"Ella and the Alien Prince" in the Once Upon a Fairytale Night Anthology by Margo Bond Collins

2 Stars

I read and am reviewing the story "Ella and the Alien Prince" by Margo Bond Collins. The writing and editing of the ARC version of this story was pretty sloppy, with multiple typos that detracted quite a bit from the reading experience. Hopefully the retail version will have gone through another round of copy editing. The world building was very minimal, probably as a function of how incredibly short this story was. The characterization was minimal, again because the story was too short to really develop the characters. The development of the romantic relationship was way too quick and brief to be believable. The plot and pacing was the best part, though that is not saying much. There was both low angst and low stakes in this story, which is not a narrative structure that I typically enjoy in a romance novel. This story used the Mars Needs Women trope and the Fated Mate trope. The The world building was two stars. The plot and pacing was three stars. The characterization was three stars. The development of the romantic relationship was two stars. I feel as if this extremely short story format did not show the author to advantage. I would like to give one of her full length novels a chance. This may just not be the best format for her. The ending was a Happy Ever After ending instead of a cliffhanger, so that was a plus. I do not recommend this story to other readers. I will probably give this author another chance with the first full-length novel in her upcoming Khanavai Bride Games series. I definitely do not plan to buy myself a keeper copy of this story.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

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