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Princes of Toval #2
The Prince
Captured as a prisoner of war, Prince Clament expects rough treatment. However, the extent of torment he endures is beyond even his expectations. When Prince Braxton frees him, Clament knows it's only a farce meant to coerce him into finally spilling all his country's secrets. Except, despite all his efforts—magical and common—Clament finds himself helplessly drawn to Braxton, wishing he could believe the tantalizing promises Braxton makes.
Unfortunately, the war continues to be fought. When the ongoing battle spills into Clament's healing ward, resisting Braxton takes a backseat to simple survival. And yet, Clament knows he must make a terrible believe in Braxton and betray his country, or betray Braxton and possibly get him killed. That is, assuming Clament is allowed to live long enough first.
Unfortunately, the war continues to be fought. When the ongoing battle spills into Clament's healing ward, resisting Braxton takes a backseat to simple survival. And yet, Clament knows he must make a terrible believe in Braxton and betray his country, or betray Braxton and possibly get him killed. That is, assuming Clament is allowed to live long enough first.
189 pages, Paperback
First published January 14, 2025
About the author
Mell Eight
72 books285 followersWhen Mell Eight was in high school, she discovered dragons. Beautiful, wondrous creatures that took her on epic adventures both to faraway lands and on journeys of the heart. Mell wanted to create dragons of her own, so she put pen to paper. Mell Eight is now known for her own soaring dragons, as well as for other wonderful characters dancing across the pages of her books. While she mostly writes paranormal or fantasy stories, she has been seen exploring the real world once or twice.
For more information on Mell’s stories and future writing plans, visit her website.
For more information on Mell’s stories and future writing plans, visit her website.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
March 13, 2026
imma be real honest...this book was nothing compared to the first one. everything was really rushed and brief, like please tell me why it's love at first sight before rushing off to fight, thanks??
also, i didn't understand why the mc made some of the choices he did, and it felt like he was more of an supporting character than the *main* character.
plus i just didn't feel connected to this couple; i mean, braxton only showed up for approximately 4 sentences in book 1.
also, i didn't understand why the mc made some of the choices he did, and it felt like he was more of an supporting character than the *main* character.
plus i just didn't feel connected to this couple; i mean, braxton only showed up for approximately 4 sentences in book 1.
August 15, 2026
This was a cute little story and the narration was great! Perfect palate cleanser in between dramatic books 😉
Read
April 27, 2026this could have been really really good because it has all the elements of my favorite type of hurt/comfort sweetie pie romance (namely a character who has had life spit on them to the point whee they are suspicious of any behavior and also love and a character who is so enamored to the point of utter devotion) but the development was truly not there like their love inst believable in the slightest because we saw NONE of it come to fruition. the succession plot gets more pagetime than their romance come on now.
March 16, 2025
The first one is my fav, but volume 2 was well written as well. Caro and Braxton were really cute 🥰❤️
September 6, 2026
Okay so I enjoyed reading this far more than I had any right to. It's not good. It's not horrible, but it's not good either.
What they chose to actually write about vs skipping over was amusing and a bit odd. As was their attempt at the end to introduce modern, weekly therapy sessions in an fantasy world that seemingly massively predates therapy and where healing is primarily done with magic. I get the idea, but it was also rather weird.
It's also glimpses and kisses only despite not remotely giving that vibe. We find out it was totally instalove during the single fastest move form friend adjacent to romantically involved I've ever read. Like the one guy just tells the other that he thinks he's really attractive and would like to date him and introduce him to his parents. And this is just fine and 5 pages later, they are eating breakfast with his parents when he uses his magic to realize that the breakfast food is poisoned saving the entire royal family. But then they don't do anything romantically for the next two weeks because they're "too busy" planning a military thing. So we, the reader, are teleported from confession of love, first two kisses, meeting the parents, and saving the parents all in the span of 24 hours two weeks into the future where the most involved they are romantically is sleeping next to each other at camp as they're already heading to the military thing. At the beginning, we apparently had 3 months of one character being tortured that again, we completely skip over and don't realy address. I'm unclear exactly how they go from enemies to friends/lovers exactly. It both feels slow and like a switch flipped. This maybe should have seemed more reasonable than it did but it felt very instalovey and also inexplicable.
Then we magically manufacture a new queen for the other country out of nowhere. There is no foreshadowing about this. She just shows up and basically asks everyone to trust her that she's a rightful heir. Kool. As I read it, I thought she had to actually be an enemy in disguise. Yet she is not. Apparently. Relatedly, there's a character who's a spy who we're led to think is rather important and even has their own chapter at the end of the book. And yet, this goes nowhere? As far as I can tell, the next book in the series isn't about them nor are there any other books in the series about them. Perhaps the author had planned for this to be in a book 4? Maybe I couldn't figure out how their name was spelled from the audiobook? I have no idea.
One thing that was both cool and quite weird was the prince changing his name to help embody his rebirth as a new person. This very much read like a trans person coming out and all their friends banding together to make sure they don't get deadnamed. This was awesome. Except he wasn't trans? And just decided to go by his middle name instead of his first name? It was sort of cute and cool but also rather weird. It felt a bit out of place.
I don't exactly regret this because I was feeling the vibe and enjoyed it even though I knew it was rather bad as I was reading it. I have no idea how it has a 4 star average rating. I honestly don't recommend it unless you're in a similar place where you're really feeling it. You really need to suspend disbelief. Also accept that typically important parts of the plot will be skipped over and random things will happen that don't quite make sense. As a positive, there weren't any bad betrayals, relationship drama, or similar poor relationship skills that typically frustrate me. I am a bit disappointed because this premise had a lot of potential. I think that's how I enjoyed it in spite of its many issues. This could have been a rather awesome story if it was much better told.
What they chose to actually write about vs skipping over was amusing and a bit odd. As was their attempt at the end to introduce modern, weekly therapy sessions in an fantasy world that seemingly massively predates therapy and where healing is primarily done with magic. I get the idea, but it was also rather weird.
It's also glimpses and kisses only despite not remotely giving that vibe. We find out it was totally instalove during the single fastest move form friend adjacent to romantically involved I've ever read. Like the one guy just tells the other that he thinks he's really attractive and would like to date him and introduce him to his parents. And this is just fine and 5 pages later, they are eating breakfast with his parents when he uses his magic to realize that the breakfast food is poisoned saving the entire royal family. But then they don't do anything romantically for the next two weeks because they're "too busy" planning a military thing. So we, the reader, are teleported from confession of love, first two kisses, meeting the parents, and saving the parents all in the span of 24 hours two weeks into the future where the most involved they are romantically is sleeping next to each other at camp as they're already heading to the military thing. At the beginning, we apparently had 3 months of one character being tortured that again, we completely skip over and don't realy address. I'm unclear exactly how they go from enemies to friends/lovers exactly. It both feels slow and like a switch flipped. This maybe should have seemed more reasonable than it did but it felt very instalovey and also inexplicable.
Then we magically manufacture a new queen for the other country out of nowhere. There is no foreshadowing about this. She just shows up and basically asks everyone to trust her that she's a rightful heir. Kool. As I read it, I thought she had to actually be an enemy in disguise. Yet she is not. Apparently. Relatedly, there's a character who's a spy who we're led to think is rather important and even has their own chapter at the end of the book. And yet, this goes nowhere? As far as I can tell, the next book in the series isn't about them nor are there any other books in the series about them. Perhaps the author had planned for this to be in a book 4? Maybe I couldn't figure out how their name was spelled from the audiobook? I have no idea.
One thing that was both cool and quite weird was the prince changing his name to help embody his rebirth as a new person. This very much read like a trans person coming out and all their friends banding together to make sure they don't get deadnamed. This was awesome. Except he wasn't trans? And just decided to go by his middle name instead of his first name? It was sort of cute and cool but also rather weird. It felt a bit out of place.
I don't exactly regret this because I was feeling the vibe and enjoyed it even though I knew it was rather bad as I was reading it. I have no idea how it has a 4 star average rating. I honestly don't recommend it unless you're in a similar place where you're really feeling it. You really need to suspend disbelief. Also accept that typically important parts of the plot will be skipped over and random things will happen that don't quite make sense. As a positive, there weren't any bad betrayals, relationship drama, or similar poor relationship skills that typically frustrate me. I am a bit disappointed because this premise had a lot of potential. I think that's how I enjoyed it in spite of its many issues. This could have been a rather awesome story if it was much better told.
March 24, 2025
A delightful romantasy and the sequel to The Chef, which, yes, this book will be even better if you’ve already read that one, though you won’t be confused if you dive in here. I’m enthralled by the sweet romances and dangerous court intrigues in the Princes of Toval series. Court and military intrigues, romance and magic swirl together in this engaging and entertaining story, and I enjoyed very much. This is a very sweet (as in little to no described spice) read on the romance front.
Bastard prince Clament of rival kingdom Namin was sent on a mission to harry the Kingdom of Toval and kill its heir, but he knows his assignment is truly intended to end in his own death. When he’s taken prisoner by Toval under the auspices of Prince Braxton, he is not one bit surprised. Thrown into the dungeon, Clament soon loses time as torture and healing follows even more brutal torture and healing, rinse, repeat. (Almost all of that is off page.)
When Prince Braxton discovers how his prisoner has been treated despite there being no authorization or intent to torture Clament, he is beyond infuriated and takes immediate action to right this wrong. Toval is not about torture, and the men responsible for taking it upon themselves to hurt Clament are dealt with immediately. That doesn’t help the near-death Clament though, and it is a long road to recovery under Toval’s best healer (Alina, great character) while every day being certain the worst will come next. Clament’s mental state is as bad or worse than his physical weakness.
Cue Braxton’s efforts to reassure, support, and...woo Clament, because Braxton has been feeling all kinds of Feels about his prisoner that really he shouldn’t be feeling but...is. And as Clament waits and waits for Braxton to turn on him again, he begins to warily come to trust and...oh dear, yes, admire...Braxton in return. Adorable romance ensues, even if I always wanted more reparations for Clament’s treatment. It really wasn’t Braxton’s doing, and, well, Clament did follow his ridiculous orders to act against Toval in the first place. If the love is a little overly insta, well...there’s enough time spent connecting and becoming a credible couple afterward that I enjoyed it all.
As those two go goofy-eyed for each other, there’s more danger afoot from Clament’s evil family, the rulers of Namin. No assassination attempt on Clament or the Toval family is too bad for them to try, and it becomes apparent Toval must face the threat head-on to protect their people and possibly also the starving, angry, oppressed people of Namin. Clament (who chooses a new name!) has an interesting protective magic that warns him of danger, and his turnabout to ally with Toval and help overthrow his family continues to keep pages turning.
With cameos from previous characters and intriguing machinations all around, The Prince is a strong follow-up to The Chef and delivers another entertaining story in this well-imagined fantasy world.
HEA, court intrigues, military action, two princes, rivals/enemies (by nature of citizenship, not by attitude) to lovers. Absolutely no Other People in any way, entirely safe for me, and a lovely read. Highly recommended, as is book 1.
Bastard prince Clament of rival kingdom Namin was sent on a mission to harry the Kingdom of Toval and kill its heir, but he knows his assignment is truly intended to end in his own death. When he’s taken prisoner by Toval under the auspices of Prince Braxton, he is not one bit surprised. Thrown into the dungeon, Clament soon loses time as torture and healing follows even more brutal torture and healing, rinse, repeat. (Almost all of that is off page.)
When Prince Braxton discovers how his prisoner has been treated despite there being no authorization or intent to torture Clament, he is beyond infuriated and takes immediate action to right this wrong. Toval is not about torture, and the men responsible for taking it upon themselves to hurt Clament are dealt with immediately. That doesn’t help the near-death Clament though, and it is a long road to recovery under Toval’s best healer (Alina, great character) while every day being certain the worst will come next. Clament’s mental state is as bad or worse than his physical weakness.
Cue Braxton’s efforts to reassure, support, and...woo Clament, because Braxton has been feeling all kinds of Feels about his prisoner that really he shouldn’t be feeling but...is. And as Clament waits and waits for Braxton to turn on him again, he begins to warily come to trust and...oh dear, yes, admire...Braxton in return. Adorable romance ensues, even if I always wanted more reparations for Clament’s treatment. It really wasn’t Braxton’s doing, and, well, Clament did follow his ridiculous orders to act against Toval in the first place. If the love is a little overly insta, well...there’s enough time spent connecting and becoming a credible couple afterward that I enjoyed it all.
As those two go goofy-eyed for each other, there’s more danger afoot from Clament’s evil family, the rulers of Namin. No assassination attempt on Clament or the Toval family is too bad for them to try, and it becomes apparent Toval must face the threat head-on to protect their people and possibly also the starving, angry, oppressed people of Namin. Clament (who chooses a new name!) has an interesting protective magic that warns him of danger, and his turnabout to ally with Toval and help overthrow his family continues to keep pages turning.
With cameos from previous characters and intriguing machinations all around, The Prince is a strong follow-up to The Chef and delivers another entertaining story in this well-imagined fantasy world.
HEA, court intrigues, military action, two princes, rivals/enemies (by nature of citizenship, not by attitude) to lovers. Absolutely no Other People in any way, entirely safe for me, and a lovely read. Highly recommended, as is book 1.
June 18, 2025
I gave the first book four stars and... I suddenly don't know why.
I had nice memories of the first book and grabbed this one immediately when I saw it. Then relized I don't actually remember what is happening (well, who this prince is) so I tried to re-read the first book except I did remember most of what happened and re-reading confused me as to why I actually said I liked it that much, considering the book was half cooking/recipes, one third just moving from one place to another, some significant glances between the Chef and the prince that, for some mysterious reason, manage to fall in love while leading mostly seperate lives in close proximity. It was... boring?
I guess I was in the perfect mood for this type of boring before - for this book, I was just bored. I couldn't care, the plot seemed fairly similar to the first one (and also to the third one) for some unknown reason, maybe the general pacing and... vibes or some such? I just didn't feel like I was reading something new, for some reason. The fantasy elements/magic was no longer new, this time around, which probably didn't help.
To be fair, the book is nice enough, the lack of heat would not be a problem if the romance felt more believable than "I saw him and I saw my future" (not in so many words but it feels like not falling into bed also precludes them from actually spending enough time together to explain how/why they fall in love and I mean this for every couple. Here, it's like, darn, this prince sure likes to deal with his correspondence by my bedside while I read books, his silence sure is a sign of true love and his perfection as a future husband.
I just finished the 3rd book actually but because I was so bored I started skipping stuff, I am not even going to mark that one.
Let's just say this book was too chill to warm me up any.
I had nice memories of the first book and grabbed this one immediately when I saw it. Then relized I don't actually remember what is happening (well, who this prince is) so I tried to re-read the first book except I did remember most of what happened and re-reading confused me as to why I actually said I liked it that much, considering the book was half cooking/recipes, one third just moving from one place to another, some significant glances between the Chef and the prince that, for some mysterious reason, manage to fall in love while leading mostly seperate lives in close proximity. It was... boring?
I guess I was in the perfect mood for this type of boring before - for this book, I was just bored. I couldn't care, the plot seemed fairly similar to the first one (and also to the third one) for some unknown reason, maybe the general pacing and... vibes or some such? I just didn't feel like I was reading something new, for some reason. The fantasy elements/magic was no longer new, this time around, which probably didn't help.
To be fair, the book is nice enough, the lack of heat would not be a problem if the romance felt more believable than "I saw him and I saw my future" (not in so many words but it feels like not falling into bed also precludes them from actually spending enough time together to explain how/why they fall in love and I mean this for every couple. Here, it's like, darn, this prince sure likes to deal with his correspondence by my bedside while I read books, his silence sure is a sign of true love and his perfection as a future husband.
I just finished the 3rd book actually but because I was so bored I started skipping stuff, I am not even going to mark that one.
Let's just say this book was too chill to warm me up any.
January 26, 2025
I’ve been a Mell Eight fan for quite a while and liked the first in the series, The Chef, so I wanted to read The Prince. I was entranced with the characters, Prince Clament and Prince Braxton, for different reasons. Even though Clament is a prince, life has not been easy for him. That he is an admirable person in a difficult situation makes him a good guy. Prince Braxton seems mysterious and threatening. Glimpses of his better side make it clear he is not the bad guy. This is a classic romance where the leads don’t talk to each other about important things like feelings. The UST is high in this book. I thought it was clever how the royal families in this series, The Princes of Toval, each have a different magical ability. One thing Eight does well is to include the previous series characters in later books But each book has a self-contained romance that can be read alone, although reading out of sequence means later books will create many spoilers. I received a free copy of this book from IndiGo Marketing and Design.
January 7, 2025
Romantasy in a small and beautiful way. This one is more political than the previous book, which makes sense as it’s about two princes in waring nations. It’s about reclaiming oneself and helping a country out of the horrible predicament hey have found themselves in. I found that it wasn’t as romantic as the first book, but it just couldn’t be, these two men where much more upfront with what they wanted and by the time they could have that moment the story moved fast. I adore the world and the princely brothers, and I have my fingers crossed for the next book
Troupes:
Fantasy
Hurt/Comfort
Forced Proximity
Self-Discovery
Finding Home
CW: Imprisonment, mention of past sexual abuse of a minor character, attempted murder, mentions of torture
Troupes:
Fantasy
Hurt/Comfort
Forced Proximity
Self-Discovery
Finding Home
CW: Imprisonment, mention of past sexual abuse of a minor character, attempted murder, mentions of torture
June 28, 2025
This should of been a 5 star read. It had everything I love.
But sadly I just never got emotionally involved.
Everything was too rushed. We were told more than shown regarding Caro and I never felt the romance between Braxton and Caro.
Overall just an OK read that had more promise than substance.
But sadly I just never got emotionally involved.
Everything was too rushed. We were told more than shown regarding Caro and I never felt the romance between Braxton and Caro.
Overall just an OK read that had more promise than substance.
Read
February 8, 2025I m not going to rate this bc if I do it will be a bad one. It s my first time reading this author, while I didn't dislike it, the writing and plot are incredibly amaturistic
Good thing it was short
Good thing it was short
February 19, 2025
Hmmm, this one didn't have the magic that the first one did. It felt rushed and forced.
June 13, 2025
3.5 stars - a sweet story with an abused and lonely prince.
Did Not Finish
June 13, 202628% really enjoyed the first book but this one not so much. The MCs barely had a conversation on page but they were already gaga. I just didn't care.
October 28, 2026
Again, some setting issue still pop up here and there. But I did enjoy the book.
I wish we could see more depth in the MC background.
I wish we could see more depth in the MC background.
January 4, 2026
There's a lot going on for such a short book. Took me a bit out of the romance to concentrate on the story.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews