Heir Apparent: Winterblade Mafia Book 1

by Margaret Couplet

Blurb and cover coming soon.

Genres: Audiobook, Romance, Fantasy, Gay

219 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 6, 2025

Reviews

[Shannon Boote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did I enjoy Heir Apparent? Yeess? There was something that disconnected me from this story, though. There were no professions of love two seconds after finding a fated mate which was nice. There was supposed to be some angst in Faelyn's "chasing" Damian. But there really wasn't a chase, there were some convenient clues and barely any time committed to an actual chase. The big bad entity they have to fight against seemed convenient as well as how they found out about it. Faelyn seemed super flippant about security after being kidnapped and almost killed. His actions are what put Damian in magic depletion to begin with and made it hard for him to defend himself when the time came. There was no push back on Faelyn's selfishness either. I don't know, there was just something that fell flat for me. The writing in a few places was confusing and required me to go back a reread. It was in those moments where some "twists," if you could call them that, were revealed and made zero sense since there was no lead up. The magic system and the creatures are so loosely explained as well, I as the reader needed more, wanted more. That said, I liked it enough to try the next book in the series.

[G · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5 ⭐️

🔥
Spice/Plot Ratio: 1/5
Kinky: 0
Well written: 3/5

🎧
Narrator: 5/5
Quality: 3/5
Sadly there were a lot of re-recordings without the old parts getting deleted.

Plot:
The fae mafia heir was kidnapped and an unknown thief rescues him kind of by accident. Their encounter left a mark and the soulmate „chase“ begins.

What I liked:
The characters had a lot of charm. They had the opportunity to be very well written. The world building also had a lot of opportunities but sadly neither was fulfilled to a point where I would say it’s what I would have wanted.

What I disliked:
The book started great but sadly rushed after the first quarter. Much unused potential.

Cheating? no
OW/OM? no
POV? dual
HE/HEA? HE

TW: none

[Kristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audio narrated by Nicholas Cain.

Hmmm. I'm not sure what didn't work for me with this, either the prose or the narration, but I often found myself bored or rolling my eyes and some of the wording. The characters came across as somewhat stereotypical and the fated mates concept was a bit cringe in its delivery. But I did listen to the whole thing (just over 5 hours or I would have stopped) and something about the plot grew on me hence the 3 stars rather than 2. This book was free on audible but I don't think I'll bother to add the next in the series to my wishlist to use a credit on it.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. It had potential, but I got annoyed by the epithets.

I hate when characters are known to us, and yet they are said as "the thief" or "the elf." Example: it was Damian's POV, and instead of "Damian/he did blah blah," it was "the thief did blah blah?!" It's your POV, why are you talking in third person and using epithets to describe yourself?

This happened a lot, and even though the plot seemed interesting and I liked the characters, I got too annoyed and had to put it down. Sorry.

[Jenn Hanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent story but needs editing

I like the world building but this book sorely needs an editor. Also the love scene was a little lacking for me. But I do think I’ll keep an eye on upcoming books. I think the author has potential and future books may be better if they’re a little more polished.

[Sara Opel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another amazing book

I love these characters. I am so invested in their lives. And I can't wait for the others to get theirs!

[Noelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had a good premise but badly needs an editor. Endless run-on sentences, simple misspellings like “theri” instead of “their,” using the same words twice in one sentence, etc.

[Monsters_In_My_Dreams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the story has potential 🤔 im curious for book 2 and where the authorwill take it. enjoyed the characters. the ending was kinda rushed though

[MJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 1 - Heir Apparent - 1/18/26 - 3.5 stars

[Chloe (ChloeReadsQueer) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-3,25/5
I listened to the audiobook.

RTC.