This book could not have come at a more perfect time for me, and I am so happy to say that it was such a fun read.
At face value, I thought this book was going to be a lighthearted trip into a fantasy land with a prince charming and his barista, and while it was those things, it was also so much more.
This story follows Prince Kalle, a kind, compassionate, and determined royal who sets out to look for his missing brother. Along the way, he bumps into Justice, a fiery barista with trust issues, but who also sees a familiarity and yearning in Kalle that has them both questioning themselves from the start. They embark on a journey of awakening in more ways than one, and it makes for a beautiful and, at times, quite emotional story. Kalle can also talk to animals, and I have to admit, it was one of the highlights of this book for me. The humor was very much my style.
This book is part of the Runaway Prince Hotel series, though each is standalone and I hadn't read the prior ones but I don't think that hindered my experience at all. By the 30% mark, I was already tearing up at the connection forming between Kalle and Justice because, despite things moving quickly, it felt shockingly real. There is very little more I can say about the context of this connection without spoilers, but when this book releases, I’ll come back to edit a little extra at the bottom with spoilers to highlight some of my favorite parts.
A little thing I want to add, something I know only a few people will appreciate, is that the dynamic between Kalle and Justice feels like someone bottled up the sweet and tender moments of Merlin and Arthur’s relationship from the TV show Merlin and made an entire book out of it. I’ve been looking for that vibe again for a long time, and I’m glad I finally found it. Needless to say, I will be going back and reading the rest of the books in this series now.
This book also gets rather spicy, which I am very much a fan of overall though I do think a couple of the earlier moments were a little ill-timed but it didn't change my reading experience at all and something that gets revealed later in the book made me reflect on those scenes and they didn't bother me as much anymore.
If your vibe is low-angst, cozy firesides and log cabins, with a sprinkle of the close-proximity trope thrown in, I cannot recommend this book enough. It was sweet, heartfelt, and overall very enjoyable.
I received a copy of this book from Gay Romance Reviews, and this is my honest review.