Title: The Guppy Prince
Series: The Silver Isles Book One
Author: C.W. Gray
Genre: Sci Fi, Urban Fantasy, Omegaverse, Mpreg
LGBTQ+ Category: MM Gay
Publisher: Tanglewood Press
Pages: 208
Reviewer: Sharonica, Paranormal Romance Guild
About The Book
Dover Rees is a guppy tailed merman and the youngest child of the King of the Southern Silver Isles. Despite the lofty title, he fits in better with the other guppy tailed working class than with his royal siblings. Dover spends his days secluded in his creek, successfully avoiding the King’s court and all the judgmental nobles there. Then, the most wonderous and horrible thing happens. He hears the mating call and knows his alpha is waiting for him.
Ben Elliot is just a human trying to get by in a small tourist beach town. He has his art and a few good friends, and that should be enough, right? Wrong. Coming home to a quiet house and an empty bed starts to wear on him, but none of the omegas he knows appeal to him. Until a storm knocks him off his fishing boat and he’s rescued by a mysterious, blue-haired omega.
Together, Dover and Ben forge a bond strong enough to stand against the storm of corrupt lords, court politics, and a cursed king.
Author’s Note: Around 47,000 words. This is a paranormal, merman, mpreg, fated mates story with no angst and no cheating, just a HEA. There are a few potty mouths, so beware. 18+ readers only, please. It is book one in The Silver Isles series.
The Review
Some days I curse that Blarney stone and my friend for telling me I just HAD to kiss it! I know sometimes before I begin writing that a review is going to be a long one. Unlike authors, we reviewers run the risk of losing our audience if the review holds too many words. Even now, I am already hacking away at them as I write this.
The Guppy Prince was sweet and a very charming fairytailesque story. There is a dissatisfied Mer prince, Dover, who hears the mating call, and a human, Ben, who has returned to the Carolina -Georgia coast after his time in the Marine Corps. Ben now spends his time as an artist and living the slow-paced life. With a few close friends to keep him company, Ben still finds himself longing for a special someone…HIS special someone.
While the story is the fated mates, omegaverse trope, Ben and Dover click because of friendship, and kindness towards each other. Both things they haven’t been shown a lot of in their lives. The more time Dover spends away from Court, the more he comes to realize how things could and should be back home in the Silver Isles. It isn’t too long before “Home” comes calling, demanding the Prince’s return.
The Court of the Mer King, where Dover grew up, is morally bankrupt. Filled to the brim with greedy bigots, racists, liars, and thieves who are doing all they can to keep Ben and Dover apart, including threats of banishment, imprisonment, and death. Ben just wants to create his art and love his sweet Prince in their little cottage by the river. Dover wants his family to love him as well as accept his mate but knows that will never happen. The two have to be careful and watch their backs because there are quite a few secrets at court no one knows about…or do they? Dover has a secret of his own that could also get him killed, and he suspects his father is going insane because of a generational witch’s curse.
One has to but briefly look beneath the layer of fantasy in, “The Guppy Prince,” to see the truths relevant in the world today. People in political power shaming those who are different based on gender/ class identity (Alpha/Omega), sexual identity (gay, bi, polyamorous), religious identity (sea witches), race identity (humans), handicapability (those born with guppy tails, or other fins, tails, tentacles different than full-blooded Merfolk), etc. to the point of imprisonment, banishment (excluding – sent to live in the seas deepest depths), and even death.
The man (king) sitting in the highest chair in the land has all these people advising him on what to do, and how to act, but the king just sits like the ones before him, acting as if he were going insane. The book feels just a smidge satirical if you ask me. By accident or design, who knows, I just found it honest and intriguing.
Though this is an Alpha/omegaverse with Mpreg, the Mpreg takes a back seat. It is important in understanding the overall situation within the kingdom, but it is NOT about the two MCs making three, like most Mpregs, though it is mentioned. So, if you hang back from Mpreg because it weirds you out, or just isn’t for you, this one isn’t about the pregnancy as much as it is about raising (and even saving one) the children. So, no birth scenes.
4.00 blue-tail-stars🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Reviewer
I am like totally psyched to be a part of the PRG Family! (said in my best “Valley Girl” teen voice from 1984) I may be fairly new to the world of e-books, and audiobooks, but I am an old school girl so my print library reflects that. My sons call my reading room “The Dragon Lair,” with all the floor to ceiling bookshelves packed with everything from shifter romance novels to books on the Witches’ Goddess Hecate.
I love reading and read my first novel, “The Ring,” by Danielle Steel when I was in the 5th grade. While there were some things I didn’t “get” I completely understood the story as a whole and remember crying at certain times. While my friends read “Little House in the Big Woods,” I fell in love with ROMANCE! Decades later I am older, hopefully wiser, and still in love with romance. These days however my heart is captured by MM Romance, so that’s what I currently love to read and review….
The Paranormal Romance Guild was established in 2009 by 8 Indie Authors and one Reviewer to be a constant help for authors. You can be a free author member, submitting your work for review OR become a Premium Author Member for a small yearly fee and enjoy many extra services including Free Beta Reads, Author Giveaways and many others. Your reviews are posted on our 3 FB Sites, Amazon, Goodreads, Twitter and Instagram. WE REVIEW ALL GENRES LGBTQ+ welcome.
Check out our website: https://www.paranormalromanceguild.com/
