Review - The Prince's Dearest Guards by Beau Van Dalen

Prince Hal is celebrating his 21st birthday, although he doesn’t feel much like enjoying the party. The Prince is desperate to lose his virginity. That will probably have to wait, since tradition requires Hal to go on a hunt with his two newly appointed personal guards. When Hal meets his two guards, his outlook about the future changes drastically. He only needs to screw up the courage to tell the two handsome men what he wants.

This novella covers just a few days in the life of Prince Hal, who outwardly presents as male but has the body of a woman. If you didn’t know it from the blurb, you might be surprised to learn Hal is trans when he finally reveals his body to his guards about halfway through. Contrary to Hal’s misgivings, the two men accept him as he is and continue to treat the Prince as a man, mostly.

Hal lives in a curious fantasy world where magic is apparently real, although it doesn’t play a big part in the story. That gives it a little leeway in developing the characters. One of the issues I’ve noticed recently with stories featuring trans characters is that the character development can feel “off.” It’s primarily that the people don’t reflect any of the body issues – dysphoria – that I have come to know from the trans people in my life. The Prince displays enough insecurity about his body to be believable, even if it does stretch things a bit.

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“The Prince's Dearest Guards” is available from Smashwords or Amazon (commissionable link).