Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: The Soldati Prince
AUTHOR: Charlie Cochet
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 97 Pages
RELEASE DATE: November 23, 2016
BLURB:
One moment Riley Murrough is living a normal life working in a coffee shop, and the next he’s running for his life from demons, learns he bears the mark of a shape-shifter king from a magical realm, and—worst of all—he’s destined to become the mated prince to the arrogant tiger shifter he would rather strangle.
Khalon, the shifter king, is equally distraught at the idea of being bound to a human prince, and along with his Soldati warriors, he sets out to return Riley to his own world where he belongs. On their journey they might discover why the priestess brought them together—if they can escape the demons and make it to her alive.
REVIEW:
I remembered reading this novella in its previous release within an anthology. I saw it show up on the Dreamspinner Press list and signed up to review this new edition thinking it might be different, or expanded…or something. I don’t believe it was changed at all from the original release, except to stand on its own. I would have liked more, and I think it needed more.
The Soldati Prince is the story of a young man named Riley Murrough, a coffee shop barista who one night at closing time gets assaulted by demons. When he runs to try to escape, he is rescued by tiger shifters who whisk him off to an alternate land, somewhere in upstate New York.
Riley learns that everything he has known and believed about the world isn’t necessarily true. There is much more than just the human world. All those things he has seen in movies…like shifters, demons and monsters…are actually real. They are just hidden from humankind. He also finds out that he is the fated mate of the King of the Soldati, a race of tiger shape shifters. But he is still human, and mortal, and weak. The King of the Soldati isn’t interested in human or mortal or weak. His fated mate is all three. There must be a mistake!
Thus begins the tale. I liked the premise. Did it need more in my opinion as I mentioned at the top of the review? Yes. It was all just a little too vague, I never meshed with the story and I kept finding myself hoping I’d turn a page and I would have an ‘aha’ moment. But I didn’t.
The story was okay in my opinion, in a sort of alternate world / fairy tale-ish sort of way. I’m not sure if this is the beginning of a new series or not. There is no mention of that on the Dreamspinner Press website, but on Goodreads it is listed as Soldati Hearts #1. This novella ends in mid-air, just like it did in the first release. I would recommend waiting to see if there is more coming.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
Thanks for your honest review. So many folks give everything 4-5 stars and never seem to find fault in anything. I find fault in just about everything, lol. Especially in the flooded market of romance and all of it’s sub-genres. I have mixed feelings about reading this one, and usually DO wait for a series to have a few installments out before beginning it, just so I don’t get stuck waiting for a resolution to a cliffhanger, or simply the next book if I like it. At less than 100 pages, this is a short story, IMO, and will be placed pretty low on my towering TBR pile. I DO enjoy the Thirds series, even if it’s a bit “light” for me, and the MCs here definitely seem to mirror Dex (Riley) and Sloane.