Bealevon Nolan

I was given Hello My Prince from the author through the Goodreads M/M Romance Group’s “Don’t Buy My Love” for an honest review. The story is told in third person through the eyes of the two main characters, Eric Lejeune, a servant/janitor, and Prince Branimir. We also see the story through a few other minor characters eyes.



Hello My Prince is a charming retelling of Cinderella. Since Eric’s father’s death, Eric’s step-mother has turned their palatial home into a brothel and turned her two sons into whores. She intended to turn Eric into one also, but he fought the client off and was banished to work as a servant and janitor. All Eric wanted was to be loved and accepted by his step-mother and step-brothers but that never happens. Instead he is taunted about his looks, mental abilities and lack of skills by his step-family. Eric has low self-esteem and believes no one will ever want him. Instead of a fairy god-mother in this story it's Eric’s good friend and mentor, Louis, who teaches Eric how to box. He also helps Eric to pass as a rich suitor to enter the ball held at the King’s palace, the ball that is arranged to find Prince Branimir a partner. Bran’s cousin impersonates the Prince so Bran can wander the ball as the bookkeeper, hoping to find someone who’s interested in him as a person and not as the prince. He finds no one until he runs into Eric looking at paintings in the gallery. They hit it off very well. When the clock strikes midnight, Eric flees, but instead of a slipper, he leaves behind one of his gloves. Prince Bran is determined to find Eric and begins his search.

I loved how the author retold the tale of Cinderella. In fact it’s probably my favorite version I’ve read so far. There were enough similarities but the story was also different enough that I didn’t feel as if I was re-reading the same story only with male characters.

The only things I wish were better were some of the expressions which were too modern and surprised me when they showed up. The majority of the story’s dialogue and description seemed set in a historical fairytale tone, but too often the modern words and descriptions would pop up. That’s the reason I need to take a full star off of my rating. If the author ever decides to fix the modernisms, I think it would enhance the feeling of the story set as a fairytale or historical and make it easier, at least for me, to give this book five stars. I don’t know if the author used any editors or betas, but I think it would have been a good idea because I found numerous grammar and punctuation errors also. Again this could be fixed in the next edition if the author wanted and would very much enhance the enjoyment of this story because it has so much going for it already.

A couple other comments I'd like to mention. At certain points we see the pov from minor characters. When these characters pov’s are for a chapter or a few pages it doesn’t seem out of place. But at least a couple of times, the pov jumps to these minor characters for about a paragraph and then jumps back to the mc’s pov. This was disorienting and should’ve been fixed before publishing the book. Some other things I think weren't needed were the little descriptions at the beginning of each chapter. They ruined the suspense of the chapter and I suggest eliminating them in the next edition.

I would’ve loved to see Eric’s step-family shocked and put in their place at finding out that Eric was the consort of Prince Branimir. Maybe at another ball where everyone thinks the Prince will make his pick, but instead presents Eric as his consort. I would have loved to see the author write that scene. I think she would have done a good job at it.

I very much enjoyed this version of the retelling of Cinderella. I found the characters voices distinctive and I could identify with them. Despite the criticisms I mentioned in my review, I really did like this story. I think if the author decides to fix these issues for a following edition, the book will be much more enjoyable. But for this version I give Hello My Prince 4 Stars



… (altro)