Runaway Prince Author: May Ridge Title: Runaway Prince Series: None Genre: Paranormal Pairing: M/M Rating: Two Petals On the Author's Website: Hasn't been updated recently: http://may-ridge.squarespace.com/ Summary: On the run from his family and a life he hates, Astin reluctantly stops to rest at a trashy motel for the night. The very last thing he expects is Delaney, a bold, beautiful rentboy—and Astin's mate. Maggie's Review:
I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This story was originally published in LT3's Bad Moon Rising Anthology and I read it there first, but I didn't really enjoy it at the time. I felt that the story lacked depth, the characters--particularly the little brother--were all caricatures rather than real people, and the drama at the end with the step-mother was a little too obvious. Yet, upon reading this story a second time, I realized that while it still wasn't particularly good, I did enjoy it. I couldn't really tell if there were any edits made between the old version and this one. It seems like the overall plot is unchanged, but the story seems to flow better and the step-mother drama doesn't feel nearly so contrived and overly ridiculous and unbelievable. Maybe this story just needed a second read for the details to really set in. It wasn't enough to fix all the issues, but it helped. Astin is on the run, mostly from responsibility, and he stops at a trashy motel for the night so he doesn't fall asleep while driving. The next morning he runs into Delaney, a rentboy working in the room next door and Astin's mate. The logistics of how mating works are a little sketchy, but Delaney's past and the reason he's working as a rentboy work. It's Astin's past that is a stretch to believability. When responsibility returns and we learn more about Astin, that's when the story starts to go south. Whatever edits were completed from the first printing to this one helped greatly and I did like this story, it just needs a touch more work. Maggie's Recommendation: I saw improvements between the first printing and this printing, but it wasn't enough to really make this story believable. It was an okay read and I liked it, but there were still enough issues that I can't recommend this story.
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Magnolia's Reviews
Maggie reviews paranormal and fantasy novels and novellas. She also interviews authors and hosts giveaways. Archives
April 2018
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