Ellie and the Prince by J. M. Stengl
Fantasy. 348 Pages. 5 Stars
Synopsis:
Don’t miss this stunning Golden Phoenix Award-winning novel!
Serving as Controller of Magical Creatures at the illustrious Faraway Castle resort, Ellie Calmer knows her place. She is a servant, and she has no business thinking about handsome Prince Omar, a regular visitor at the resort, much less talking to him!
But then a unicorn on the resort grounds attacks a party of riders, frightening the guests, and a band of young and adventurous nobles decide to hunt it down. Suddenly Ellie needs Omar’s help. She knows something must be wrong to have driven the unicorn to such desperate extremes. Can she and Omar find the unicorn before it’s too late? And will she somehow protect her heart against the irresistible attraction she feels for the kind and gentle prince?
My Review:
At this point, I have read the two prequels to J. M. Stengl’s Faraway Castle book. I enjoyed both and totally fell for The Little Siren. I think, although not necessary, reading these prequels really helped me jump into her world smoothly for this novel. She’s set up a world full of both magical and non-magical, knowledgeable and ignorant characters. She’s combined a fantasy/fairy tale feel with modern toys and attitudes, and I think, mixed them fairly well. There were a few confusing moments as a result of this mashup, but overall, I didn’t find it a hindrance. The story is set on the grounds of a summer resort that gathers a hodgepodge of cultures and people from the surrounding lands. Despite our varied cast, we get very little political or social information about the surrounding kingdoms, which I found kind of disappointing personally. There weren’t very many distinctions other than an “accent” and some physical characteristics to set the different nationalities apart, so I never really remembered who was from where and it never really felt important. Perhaps it isn’t, but I always love digging into the culture of a fantasy world like this.
As for the characters themselves, I loved them! The supporting cast was phenomenal and I have high hopes to see more of them as each of their stories unfold. Omar was delightful. I loved his family and how he interacted with both the children and his parents. I loved seeing things from his perspective occasionally and he had an admirable character. He is a good role model, both for the characters in the book and those reading it. He respected Ellie, her wishes, and her needs. That’s difficult to find in today’s books. Similarly, Ellie made me smile. She was human. She had fears and doubts, but she was strong and lived with integrity. They made a cute couple and, because of their long history, I didn’t have the overwhelming sense of insta-love. The book was filled with mysterious characters, fun characters, and the promise of many more to come. Oh, and oh my gosh, I think Briar was my favorite out of the whole lot of them!!! I can’t wait to see his story!
The plot was well-paced, though not necessarily a page-turner. That said, I did uh read it in a day *blush* without noticing. I saw many nods to the classic Cinderella story, but the story was its own and maintained an original air that I also admired. There were some obvious setups for stories to come, which I am super excited about! (I am positively dying for The Scholar and the Siren, y’all!!!) Many components of the story threaded together very nicely, but I felt like the end was kind of abrupt. I don’t know, it wasn’t an “oh, how convenient” feeling, but rather a slightly disappointed that it wasn’t set up better feeling. The last two chapters were packed with ending that maybe could have been stretched out a little bit to relieve some of the abruptness. That said, I still really, really enjoyed this story from beginning to end and very much look forward to all of the strings left unattended. The book was well-written and I only found a few typos and one boo boo.
Clean, sweet romance. No foul language. No violence.
Note: I did receive a free advanced copy of the ebook from the author. Thank you!!
More:
Prequel novella 0.5 Cinder Ellie (4 Stars)
Prequel novella 0.6 The Little Siren (5 Stars)
Book 2 in the Faraway Castle series is The Siren and the Scholar (5 Stars)
Book 3 is The Rose and the Briar (5 Stars)
Book 4 is The Lady and the Wish (5 Stars)
Book 5 is The Mirror and the Curse
You can get The Little Siren free here by signing up for Stengl’s newsletter! I haven’t been bombarded and spammed by her letters yet (they’ve been pretty infrequent so far), so I can totally recommend signing up. If you find you don’t enjoy the newsletters, you can always unsubscribe at any time.
I have reviewed each of the above on Goodreads. Follow the links to find more info on the books and then scroll down to see the reviews. Mine is among them.
This series should be read in order.
On Gracebought
Check out my thoughts on the next book in the series below!