Sleeping Love by Natalina Reis – Review by Dr. Anya Schultz

Sleeping Love by Natalina Reis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sleeping Love is an MM Romance Fantasy story about a man named Ayo who is banished by his kingdom, but quickly finds himself on a quest to save his love, Prince Yi, and his magic. The Prince and Ayo grew up together as “brothers” but he quickly realized he loved him, but due to the prince’s cruel father, this is a path that could never be. Eventually, the king banishes Ayo, to an awful island that finds a way to kill many of its inhabitants, and steals his magic in hopes to use it for himself. Ayo comes to find out that the kingdom was put under a spell and his prince is in a deep sleep. This spell is hitting many of the realms so that the Mulluk can obtain more power, or that is at least the thought. Ayo is able to wake his prince with “a kiss”, and they begin their journey to save the kingdom and Ayo’s magic. We quickly learn that the prince feels the same way and is in love with Ayo, however, Ayo is questioning so many things because he knows Yi is hiding something. Ayo, Yi, and other comrades make their way to get Ayo’s magic back, learn about Ayo’s past, and try and save the realms.
I liked that the storyline seemed to move along quickly and is a standalone book. There were parts that I thought were odd or unnecessary due to the lack of information provided for it, but overall was a good story. It was full of humor, strength, romance, and adventure. I enjoyed the characters for the most part. Bai Qian, one of the comrades, is a female princess but wants to destroy the female persona for the time. She was a great character – she was badass, royal, strong, smart, and cunning. She was quite funny and enjoyable to read about. As for the main characters, Ayo and Yi, they too were great characters. There were times that Ayo got on my nerves because of his insecurities, but overall, he was a loving, devoted love interest. Yi was more my type of character. While he was royal, he was down-to-earth, loving, honest, and not shy about who he was. The love story uses old tales to show how powerful a kiss can be!

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