Lately I have mostly been reading RITA books. (The RITAs for those who may not know are Romance Writers of America’s big published author awards). One is not allowed to talk about RITA books one is reading. So I thought instead I’d talk about one of my favourite books of last year. Namely this bad boy (and its second volume companion).
Round here Captive Prince is known as the crack. I blame Anne Gracie for hooking me on the crack. And thank her. These books are exactly Mel catnip when it comes to fantasy. Twisty politics, plots within plots within twists within schemes, very smart heroes (note I said heroes, because this book is m/m) and a great slow burn romance. Soooo good. Like I finished book one at 3am in the morning and immediately bought book two and kept reading. Like if I had a time machine, one of the first things I would do might just be travel forward in time to when book three is out so I can read it. Book three is not out. Just a warning if you are tempted by the crack and hate waiting. CS Pacat is a genius. And a lovely gal. She starting writing the Captive Prince books and putting chapters up on her blog. Gained a huge following because they are great. Self-published. Then got discovered by an agent and sold to Penguin who are putting out the first two books in paper sometime this year. The kind of publishing story that is not the norm at all but yay for goodness at one’s craft being rewarded. They remind me a bit of Jacqueline Carey and a bit of Megan Whalen Turner (now there’s an interesting combination) and are just flat out good. Many thumbs up. Go read them.