Rating: 3🌈

Prince, Charmed by Duckie Mack has a very strong start on a potentially engaging fantasy romance but several elements ending up making it fall short.

The storyline revolves around an embittered witch who lives on the edge of a forest. Florian once was a young child in the castle and best friend of Prince Malachi. Until he was thrown out into the streets, when he was 13, sick,  and without resources or some place to go. He faced twenty years of fighting homelessness, poverty, and finding himself isolated and a witch in a world that didn’t understand magic.

That’s a good plot and character. Florian has many character traits that make him relatable to the reader and a strong background.

Then Malachi appears, and what could be a terrific romance starts to lose its appeal.  This is a 20 year old separation, a traumatic one and the scene should be emotionally reflective of the situation.  It’s not. They could be coming off a misunderstanding over a bagel choice. It’s that low key.

The rest of the author’s story takes the same approach.  A high drama plot that has little of that in the narrative.  It’s so low angst that even the mystery maladies that affect the Prince are comical. 

The Queen is the final issue here. And I’ll admit that in her behavior she’s a personal flag for me. 

After chucking a hurting, sick 13 year old out of the only home he’d ever had and never following up on him afterwards, what does this person say 20 years later to him. Any apologies? No. Just this . Framed out that she’s feeling better about herself now that she’s sees that her son is determined Florian is staying so as he’s the next King there’s little she can do. 

“For what it’s worth, I really am happy to see you again, Florian. It broke my heart to send you away, but seeing you two together again has mended a tiny piece of that.””

— Prince, Charmed by Duckie Mack

It’s basically oh, you survived being tossed out, suffering homelessness as a sick child. Then poverty and discovering that you are a witch in isolation. We lied about you and no one , except for our son, cared. It ends well, so I can feel better about myself and my despicable actions.  

For me, I’d rather they tossed her out. But no. And it appears Florian gives us his cottage to treat all the castle royals. 

There’s just too much that’s unexplored or left at a one-dimensional element while being a subject that requires a deeper or more detailed explanation. 

On one side a child thrown away, suffering and hardship. The other ? Magical hilarity from parsley and croaking frog noises.  Child abandonment and years of trauma versus instant love and quirky humor.

It’s too incongruous. To work well, imo, this needs more layers and exposition.  Just way more length. 

Read it because you’re a fan of the author. Or reading the series.

Cauldrons and Kisses (8 books):

🔹Love Potions and Moonlight by Kota Quinn

🔹Charmed by Rainbow by Jax Stuart 

🔹Prince, Charmed by Duckie Mack

🔹Enchanted Hearts by Jacey Davis 

🔹Oral Hex: An MM Omegaverse Romance by Salem Jack 

🔹How To Summon A Memory by Morgan Lysand

🔹 Half Past Hex by Toby Wise

🔹 The Trouble With Spells by Raiven Matthews 

Buy link

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.com › Prince-…Prince, Charmed – Mack, Duckie: Kindle Store

Blurb 

Malachi is a prince and next in line for the throne, but as his coronation gets closer, strange things keep happening to him.

Florian grew up in the palace alongside the prince. The two were always together until it was discovered that Florian had magic.

The young witch was torn away from his friend and cast out from the only home he’d known. Despite the turn his life had taken, he has worked hard to build a reputation for helping people.

When Malachi realizes his problems are magical, he seeks out his childhood friend. As Florian works to undo the charms controlling the prince, that bond they once had comes back even stronger than before.

Prince, Charmed is a low angst MM friends to lovers romance. Cauldrons & Kisses is a multi-author series of MM magical standalone stories. Each low angst read will feature a witch finding love.