Sasha L. Miller

For a story written for writing group event, it is pretty good. Though I wouldn't call it romance. The term dark fantasy is more suitable. It is interesting and well written compared to many over priced commercial works which deliver nothing but typos, grammar mistakes and out of the can sex.
I also find the cover design quite appealing.

Interesting story and world, good characters. But he story just felt unfinished. If Cole's mom (and society) is so picky, how is she going to react to Harlowe's lower status and disfigurement? Where are the two going to go from the ending given their respective levels of stubbiness, society's rules, Cole's higher status, etc.? It was sweet and a nice little read, but left me wanting and with questions.

What started out as a possible fish out of water story with Cenric discovering his heritage soon turns into a story about his rescuer and his attempts to keep the royal family safe from an incursion of outside forces. I found this shift annoying rather than confusing, because, honestly, I wanted to know how Cenric was dealing with a new environment. I wonder if Ms. Miller intended that originally or if the story just took itself in a very different direction from it origin point?

Possibly I’m just not used to reading romance, but it seemed like this was an excerpt from a larger story. It was a reasonably enjoyable nonetheless, albeit a little silly, which was possibly due to the (apparent) missing context and possibly just because of the kind of story it is.

Content warnings: implied sibling incest