THE TWO HUNGERS OF PRINCE FIERRE is a compelling romantasy that cuts close to the bone with its exploration of eating disorders.

The setting is Scottish inspired, with rugged hills, misty isles, and a bustling capital. I liked that Fierre's journey took him across multiple different places to show off more of this world. It was a nicely drawn setting and one that followed through into the rest of the world building with a lot of thought given to how this society functioned in terms of roles and expectations.

This is a book that looks at eating disorders, how they can warp your thinking, and how hard it can be to break out of it. There's the guilt that comes with taking pleasure in food, the thoughts about how you're not thin enough or pretty enough. It was quite hard to read at times, see it all laid out so plainly, so insidiously, but it was ultimately a hopeful tale of breaking those patterns and recovering - and that it doesn't have to be attempted alone. Loved ones will be there along the journey to provide support.

Linked to this discussion is one of beauty standards. It is a beauty standard that leads to Fierre's eating disorder and I liked how the book examined that beauty standards are pushed for an ulterior motive - the motivation of powerful external forces to make you believe there is an obtainable better if you just try is never just for the sake of "beauty" alone. It is about power and control (here in an overt political way rather than over wallets and purchasing power.)

The counterpoint to these discussions is the romance. It is one of understanding and support in opposition to the rigid controls on Fierre. There are some highly charged moments (the ritual bathing stands out early on) as they both try to ignore their feelings (and in Fierre's case, cope with it badly.)

The book is a standalone, with Fierre and Aiven's story coming to a close, but it feels like there is space for more tales in this world - the ambassadors and the healers in particular feel like they have tales to tell.

The romance was sweet - friends to lovers, which I always like, and it was really mostly about an eating disorder, done from an interesting angle: rather than societal norms writ-large, there's pressure on Fierre in particular because of his role as prince and some religious traditions/expectations.
There was also something about the writing and pacing that didn't quite work for me and some stuff that felt repetitive or overdone. I think a lot of people would love this though: a queer romantasy about a prince and his protective commoner best friend.

(3.25 stars) This is a slow burn, mutual pining, childhood friends to lovers romance surrounded mostly by some extremely unsavory court politics and abuse. The main plot revolves around Prince Fierre and the familial/religious/political creation and reinforcement of his eating disorder. His disorder is depicted with care, though the resolution felt superficial. Ultimately, I felt like the plot was pulled in too many directions and the tone was a bit darker than expected in some aspects (the "favors") while too shallow to really dig into any one thing (misogyny, classism, sexual violence) in a satisfying way. But the characters were well crafted and I was really drawn into their lives and perspective with some great line writing. I will definitely be interested in reading more from the author in the future.

(This was a review of a free advanced review copy. Thanks to Solaris, Darcy Ash, and NetGalley for that privilege!)

The writing itself is decent, especially for a debut, but the world-building felt lacking. I don’t usually expect deeply intricate world-building in shorter fantasy romance novels, but in this case, a stronger foundation was needed to support the weight of the book’s heavier themes. Without the scenes depicting assault and disordered eating, there wouldn’t be much substance to the plot. Additionally, the resolution of these difficult topics felt unconvincing—if a story is going to introduce such intense subject matter, it needs to invest the time and care required to address it meaningfully. By the end, I was left without a real sense of closure or purpose; it read more like a string of tragedies rather than a narrative where the prince MMC’s suffering contributed to a greater thematic or character-driven arc.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This book was something else. It is a queer romantasy with a scottish setting that deals with some heavy topics.
I highly recommend reading the trigger warnings before starting the book.

The world building is done slowly throughout the book and the it is moving rather quickly.
It does sometimes get confusing because it has a few plotholes and the ending comes surprisingly fast and leaves you with questions.

The Story follows Prince Feirre which was just appointed as the ruler of Eilean-Oir who is in love with his childhood best friend, which is a former farmer. Feirre also immediately appointed him as his right hand once he became a ruler.
Overall the book is rather heavy with the MMC having an eating disorder, which is approved by his doctor and him having to give out sexual favours to his Royal Appointments ( i don't get why they are called like that) which most of the time are abusive.

All this time Aiven, Feirre's best friend and now right hand has to watch how Feirre suffers with starving himself and how he is treated by the Royal appointment. At first he doesn't even realize he is in love with him even though the pining is so obvious.
Overall the book is really driven with the topic of the eating disorder and Feirre not realizing that is what is making him sick while being put down all the time and being belittled by his Royal Appointments even though he is rather smart and wants whats best for his people.

The book does have a happily ver after.

Overall i don't know what to think of this book. The story in itself was interesting especially how your mind works in the full throes of going through an eating disorder and what it does to you.
There is definitely potential for this story if you work out all the plotholes and look at the world bulding again.

I really wanted to love The Two Hungers of Prince Fierre, and based on the comps I thought that it would be exactly my kind of book. But unfortunately, it wasn’t.
First up, I loved the prose and the story flowed well as I was reading – I had no problems finishing the text, and would definitely give this author another try based on the language.
However, for me there were some glaring issues with the plot and worldbuilding. Fierre as Prince Regent was supposed to be at the top of the hierarchy, and the way the lairds used him for sex that either was dubcon or outright rape worked for me. To me, that was a complete reversal of the power balance and I can’t see how this as a system would have worked for any amount of time, with the supposed ruler effectively becoming a victim.
The second aspect was the forced starvation of the prince – I thought that his own body image and his loathing of his own looks was shown well. As someone who grew up in a decade where a waifish silhouette was held up as the beauty standard to aspire to, and having since had to work hard at accepting my own body, Fierre’s obsession with thinness struck close to home. What didn’t work for me is how his starvation was seen as a mysterious illness - Aiven the farm boy should surely have caught on to what was ailing the prince – and also how relatively easily the word of a village healer heralded Fierre’s convalescence. It felt like the diagnosis was too hard won, and the cure to easily attained.
If you’re looking to pick this up, definitely pay close attention to the trigger warnings as the synopsis glosses over these. I won’t be publishing a review on other platforms.

Thank you Author and Rebellion for approving my ARC request, and Netgalley for providing it. (I apologize for the mix up) Happy Publishing!!

With a heavy heart, I pronounce this one of the toughest book I’ve read since Poppy War. I had many triggers when I read the book. I blame myself not to take the warnings seriously haha. At first, I thought it would be like song of Achilles because I had the same feeling like when I read them but I was wrong.

When the writers wrote this book is about trauma journey, they are not kidding. Most of the people in the king court are red flags (besides our 2 main character ofc). My rating should be around 4-4.5⭐️ the book was okay, was not a fan of a few mc’s decision and the inner monologues but yeah.. let’s just say things would have been different if the mc’s response was not as it were. But he was sick so I shouldn’t be so harsh (sorry I just frustrated that I can’t help him)

BUT THE DIALOGUE DAYUMM!!
“You were always like the damned sun, hot enough to fry me.. give me your heat, will you?” with pleasure, your honour☺️

“I’ll be with you every step of the way.. and every canter”

“I’ll let the demon take me, so you can walk free”

[stop here if you don’t want spoilers]




Being the king with no power certainly had its horrors. Their perception of a king is the definition of nightmare. The politic plot is not my thing but the highlight is the journey of healing and I’m so glad that Fierre have someone like Aiven and I always prays for their happiness.

“He’s the Sky to me in more ways than one. When I look ahead, he fills the whole horizon.” My favorite line in this book.

While not for me, this is a perfect fit for readers who crave a heartwarming, queer romance with a strong focus on self-love, healing, and body positivity, set in a richly imagined fantasy world with a dash of Scottish flair.

DNF at 42%.

This is more a reflection of me than the story. The historical/fantasy based Scottish world was enjoyable, and the premise was interesting. The idea of the social pressure on appearance, and the gender flip of the expectation of male royalty needing to attain and maintain physical perfection made me think a bit more critically about gendered expectations in society. The court system and characters were well set up for a compelling political intrigue.

The unfortunate impact of a well written and believable pressure made the body image part of this uncomfortable enough that this was not something that I could finish.

The Two Hungers of Prince Fierre is a new queer romantasy that deals with some heavy topics. It might not be a good fit for everyone (please read the content warnings before starting) but I enjoyed it and thought the romance was sweet.

The world-building is sprinkled slowly throughout the book. This helped make the pacing feel quick even without an action-filled plot. The novel is set in Eilean-òir, a queer normative realm that doesn't have magic and is based loosely on historical Scotland.

The story begins with Fierre, on the verge of officially becoming the Prince Regent due to his father's worsening health. Their kingdom places extremely high beauty expectations on its royals. The pressure to conform to those standards and stay unreasonably thin is clearly on Fierre's mind at all times and causes a lot of insecurity and body dysmorphia. He's essentially being forced to starve by his realm's religious and political elites who command what someone in his position should look like.

The second POV we get is Fierre's most loyal friend, Aiven. Aiven sees the pressure that their society is putting on Fierre and tries his best to support his beloved friend.

Fierre and Aiven have a tender relationship that I became enamored with very quickly. They grew up as childhood best friends and have remained close despite their class differences (Aiven is the son of farmers). They have so many touching moments. The book was at its best when it focused on these two! If you love a romance filled with oodles of yearning and healthy doses of jealousy, hurt/comfort, and angst, then you may love this. As someone who loves the "angst with a happy ending" and "mutual pining" tropes, I was enthralled! 

Their relationship doesn't come easy though. Fierre uses casual sex with other men as a distraction from his hunger. There is no romance or any feelings between Fierre and these other men. These sexual relationships are political and also a tradition among high society men in their kingdom. They are also acts of self-destruction for Fierre, who uses these experiences to punish himself for - what he sees as - failures to live up to his kingdom's expectations.

I want to be clear: This book is largely about the main character's eating disorder. It is not a subplot or something that can be quickly skipped over. It is the focus of much of the book. If this could be triggering to you, you should skip this book.

The Two Hungers of Prince Fierre is about the dangers of unrealistic beauty standards and the harm that they cause. It's also about healing, finding strength in love, and challenging harmful beliefs and practices. I enjoyed reading this and I think that others who love character-focused romantasy may too.

3 stars and my thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

I said it before with The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky and I'll say it again with this: we should have more books about men and boys dealing with eating disorders and the recovery from such.

There's not a lot of information on the author on Goodreads, so I don't know or need to know their experience with disordered eating, but I do see that the issue was handled with care in the story. Fierre needed a kick in the ass to get it started, but I do wish that we were given a more forceful main character. I also wish we could have settled on a more real life place instead of a "Scottish inspired" world. It felt unfinished and disjointed.

I did truly love the love between him and Aiven, but I wish it didn't feel so rushed. It felt like we were jumping from point to point with little pausing; and Aiven went from best friend to right hand man to star of the sky to lover to husband while also, for some reason, enforcer of the new status quo? Idk.

There are two extremes to this book that never quite find a balance, which I found frustrating because the prose was good and the concept was interesting.

On one extreme is a sweet fantasy romance between Fierre, a thoughtful prince preparing to rule, and his childhood friend, Aiven, a steady, kind farmer-turned-minister. When they learn to trust each other and work together, they are brave enough to face any challenge.

On the other extreme feels more like a literary fiction of a young man who sits at the center of power but is exploited by those who are poised to serve him due to traditions that were established just two generations before. He is trained from a young age to starve himself as much as possible and to purge himself whenever he eats so much as a sweet pastry. He sleeps with high ranking Lairds at his court out of requirement of offering political favor, not out of enthusiastic desire to do so. And those Lairds regard him with sadistic animosity for his compliance. Every thought and action outside of his relationship with Aiven is controlled by a handful of men. There is a parallel to explore about the exploitation of women in society throughout history, but it doesn't go that deep here.

While the situation in itself is dire enough to propel the story forward, so much time is dedicated to these various forms of suffering, that it made for a difficult read. Chapter 10 is especially painful and definitely reads more as a dive into psychological trauma reinforced by insidious social norms than a romance novel. I happened to be reading The Vegetarian by Han Kang at the same time as that chapter and while both gave me the same unsettled feeling of exploring disturbing patriarchal behavior. However, unlike The Vegetarian, this particular book is also framed as a romance and has to set you on that lighter path in the latter end of the story. It feels too unbalanced for me.

Too much of the story is dedicated to the grim extreme. It gets to the point that when Fierre and Aiven change their outlook and seek to change society, I felt too exhausted and hurt to feel happy for them. I should have found Fierre a compelling protagonist, but he shuffles off a great deal of his trauma in days in what would take anyone else years for the sake of resolving the story. I should have found Aiven and his unwavering love and loyalty to Fierre endearing, but I was so angry at him. Aiven served as a minister at Fierre's side for years and is described as smart and competent and knowing all that goes on to run the country, yet he seems largely unaware and complacent of the political corruption surrounding and manipulating Fierre for years. Even when he is doing what he can to set things right, Aiven often resorts to violence instead of relying on his supposed political savvy, nearly killing a man more than once, yet it is framed as him being protective.

In the end, I did not enjoy this story. The prose made for an easy reading experience, but the story itself left me feeling more disturbed than anything.

Thanks to NetGalley and Solaris for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Please keep in mind the following content warning: Eating Disorder, Sexual Content, Sexual Assault, Vomit, Violence, Emotional Abuse

This book was a deeply emotional experience, and I really enjoyed it, except for a few minor issues. Despite being a difficult book to go through and often depressing, there was always a glimmer of hope, which is what kept me reading. At first, I wasn't sure if I would finish the book due to how dark it started but I'm glad I did. However, if any of the content mentioned before is heavily triggering for you, I recommend putting this book down. Fierre's eating disorder is an important plot point of this book and it gets pretty graphic.

Although the portrayal of EDs has changed so much throughout the years, they still get misrepresented most of the time. I have grown up with media that accuses people with ED to be narcissistic and arrogant, often being the bully with a dark secret and I'm glad that this book steered away from these stereotypes. Fierre cares a lot, sometimes too much and many times it only makes him feel guilty for struggling with food. Darcy Ash does a great job at showing the complexities of this disorder but also critiques the ways society enables unhealthy habits and body image.

However, I felt a bit disappointed with the plot. Some plot points were introduced a bit too late and that only caused the resolution to feel rushed. The antagonists were defeated a bit too easily and I even forgot why they were threatening in the first place. Thankfully, I'm more of a character-focused reader so although it did bother me a bit toward the end, the characters of Fierre and Aiven were strong enough that my rating didn't suffer that much.

This book is a great read for people who care more about the characters than the plot, people who enjoy the hurt/comfort trope, and dark books with a glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel.

I’m 3-starting this one because the writing style is SO GOOD. Like, seriously.

I probably wouldn’t have been able to finish this one if the writing hadn’t been so engaging.

It comes down to the characters. I feel like both the characters AND the setting is supposed to be unlikable, but I was looking for REDEMPTION, GROWTH, CHANGE. And we do get change, but it’s so friggin abrupt. I was left wanting…so much more.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my arc!

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Somewhere, underneath the startlingly saccharine book about eating disorders and agency, are the bones of a wonderful story. There must be, as once I started reading I couldn't stop. Unfortunately the book doesn't seem to know what it wants to be, and really struggles to make its point because of it. So yes, I couldn't put the book down, but the phrase, "What the hell?" was my mantra for the duration of the read.

At the center of the story are Prince Fierre and Aiven, his best friend and right hand man. Prince Fierre is the newly appointed ruler of the land of Eilean-oir, a pseudo-Scottish country that you'll never get a good grasp on, complete with a vaguely hand-wavy religion that you'll never be taught. As the Prince, Fierre is expected to be the epitome of beauty and excellence. Not a hair out of place, and not a single bit of body fat. Because of this, he's developed a doctor-approved eating disorder that has him absolutely terrified of overeating and not being good enough. He is also expected to give out sexual favours to the the The Three Stooges, a trio of one-note villains who snatch for power all while snatching at the hem of Fierre's dress (what the hell is an enserre? Google didn't help at all, seems like he's prancing around in togas. Is that Scottish?). Also, his clan tartan is pink because we're nothing if not incredibly on the nose in Eilean-oir. Meet our god-twink Fierre, saviour of the common man.

All the while Aiven, who seems to only now be realizing he's in love with Fierre despite VERY obviously being in love with Fierre, has been promoted to Fierre's advisor despite being raised a simple farm boy. This is where the biggest issue with the novel sets in; while Fierre is dealing with an eating disorder and his chapters are filled with restriction, purging, and sexual assault, Aiven's are all about their budding romance that the novel seems to think is slow burn despite happening over the course of, what, five chapters? It's absolutely jarring to read chapters about Fierre being so weak and hungry that he keeps losing consciousness and may DIE and then being swung into a loss of virginity scene where NO one gets prepped despite everyone's bits being absolutely monstrous. While the scenes of coercion paint a picture of the extremes Fierre has to go to in order to make his lairds happy, the ones with his actual lover seem thrown in because...I don't know, that's how we sell romance novels now, I guess.

The book really, really wants to be read as high fantasy with lofty worldbuilding, but fails to tell you what everything actually is. It constantly slips in made up phrases, plants, trees, foods, etc, but never explains what these things are or why they matter. It's kind of like ordering a bowl of soup just to find a wood screw on your spoon: how the hell did this get here? Why is this happening? (This happened to me once). They mention their religion often, but never explain it--it seems like it's pseudo Christianity, but who knows? The prince is supposed to represent the image of god, but I don't remember Christ being a rockin' hot twenty-six year old in a miniskirt. And then there's the dilemma of how Fierre is cured if his eating disorder; some country doctors tell him he's being starved, Aiven tells him he's beautiful no matter his size, and BOOM scones for breakfast and a little revolution for lunch. It's too easy and makes everything feel anticlimactic. But hey, Fierre is healed now, and can go on to solve misogyny (which he does with a speech at the end despite there never being any real demonstrations of how women struggle other than a monologue about it towards the beginning).

I feel awful dunking on the book because I think there's something worth picking at here, a thread to follow to something really great. What this book needs is a strong beta reader to say, "I'm about to tear this apart because I love you and I think it can be truly amazing." I'd love to read more of the author's works, I just...feel like this needed a bit more time in the oven before being turned over to the public.

4.5 stars rounded down.

Aptly named, this book focuses heavily on hunger and eating disorders. One of the main characters, Fierre, is heir to a kingdom who's rulers are meant to be the divine given flesh. For Fierre, this means looking the part of a delicate deer and near-starving himself to remain thin and elegant and holy. The other main character, Aivan, is his best friend and the only person close to Fierre who seems to notice and care how unhealthily thin Fierre really is. This is a book that really explores eating disorders and how difficult it can be to break out of them, especially when society (or in this case your whole kingdom) seem to be piling expectations upon you.

I will not lie, this is a difficult book. It tackles some very hard concepts and does not pull any punches.
It's rare that fantasy romance books push me so close to discomfort, but there were moments reading this that made me sick to my stomach. At the same time, I think there are subjects that if you portray them honestly will always be difficult to read and this felt distressingly honest. There are moments when Fierre will stop a train of thought to turn and hope that no one is looking at the fat on his stomach and it will hit me again how pervasive, how constant these thoughts are, and it hurts.

I personally thought that the extra layer of Fierre being alone in these expectations of extreme slimness added some interesting nuance. A lot of people place higher expectations on themselves than they do on others, for example finding your own body shape beautiful on someone else, but hating it on yourself. But for Fierre, he truly is the only one who must perform to these standards.

The ending was a relief, if perhaps a bit naive or simple feeling. Though truthfully, if it had been more difficult it might have made the book too much to bear. I know things are rarely that simple in real life, but that is also why books exist - sometimes we just want to know that there is a path where everyone wins.

I will say this is very much a book that tries to wrap everything up with a perfect little bow at the end. Again, I didn't particularly mind that though after how stressful it was to read the beginning.

An aspect that I know other reviews have had conflicted feelings on is the way that Fierre is expected to offer his body to the lords of the kingdom as a reward to them. I read this both as another heavy burden on Fierre and one of the ways that he took back a measure of control. While it is obviously a complicated situation consent wise, I do think that Fierre enjoyed/wanted these encounters (this is especially obvious later in the book because he acts identically with Aivan). While Fierre's sexual tastes are a bit different than you might expect from a typical fantasy romance, I don't think they detracted from the book. That said, if you don't like to read about rough sex, this is probably not the book for you.

Very minor things that bothered me disproportionately and aren't actually that big of problems
- I do not know if the author understands moons. Supposedly a sliver of moon "fattens" to a full moon over the course of a night
- This fantasy world has a large coal mine but no steam engines. Why are they mining coal? What are they doing with it in such large quantities? Also they understand that coal is bad for the environment but idk how because it took us a very long time to figure that out and their world has none of the normal coal problems (smog, acid rain, etc)

I'm not sure I can say that I enjoyed this book because the first half was very hard for me to read, but I can say that it is a very well-written book. And that said, I think I would hesitate to recommend it to anyone

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an eARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so conflicting for me! I was taken in by the interesting world building and the pretty prose, and enthralled by the romance. As a person who has had an eating disorder in the past, I really related to a lot of Fierre’s experience with it. I felt like the main issue I had with this book was how quickly he recovered. It felt like as soon as he had the knowledge he needed, all the years’ worth of learned thoughts and behaviors disappeared. He didn’t seem to struggle once he found out that he should be eating and I felt like that wasn’t really truthful to many peoples’ experiences with restrictive eating disorders. I loved the characters, the world was intriguing and the romance was so cute! I was even okay with the slight excess of spicy scenes, until it seemed like these scenes were at the detriment of the story. I just would have preferred to see more inner growth from Fierre. Because he had a lot of growth but I felt like it went from 0-100 real fast. I would have liked to see some more inner turmoil leading up to his growth. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this book!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with the eARC, but it did not affect my review in any way!

This was . . . a read. This might be understood by a select few who understand the chaos that is Tiktok, but the theme song that I would give this book is the Cupcake edit of Poker Face by Lady Gaga because my god there was so much 🍆

The story follows two POVs: the titular character, Prince Fierre; and his Master of Compliance and best friend, Aiven. This book is being described as a friends to lovers kind of romance, but it was more like lusty boys who happen to be friends (if you count having one of them literally being the boss of the other) to lovers who took way to long to get into bed with each other. 😬

Fierre just felt so naive the entire I was in his POV. He never questions why he has to starve in the first place other than that his father is making him do it, never questions his so called doctor, and never thinks about whether or not his lairds are plotting against him or to literally get into his pants. His “ah-ha” moment with his eating disorder felt a little easy and he was a bit too immediately accepting in my opinion. Given, I have never been through an eating disorder personally, but I can only imagine that having the strength and ability to accept your eating disorder should come with a bit more . . . I dunno, fight? Like most people don’t realize how bad they are until there is literally an intervention, so for Fierre to just kind of say “ah, okay that makes sense” feels a bit too much of a cop out for me. 🙁

Aiven was a bit more interesting for me. I liked that he was pining for his friend and literal boss, but I feel like the tension between the two could’ve been done a bit more to really sell the whole romance for me because the fact that these two just refuse to admit their tension and feelings for each other. He also just came across the as the stereotypical muscle man coming in to sweep the damsel (in this case, Fierre) off his feet into a happily-ever-after. 🤔

The other thing that I just didn’t understand is why the Prince and King of the land is called Sky and why the positions closest to him have special names. Like, is there a special relationship with the heavens about why it’s like this? Also why is their religion the way that it is? As much as I like being thrown into weird fantasies and made to work for the ending, this didn’t make me work for it so much as it just made me scratch my head more and more. It was also never really explained also why the King and Prince are expected to give out sexual favors in the first place. Like when did it get skewed in their history that they have to give their hole out to the laird who wants a favor from them? I feel like the idea was there and could’ve made this into an incredible book on eating disorders and a man coming into his own after being sexually preyed on his whole life, but instead it just completely missed the mark. 😖

Overall, while the relationship between the two was rather sweet at times, the lairds and their sexual preying on Fierre just gave me the biggest ick I’ve had in reading in a long time. I would like to thank Solaris Books and NetGalley for accepting my request to read this in exchange for an honest review. I wish I could have more positive things to say about this, but it was just too many VIVID descriptions of @n@l sex and the moment with the dagger hilt? 😳

Publication date: January 30

Overall: 1.5/5 ⭐️

TRIGGER WARNING: depictions of disordered eating and purging, body dysmorphia, and parental emotional abuse.

In a Scottish inspired fantasy world, Prince Fierre ascends to the regency due to his father becoming too ill to rule. As he goes on a grand tour of his kingdom, he has to contend with ambitious lairds, being in love with his best friend and the strict fasting regimen required of the kingdom's ruler. As his health also begins to fail, Fierre begins to question his own self worth as well as what it means to be a prince.


This book at first shattered my heart into pieces and then made me smile. The core strengths of the book were our two main characters and the depiction of Fierre's healing process. Fierre and Aiven were both so loveable and their love story was just so sweet. I appreciated that they were unproblematic and there was no unnecessary drama with the development of their relationship. (And thank you Darcy Ash for not indulging in the miscommunication trope!) There are spicy scenes but they definitely serve to advance the romance without crossing into erotica territory. I personally thought they were well done. (and another thank you to Darcy Ash for the lack of cringy dirty talk).

I will not comment on whether or not the depiction of an eating disorder was well done. I have never struggled with an eating disorder so I do not feel qualified to have that discussion. However, I do think that Fierre recovered a little too quickly to be realistic. I will give Ash a pass on this since the book was intended to be a standalone.

As much as I liked this book, I do think that the world building, plot and side characters were lacking. The book could have been truly special if more effort has been put into providing more details of the world and its inhabitants. Outside of Fierre and AIven, everything else just fell a little too flat.

I do think this would make a satisfying quick read for readers who are comfortable with the subject material.

Reviews going live on Goodreads, Fable and Storygraph on 1/24 and tik tok on 1/25

i'd call this mixed. the themes of trying to take care of oneself, beauty standards, and society controlling you are interesting, but the characters are flat and some of the world building didn't really go over. 3 stars. tysm for the arc.