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The Dented Crown
Two kingdoms. Two princes. One secret to break them, or to bind them. When a rowboat washes up on the riverbank, Prince Malires puts his kingdom’s security first. The dead man lying in the boat can’t answer many questions, but the seriously injured survivor might be able to give Malires some details about what happened in the hostile kingdom to the north. If, that is, the young man ever wakes up. Malires knows who the survivor Prince Aleric, youngest son of the King of Gerelen. He’s the most renowned warrior that Gerelen has ever known, and Malires has barely survived their previous encounters. Only his need to understand why Gerelen suddenly stopped communicating with the outside world keeps him from taking advantage of the situation and taking out this threat to his kingdom. It has nothing to do with the sudden discovery of how beautiful Aleric is. Unfortunately for Malires, when Aleric does awaken he has no memory of who he is or even of his own kingdom. The court physicians insist that Aleric’s memories must return naturally, or else they might be lost forever. While both men recognize the urgent need for answers, they cannot fight their attraction for one another. Aleric comes to feel just as defensive of Malires’ kingdom as he once did of his own. When the truth comes out, will love conquer all, or will misunderstanding and pride drive Aleric to a desperate undertaking?
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 12, 2017
3 people are currently reading
54 people want to read
About the author
J.V. Speyer
32 books105 followersJ J. V. Speyer writes LGBTQ+ romance novels heavily flavored with suspense, mystery, and adventure. She has lived in upstate New York and rural Catalonia before making the greater Boston, Massachusetts area her permanent home. She currently lives just south of Boston in a house old enough to remember when her town was a tavern community with a farming problem.
J. V. finds most of her inspiration from music. Her tastes run the gamut from traditional to industrial and back again. When not writing she is a baseball fan, a hockey mom, and a devotee of all things weird and creepy about New England.
J. V. finds most of her inspiration from music. Her tastes run the gamut from traditional to industrial and back again. When not writing she is a baseball fan, a hockey mom, and a devotee of all things weird and creepy about New England.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 20, 2019
Maliers and Sokol/Aleric! Where do you start. But I suppose the 5 stars is a bit of a give away. Two Royal princes are put together after one of them escapes an unknown horror in neighbouring keep ngdom. He can not without remember who he is, but the other does and holds back saying who is. Sworn enemies who have met many times on battlefield. The story charts their coming together, falling in love.
This book grabbed me and I found it hard to let it down. This was one those frustratingly great reads where you find it hard to stop reading, wanting to know what was around the next corner but also knowing that you did not want it to end. And when the end did come, satisfaction at how the author brought the story to the end, but deep emptiness as the journey ends. It was More than well worth the read.
The main two characters are great, the passion, love, fear, honesty, trust (well on sokols side until the end) and the secondary characters also add value. Glad I downloaded as a freebie in exchange for a review.
This book grabbed me and I found it hard to let it down. This was one those frustratingly great reads where you find it hard to stop reading, wanting to know what was around the next corner but also knowing that you did not want it to end. And when the end did come, satisfaction at how the author brought the story to the end, but deep emptiness as the journey ends. It was More than well worth the read.
The main two characters are great, the passion, love, fear, honesty, trust (well on sokols side until the end) and the secondary characters also add value. Glad I downloaded as a freebie in exchange for a review.
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October 11, 2017A Joyfully Jay review.
DNF
To begin, I only read this book to 25%, and then had to put it down. In the end, I decided to not finish the book rather than continuing to read. It’s not something I like doing, but in this case, I just couldn’t keep reading.
Okay, so reading that blurb, I was intrigued and really looking forward to this book. I love fantasy stories, and two men who shouldn’t be together but can’t help themselves is something I usually enjoy. I was a little wary about the amnesia aspect, but I was excited to try this story. Unfortunately, right from the start, the book left a lot to be desired.
Read Kris’ review in its entirety here.
DNF
To begin, I only read this book to 25%, and then had to put it down. In the end, I decided to not finish the book rather than continuing to read. It’s not something I like doing, but in this case, I just couldn’t keep reading.
Okay, so reading that blurb, I was intrigued and really looking forward to this book. I love fantasy stories, and two men who shouldn’t be together but can’t help themselves is something I usually enjoy. I was a little wary about the amnesia aspect, but I was excited to try this story. Unfortunately, right from the start, the book left a lot to be desired.
Read Kris’ review in its entirety here.
December 7, 2020
3.5 stars rounded up.
Overall, I did enoy this story of two princes, one an amnesiac, falling in love. It’s a rather long story but the writing was good enough to pull me in so I actually got through it fairly quickly. At times it felt like a metaphor for society today, i.e.; Same sex relationships are accepted in Agilos but severely punished in Gerelen. So Malires and Sokol/Aleric were able to grow their relationship and there was also a blooming relationship between Janna and Irlas.
What I didn’t like was the repetitiveness of the writing and the MCs’ in-head dialogue. This lead to more than a few name mix-ups, timeline inconsistencies and other contractictions. It also really itked me everytime Sokol/Aleric was referred to a “the boy” or “the kid”. We are given more that a few contextual bits of information to know that he was somewhere in his mid to late twenties. That constitutes a young man, but absolutely not a “boy” or “kid”.
I found the whole encounter with Divarles to be underwhelming. The reader endures a lengthy buildup to that point and then it’s over in a couple of pages. And while the aftermath is somewhat predictable, I was highly disappointed with the ending. Considering the length of this book, I wanted a more solid HEA. Instead it was more of a HFN. When I got there I kept looking for an epilogue; but, alas, there was none to be found.
Overall, I did enoy this story of two princes, one an amnesiac, falling in love. It’s a rather long story but the writing was good enough to pull me in so I actually got through it fairly quickly. At times it felt like a metaphor for society today, i.e.; Same sex relationships are accepted in Agilos but severely punished in Gerelen. So Malires and Sokol/Aleric were able to grow their relationship and there was also a blooming relationship between Janna and Irlas.
What I didn’t like was the repetitiveness of the writing and the MCs’ in-head dialogue. This lead to more than a few name mix-ups, timeline inconsistencies and other contractictions. It also really itked me everytime Sokol/Aleric was referred to a “the boy” or “the kid”. We are given more that a few contextual bits of information to know that he was somewhere in his mid to late twenties. That constitutes a young man, but absolutely not a “boy” or “kid”.
I found the whole encounter with Divarles to be underwhelming. The reader endures a lengthy buildup to that point and then it’s over in a couple of pages. And while the aftermath is somewhat predictable, I was highly disappointed with the ending. Considering the length of this book, I wanted a more solid HEA. Instead it was more of a HFN. When I got there I kept looking for an epilogue; but, alas, there was none to be found.
October 22, 2019
Review: 2 stars
Well....I finally finished it! I love historicals and after reading the blurb i was expecting a bit like the Captive Prince. At the end, I am sorry to say that, the story is not at all good and I finished it only because i had chosen it for the Bingo challenge!
Malires is the crown prince of Agilos and Aleric is the warrior prince of neighbouring enemy country, Gerelen. Aleric lost his memory in an accident and was found near the borders of Agilos. He was renamed Sokol there and began a new life as the temple guard. Even though Malires knew about Aleric's true identity, he keeps it a secret and instead starts a relationship with Sokol/Aleric. But secrets are revealed, assassination attempts are thwarted and there is black magic at play. In the end Gerelen is saved from a black magician, lovers reunited and all is well in fantasy land.
Thats the story and its nothing like Captive prince. I didnt enjoy the writing, the characters were confusing and the whole plot was over the top sometimes. Irlas, a friendly guard was a man first, later became a woman; I am not sure whether i missed something or ...?! It took days for me to finish this book, a waste of time actually.
I liked the cover picture though.
Well....I finally finished it! I love historicals and after reading the blurb i was expecting a bit like the Captive Prince. At the end, I am sorry to say that, the story is not at all good and I finished it only because i had chosen it for the Bingo challenge!
Malires is the crown prince of Agilos and Aleric is the warrior prince of neighbouring enemy country, Gerelen. Aleric lost his memory in an accident and was found near the borders of Agilos. He was renamed Sokol there and began a new life as the temple guard. Even though Malires knew about Aleric's true identity, he keeps it a secret and instead starts a relationship with Sokol/Aleric. But secrets are revealed, assassination attempts are thwarted and there is black magic at play. In the end Gerelen is saved from a black magician, lovers reunited and all is well in fantasy land.
Thats the story and its nothing like Captive prince. I didnt enjoy the writing, the characters were confusing and the whole plot was over the top sometimes. Irlas, a friendly guard was a man first, later became a woman; I am not sure whether i missed something or ...?! It took days for me to finish this book, a waste of time actually.
I liked the cover picture though.
May 23, 2020
I was really looking forward to this book. The blurb seemed great and I'd heard good things about it. Alas, I'm somewhat disappointed.
The story is good if you can ignore some obvious potholes and questionable actions. Serious suspension of disbelief required.
The way Aleric/Sokol's amnesia is handled makes little sense. He can't be told who he is because it would make him never remember... What?
But he is allowed to freely walk around the city, even become a temple guard so he's always armed and in the presence of royals. A sworn enemy who has defeated and injured the crown prince on multiple occasions allowed to wander freely.
He's from a country where deceit is common but no one thinks he could be pretending not to have his memory so he could harm the royals. The naivety is staggering.
That Malires starts a relationship with him on the basis of good looks also make no sense. Considering their history. I didn't really feel the attraction between them
Overall, this was a good story that I mostly enjoyed after ignoring the obvious holes.
The story is good if you can ignore some obvious potholes and questionable actions. Serious suspension of disbelief required.
The way Aleric/Sokol's amnesia is handled makes little sense. He can't be told who he is because it would make him never remember... What?
But he is allowed to freely walk around the city, even become a temple guard so he's always armed and in the presence of royals. A sworn enemy who has defeated and injured the crown prince on multiple occasions allowed to wander freely.
He's from a country where deceit is common but no one thinks he could be pretending not to have his memory so he could harm the royals. The naivety is staggering.
That Malires starts a relationship with him on the basis of good looks also make no sense. Considering their history. I didn't really feel the attraction between them
Overall, this was a good story that I mostly enjoyed after ignoring the obvious holes.
January 14, 2020
I thoroughly enjoyed this brief visit to the two kingdoms. The story had a load of could have and should have but that introspection was necessary for Aleric and Malires to grow as individuals. Yes, there were some plot holes and the ending was a bit rushed. The secondary characters were wonderful and the plot driven fantasy story was well thought out. I'd like to see a second book to see the rebuilding. A map would have helped a lot too.
October 6, 2017
I bought this book after reading the sample, which had clear, interesting writing. The book following the sample, however was trite, simplistic, and the plot had holes in it.
Points, however, for the intriguing use of magic and escape.
Points, however, for the intriguing use of magic and escape.
June 16, 2019
This book was great. Prince Aleric & Prince Malires's relation was beautiful. The book was well written and well paced. I appreciate that Malires and Aleric didn't fall immediately into bed. I hope more people will read this.
June 20, 2019
This book was okay, but very long. I didn't really feel any connection to the characters, so the length was a drawback for me, and I had to push through it. It was an interesting concept, but the execution was lacking.
January 13, 2018
(Originally reviewed for Love Bytes Reviews.)
Review to follow.
Review to follow.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews