The Lost Prince: Royal Powers Book 4, Sara York

While the premise was interesting and Crave's power is utterly unique, the follow through with giving him his story and his man was...less than earth-shattering.  Forgive the pun.  With so much potential the story had quite a lot to work with, but got bogged down in unnecessary repetition, lackluster romantic connection, a convoluted plot, confusing connections, and a whole lot of missed opportunities.

There was drama to be had from quite a few sources and throwing it all in proved to be too much for such a short story.  Crave's family dilemmas were both overly sinister and overly simplistic, Devin's family drama was very basic and slightly juvenile, the murder plot was a gratuitous flash-in-the-pan event, their powers being minor and then suddenly combining with visions and a gigantic boost was without context...there was just too much that was exaggerated and then thrown in together.

Then we get to the romance...or not, kind of.  The connection between the men goes from visual interest and a minor supernatural blip to a whole lot of "I'm yours forever" without even going through the motions of being an insta-love story.  I don't believe in their romance at all and wanted to because there was something in both of them that could have been great.

I don't want this to turn into a ranty review, but I find myself quite disappointed in what I read rather than thrilled.  I'm crazy intrigued by this whole series premise, was absolutely wowed by the first book, am convinced the last one will be just as amazing since the author hasn't written a mediocre story yet, and then I'm so very let down by nearly every book in the middle.

*$4.99 on Amazon

Danger lurks in the forests, but will he know to hide?

Crave Woods hides his truth from everyone, even the couple who raised him or tries to. But his family knows he didn’t outgrow the strange affliction of being able to sink into the dirt and travel below ground.

Devin Dumtsteed can’t quit his job though he hates it. If only he had better powers, he could do more for Abarra, but he tracks criminals and illegal power users, getting them off the street before they do something stupid, like kill someone.

A freak cave-in at the mine has him traveling to a small town to check out the undocumented power users when all hell breaks loose. Is the unassuming young man he met in the middle of the forest the cause of the cave-ins or is Crave Woods more than Devin could ever imagine?