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Series: The Orc Prince Trilogy by Lionel Hart

Greetings and welcome to Reviews That Burn: Series Reviews, part of Books That Burn. Series Reviews discuss at least three books in a series and cover the overarching themes and development of the story across several books. I'd like to thank longtime Patron Case Aiken, who receives a monthly shoutout. Full Audio Here   An elven prince. The son of an orc warlord. In two warring nations, their arranged marriage brings peace. They never expected to fall in love. Prince Taegan Glynzeiros has prepared since childhood to fight and lead armies against invading orc forces, the enemies of elves for hundreds of years. But after a successful peace treaty, the elven prince will not be fighting orcs, but marrying one. The first words he speaks to Zorvut are their wedding vows. Despite being considered the runt amongst the orc warlord’s children, Taegan finds him to be intelligent and thoughtful—everything the stereotypes about orcs say he shouldn’t be. He doesn’t want to fall in love, but Zorv...

Haunted Hearts by A.K. Faulkner (An Untimely Frost #1)

True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen… 

Basil Irwin is a mild-mannered arts correspondent by day, and burgeoning necromancer by night. The trouble is he’s yet to encounter a ghost, so all his magic could yet prove useless. 

Jon Dwyer is a psychic medium, capable of interacting with - and even destroying - the dead, but his power comes at a price: the living fear him. 

When Basil and Jon meet over a rumored haunting, they agree to work together. But when the ghost proves itself not only real but also insanely homicidal, Basil and Jon are caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, and whatever feelings they might have for one-another have to take a back seat to a desperate fight for their very survival…

CONTRIBUTOR(S): RJ Bayley (Narrator)
PUBLISHER: Ravensword Press
YEAR: 2014
LENGTH: 140 pages (3 hours 9 minutes)
AGE: Adult
GENRE: Romance
RECOMMENDED: Highly

Queer Rep Summary: Gay/Achillean Main Character(s).

Basil and Jon meet under unexpected circumstances when they both show up to the same probably-haunted dwelling. Basil is trying to find out whether magic and ghosts are real, and Jon is trying to disperse ghosts in-between job hunting. 

I like this as an introduction and as a story in its own right. There's a nice balance between worldbuilding and characterization, especially in such a short tale. The audiobook is excellent, conveying Jon's very dry sense of humor with ease. 

I first encountered Jon and Basil as secondary characters midway through the Inheritance series, so I was already familiar with them. I like seeing how they started out, and this novella came out before any of the Inheritance series, so it can be read before even JACK OF THORNS if one were so inclined.

Graphic/Explicit CW for grief.

Moderate CW for homophobia, violence, death.

Minor CW for ableist language, sexual content, murder.

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A dagger against a dark blue background, rimmed with silver branches


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