The Prince and the Pencil Pusher: Royal Powers Book 7, Kenzie Blades

Series: Royal Powers #7
Author: Kenzie Blades
Length: 30,000

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Bad things happen when supos go unchecked. That's why Abarra needs The Ministry: to keep tabs on royals with powers run amok. Queen Maialen has entrusted the safety of her subjects to her nephew, Prince Xabier, placing the agency in his capable hands.

Only, the Prince would rather spend his days putting his own power to good use in the vineyards than to wither away on the bureaucratic vine. Tired of policing perpetrators and babysitting bean-counters, he schemes to groom his first lieutenant (and second cousin) the Duke of Shrubs. After months spent moving chess pieces, he is poised to convince the Queen to assign his cousin to his post.

But an unlikely pawn still stands in his way: the sexy Zain Otxoa is the pushiest pencil-pusher in all of The Ministry and head of internal affairs. Prince Xabier has plotted to have him fired at least thrice. Zain's influence over the Queen—his only saving grace—is baffling.

When a master maneuver to have Zain reassigned exposes a shocking imbroglio, Prince Xabier learns The Ministry isn't what it seems. And Zain isn't a pawn at all.

*$3.99 on Amazon

Review

This was a cute story that held the right note of seriousness and boasted a slower burn romance.  Most short stories focus on the relationship at the peril of the surrounding plot, but this was a bit opposite in that it focused on the reality of the situation as well as its gravity, the growth of the prince, and the necessity for the roles carried out by both men.  Adding in the training element and I was doubly impressed.  It took a while to find its footing and its traction, but once things got moving the story really grew on me.  Similarly with the Prince and his Pencil Pusher, their chemistry was subtle and less visceral, a more timid animal that took time to warm up before becoming comfortable.  Overall this was a good story for the series and a nice introduction to the author.

Excerpt

Not so fast.

My heels clicked in rapid succession as I walked down the centerline of the grand executive hall. It was far afield of the offices on lower floors. It took minutes to get all the way up there, which was why I’d needed to make haste. Left unattended on nights when he would rather have been any place but at his post, the Prince had a tendency to disappear.

The floors were made of marble and their design was quite ornate—a wide white border off to each side, with an elaborate design forming a runway down the middle. It wasn’t a pattern, but a work of art, its geometric pieces reminiscent of stained glass. It gave the sense of walking on a rug made of stone.

Hues from garnet, to ruby, to tawny, to rose made up elements of a palette that swirled and faded to ambers and golds. They complemented magnificent oil paintings of Abarran countryside that lined the grand corridor’s high walls. Spaced-out sitting benches rendered the space worthy of entertaining. Yet, he kept it to himself, and spent most of his time alone.

The downstairs offices were another story. They were filled with six-by-six-foot cubicles configured en masse for the Ministry’s rank and file. Enclosed offices here and there were reserved for mid-level managers: MLMs, as we liked to call them. I inhabited one of the better of these offices—a space in the corner on a higher floor with a not-bad view—though an MLM I was not.

Ostensibly, I was the Head of Internal Affairs, which was exactly her intention—a gross understatement considering my deep involvement with the covert side. Not making that last fact public was by design. My list of responsibilities was too long to name—too long for me to remember most days. Yet, the highest of my duties was to babysit him.

He was Prince Xabier Garrastazu, third in line to the South Abarran throne, son of Prince Frantzisco, nephew to the Queen, and Duke of Brix. He was also the Minister of Powers—the highest-ranking official at this agency and—despite my charge to keep him from making too big a mess out of things, he was—technically—my boss.

“Is he in?” I asked Eusebio, more for his benefit than mine. I knew the Prince’s comings and goings. I had eyes on him at all times. I tried not to roll my eyes as Eusebio made a production of picking up the phone to announce my arrival. The Prince enjoyed forcing me to wait to be let in.

Good.

The more ridiculously childish and infuriatingly vain Prince Xabier, Duke of Brix, chose to be wherever I was concerned, the easier it was to ignore his ridiculous appeal.

“Your Grace.” As usual, I greeted his back, the part of him that always seemed to face me when I walked into his suite. Even from behind, the man was magnificent. Broad shoulders filled out a perfectly tailored button-down made of fine fabric and subtle herringbone design. Today’s shirt—white if you weren’t paying attention—was the faintest of lilac. He was the epitome of a dashing prince.

To be clear, I was paying attention, not only to the way its snug fit showed the definition in his shoulders—to the place where the fabric stopped and his rolled-up sleeves gave way to skin. For all the hard work he didn’t do, there needn’t have been any rolling up of sleeves. In my most outlandish of theories, he did it to torment me.

“Mr. Otxoa,” the Prince greeted blithely, not turning toward me just yet. He stood on a rug in the sitting area with his gaze remained fixed on the fire. His office was a projection of the man himself—pleasantly fragrant, clean to a fault and dripping with style. Tufted wingback chairs with ottomans flanked a matching Chesterfield, all three in a dark teal. Fire glow warmed his features, casting appeal on the planes of his face, flattering the smooth line of his nose and cutting shadows from his diamond jaw.

I stopped at the edge of the rug next to the drink trolley that carried only wine. Its twin at the other end of the Chesterfield was all crystal decanters and spirits. When he turned, I was meant to bow out of deference. This was always the most difficult moment—the one when he first cast his gaze upon me. I faltered at the devastating beauty of his eyes.

“And what have you for me tonight? More documents to sign, no doubt. More supos with powers run rampage?”

He made no secret of the fact that my presence vexed him. Unencumbered by the burden of common birth, the Prince was under no obligation to feign politesse. Logic dictated that his resentment stemmed from me holding him to task. Instinct told me that the sport he made of pushing my buttons was something more.

The Prince finally cast his sapphire gaze upon me and I did bow then, thankful that the deep hue of my skin made it easy to hide my flush. Blood that he could not see rushed to my cheeks and prickled my nose and burned the tops of my ears. If he resented me, I, too, resented him. Training the Prince was not supposed to be so difficult as this.

About Kenzie

Kenzie Blades is a queer author of romantic LGBTQ+ fiction and is the alter ego of a multi-award winning author who writes other fiction under a different name. Kenzie lives in San Francisco and enjoys lots of things that start with the letter B, like bacon, bourbon and books.

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A Villain for Christmas: A Snow Globe Christmas Book 4, Alice Winters

I think I died.  Deceased.  Landon has murdered me with his brand of funny and I don't even care.  So much laughing, out loud kine too, that I practically hacked up a lung.  And I'm talkin' leg-kicking, tears-rolling, ab-tastic laughter.  I think I laughed more with Landon than with Felix and I wasn't sure that was possible.  But the best part about all of this is that the story wasn't just die-laughing funny, it had feels, complications, sweetness, and vulnerability.  For me this book has everything, is everything.

The farce of a courtship is so perfect for the characters.  And August's participation in and tolerance of Landon's shenanigans are supremely entertaining.  I love their dynamic because it's the cutest evolution of a middle-school crush amplified by amazing powers and families that live to embarrass them that I could have ever hoped for.  Seriously, "Why did you do everything but talk to me?" is the most apt question in existence for August.

The more dramatic plot elements were believable in the story's world and fit quite well, and though I wouldn't really say it was unique or original, it was tackled in such a way that it felt fresh.  The resolution is a little up in the air because we don't follow every thread to its conclusion, but the story did end in a place that gave a feeling of closure for some things and a bright, open, happy future for others.  I think the level of crazy is just right as it had to match the big personalities and funnier moments without overwhelming them.

All the side characters are fantastic, from the dopey Brandon, the inappropriate Baker, to the vulnerable Lex, and the quietly tortured Nolan.  And with memorable quotes about a hairless cat's gender, how can this not be perfection?  The world was a little confusing at first because it's pretty much the world we live in today, just so many of the humans have powers and achieve notoriety on both sides of the good/evil fence.  That wasn't exactly confusing, it was a little bit more the perception I was trying to read.   All the players were a little hard to keep track of and to keep straight, but not too far into the story I was completely sucked in and figured things out pretty quickly.

It was honestly so very easy to get sucked into this world with the level of funny, feels, and dysfunctional families.  I sped through this story so fast because I just could not put it down and it's already on my favorites and re-read shelves since I'm going to be enjoying this story over and over again.

*$3.99 on Amazon!

Despite growing up in a family of villains, I’d rather curl up and read than commit crimes. When I get coerced by my brother into helping him rob a bank, I run into August, my childhood crush—also known as Chrono, the city’s greatest superhero. He’s sexy, sweet, and suddenly he’s asking me to Thanksgiving with his parents. It’s probably because he doesn’t realize that I’m Leviathan, a villain with the power of telekinesis. And I can’t tell him because he’d never forgive me and would stop doing things like cooking for me—wait, maybe that would be a good thing, since he’s a terrible cook. It doesn’t help that my parents think they’re the ultimate villains and won’t stop getting in my way, although they can’t even steal toilet paper without getting caught.

But when real supervillains (not the wannabe kind that I grew up with) start targeting August, I might be forced to show everyone who I truly am: a slightly warped and snarky man who’d really rather read a book than save anything… besides August. I’ll tear this world apart just to get another glimpse of him in those glasses and spandex suit. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him safe, even though it means exposing my true identity. Luckily, August still cares about me, proving that even a villain and a hero can fall in love. Hopefully, we’ll be able to save the world in time for Christmas

Aquaman, Warner Brothers

A hero without a cape, living his justice in relative secret.  But what happens when his heritage comes calling and he wants nothing to do with it?  The true measure of a hero is not in what he believes he's worthy of or can do, it's in what he protects knowing he may not be worthy but giving his whole effort anyway.

So first things first, Jason Momoa is freaking hot.  Oh. My. Ovaries.  Straight explode, y'all.  Okay, so after a bit of ... reminiscing on his amazing visage and his smooth baritone, on to the review of the movie.

Oh good Lord, I'm drooling...

#polynesianpride #eyecandyfordays

Let me warn you that a lot of this post might seem like a rant and that I didn't like the movie.  But I did!  I liked it when I just took it at face value rather than reading into it and delving into the content.  Visually, it was stunning, both the actors, the underwater world they created, and the effects.  It had a powerful message, cloaked in cheese, but the message of love and honor was definitely present.  So...I enjoyed myself.  I laughed sometimes and I choked up at other times.  Overall, this was a pretty good movie.

Except that, well, I can't just leave it at that, can I?  On to the "rant"...

I mentioned that the movie was visually stunning, yes?  Well the use of color and cinematic effects was powerful.  It was just too much.  There was so much going on in some scenes that I could not focus on any one thing, especially not the characters that mattered the most.  When the whole screen is constantly filled with shooting lights, explosions that look like fire (in water?  Yeah, that was pretty weird), lava, thousands of creatures of the deep, a billion extras, and then somewhere in the midst of all that are the main characters trying to gain dominance during a big conflict?  Yeah...no.  Overwhelming the audience isn't effective.  Just because we have all these cool CG techniques to bring fantasy to life doesn't mean you need to ram it down our ocular throats.

Another visual point that was hot for a while until it became eye-rollingly overused was the posing of Momoa, the brooding looks, and the close-up shots of his eyes.  A few well-placed broody shots are awesome because they can evoke a sense of intense thought and inner turmoil.  But overused and it's cliche and unimaginative.  With so much talent to work with, you'd think they could change it up and use the story and better cinematography to convey a wider range of emotions instead of the same ones over and over with the same visual set-up.

And then there's the story line.  Holy complicated Batman!  (Ah, the versatility of the DC universe...)  There were so many antagonists, so many conflicts all masquerading around as one big one, and so many secrets that don't move or stymie the plot at all.  Streamline, people, streamline!  This movie suffered from a lack of focus.  By having the Ocean Master issue, the creation and consequences of Black Manta, the rivalry, the war, the reluctant hero, and the reluctant hero's quest, we've got way too much going on to do any of those things justice.

Honestly, I think we should have gone with the reluctant hero's quest because there would have been plenty of action, drama, a bit of romance, and at some point, our hero would have to think for himself.  We've got another Harry Potter on our hands here, unfortunately.  In order to make him more human, more "relatable", Rowling made him an idiot and all the answers were fed to him mainly by Hermione.  Aquaman starts out with Arthur living his life following his own sense of justice, that innocents should be protected, even at the peril of the other humans that cause the suffering.  His choices and actions are his own and, combined with his history, have paved the way for our protagonist to become a hero.

But once he's begged and pretty much forced to take on the role, virtually nothing is of his own volition.  And aside from one scene where he uses the knowledge gained from his father, all the other answers are given to him by Mera.  Now, I'm all for a strong female lead and that she could even upstage the males in the cast, but to essentially castrate our hero by treating him like an idiot and for the writers to perpetuate that ridiculousness does our hero absolutely no justice at all.  At some point I expected Arthur to decide that the mantle placed on his shoulders was his by choice, not just by circumstance.  That he'd be less reactive and more proactive.

Oh, and the romance was unnecessary and out of place.  Throwing it in haphazardly made it seem disingenuous and fickle rather than a changing and growing of hearts that would become a true partnership for the good of both nations.  I mean, I'm pretty sure that's the goal of their togetherness, but it was poorly executed.

So...to say I'm conflicted is an understatement.  Why would you give us a hero that you could basically write from scratch because he's so misunderstood and underdeveloped and make his brain impotent and his brawn overwhelming?  Where's the balance?  Where's the focus?  With cliche and simplistic writing, way more telling than showing, overuse of CG, and giving us a way too many conflicts because you're not sure how many sequels you can milk from this if you were to give us only one...what were you hoping for?  High hopes, eye candy, and sheer curiosity will bring me back for a sequel...maybe.  But probably only if it shows up on Netflix.