning of the story, which was his mother's backstory. It was heartfelt, well developed and interesting.

But when the book delved into the real world where Anya was running her bakery, I forgot I was reading about a prince. This is where the story lagged, and though I can appreciate what the author was doing by connecting the world of fae with the modern world, I felt there was too much time spent there and there's a disconnect from the heart of the story. But the remainder of the book when they were returning to the world of fae was truly enjoyable, fast paced and full of adventure! If the middle of the book resembled the begining and end of the book, and if their time in the fae world was expanded upon with some more detailed world building, I would have given it 5 stars! I also would have liked to have seen the characters fleshed out a bit more.

But I hate to sound critical of anyone's works because writing a book is hard! I know when a lot of your heart and soul goes into your story, it can feel personal when there's critical remarks about it. So I hope this honest review isn't perceived as an insult, but is just one person's opinion on how it can be improved!

Die Novella „The Forgotten Prince“ gehört zur „Thread of Fate Series“ von Akira Varma und umfasst 137 Seiten.
Die Geschichte wirkte auf mich leider insgesamt sehr gehetzt. Der Kürze des Buches geschuldet war weder viel Platz um die Figuren besonders gut kennenzulernen, geschweige denn lieb zu gewinnen, noch für eine detailreiche Erzählung an sich. Alle Charaktere blieben für mich ziemlich blass und unsympathisch. Das Tempo ist sehr hoch, so dass es zwar keine unnötigen Längen gibt, aber mein Interesse am Verlauf der Geschichte konnte leider nicht geweckt werden. Das Buch endet mit einem Cliffhanger, aber ich glaube nicht, dass ich die Reihe weiter verfolgen werde.