The Prince of Prohibition ♥ Marilyn Marks ♥ Fae of the Roaring Age #1

Published March 2023 ♥ Independently Published by Marilyn Marks

Book Two Review : The Veil of Violence: Exploring Love and Betrayal

Thoughts I had while reading The Prince of Prohibition

Disclaimer : I was sent a copy of The Prince of Prohibition in exchange for a review. If you have been around for a while, you’ll know ARC reading isn’t something I do a lot of. My general rule is, if I read it as an ARC, I planned on reading it when it was published.

I’ll confess, The Prince of Prohibition wasn’t even close to being on my radar when author Marilyn Marks reached out to me. But, all it took was one look at the synopsis and I was sold. Which is odd. It’s no secret urban fantasy is not generally my jam, but this is set in the twenties and I thought that was a nice little twist.

Truthfully, it was the first paragraph of the synopsis that hooked me and I’m glad I took the bait. These are my honest thoughts and opinions. As always, my thoughts probably contain spoilers. To avoid them, skip on down to my Final Thoughts.

Part One : The Hierophant 

1. Sweet merciful unicorns, I’m loving the vibes so far. Saints don’t sell their souls, baby. 
2. Whispers of Adeline being Satan’s daughter and her Papa singing to a Dark Lord. Oh my.
3. What does The Woman in White want with Adeline’s life?
4. Pretty sure striking this bargain is going to cause some problems. 
5. Adeline out here bartering left right and centre with the devil-folk. 
6. I’m suspicious of this FBI deal. With Papa dead, is someone using Tommy to get to Adeline?
7. Quite the dreams Adeline has of this Dark Prince. 
8. Queen of Sheba. I never hear that reference anymore. 
9. Someone is definitely orchestrating this whole little move to New York. I like Lillian though. 
10. Is Mr. Jack Warren the golden eyed dark prince in Adeline’s dreams? I mean, obviously, but for real is he?
11. Is Lillian fae?  She knows she’s taking Adeline to a fae party. 
12. Well hello, Violet. Why so interested in Adeline? Are you The Woman in White? 
13. I’m still not so sure about Tommy being in the FBI. Asshat definitely should have told his sister they were moving into a wolf den though. 
14. I feel like I’m gonna like this devil. 
15. What are you up to Adeline? 
16. I could do with a bit more dialogue. 
17. Is Adeline really going to try to blackmail-barter her way out of New York? And why are they not talking about the elephant at the supper table?
18. I mean, what are you planning on doing for a living to keep the farm Adeline? 
19. I do enjoy Jack’s attitude. 
20. Interesting woman Violet is. I love when bitches are up to shit. 
21. Ngl I kinda feel for Adeline and this constant stream of fear she’s got for the devil-folk. She’s going bananas. 
22. The Calamity. Sounds like fun. 

Part Two : The Devil

1. I feel like we are getting somewhere now. No more ignoring the elephant in the room. 
2. That is correct Adeline, you are not insane. Poor thing. 
3. Hide Adeline again? What!? No wonder Jack was so persistent with the where of it all. 
4. High up and high af. 
5. What’s with the mind slipping to darkness? 
6. The trauma. 
7. Hot damn I like Violet. 
8. Slow ya roll there Adeline. I get it, it’s been an eventful twelve hours, but the poor girl is bordering on hysteria. 
9. Should have stopped time earlier there Jack. 
10. Was Papa a superstitious fool or was he hiding Adeline on purpose? Was he working with someone to hide her? 
11. Ah so Lillian is in the know? Cheeky little chicky. 
12. Yea Lillian, what did you just say?
13. Say what now Jack? Kill a Druid? 
14. Oh Papa. 
15. There’s no way Adeline is letting go of this banishment business. I’m surprised she didn’t jump out a window again.
16. Ah so what has Delsaran been doing to make himself so powerful? Dabbling in the dark arts? 
17. I’m curious about the missing Celtic mythology. Is it a plot point? Or just a general comment? Anarchy!
18. I’ve chuckled to myself out loud a few times now. “No, that can’t be right.”
19. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be quite as funny as I find it. But like, “magic wants me to put a baby in you” is fucking hilarious. 
20. I’m wondering about The Woman in White again. She must have known something about something. 
21. It was a little funny, Adeline. Crack a smile girl. Will seems okay. 
22. Lillian is your friend Adeline. Quite frankly you’d be dead by now if it was not for her spying. She’s an absolute delight and I will not stand for this! 
23. Excuse me Jack, what do you mean ‘this time’? Have there been other incarnations of Adeline? 
24. Is it too soon to say I am in love with Jack?
25. Ffs Adeline. My empathy is wearing thin. Poor thing is as fragile as a gd bird. 
26. Oh Lillian. 
27. Really Adeline, extra onions and garlic bread.. for breakfast? 
28. Love affair off. Jack despises cats. 
29. I’m suspicious of how long the Woman in White has been eliminating the glamour touched. Adeline is rare af and I feel like that’s The Woman in White’s doing. 
30. I like Arthur. I’m digging the whole Band of Banished really. 
31. I like Violet even more now knowing the bits of her past. The serpent likeness. Love it. 
32. Liking the growth Adeline is showing here.
33. Well hello there Librarian. 
34. I hope Mrs. Bernthal falls down a flight of stairs.  
35. Fucking tell her Violet. 
36. Do you know who my daddy is?!?!? Go Adeline. About damn time. 
37. Hey now, don’t go back to being a doormat. You did well Adeline. Violet is just Violet. 
38. A trip to Bang Town would take the edge off. 
39. Harold ! 
40. Yea, piss on her leg next time Jack. 
41. The Woman in White is one crazy bitch. 
42. I love the vines. The little things they do. 
43. Immortality or not, time taints us all Adeline. 
44. This reading should be interesting.
45. Damn them endless loops. 
46. Ugh, Tommy. Wtf man. 
47. Someone got to Tommy. Question is, who? 
48. High five Adeline and fuck you Tommy. 
49. It’s the little things Jack does. The tiny things Adeline notices. 
50. FBI special forces Knights of Templar edition. I dig. 
51. A fucking bank heist. With a mother fucking dragon. 
52. This fucking book cracks me up. 
53. Sweet merciful unicorns Batman. 
54. An old soul..because she literally has one? 
55. Yea Arthur, stay on your Bogoran-foresaken tile.  
56. Fuck yea. 

Part Three : The Wheel of Fortune

1. Is Adeline the fucking wraith? 
2. Ngl I thought we were gonna meet a troll. 
3. I was with the daughter thing til the birthday thing and now what’s this chatter of daughter?
4. Love of mine, someday you will die but I’ll be close behind, I’ll follow you into the dark..
5. So here’s the thing, I’m not against this sex scene. But it’s morning now and I’m over it. I want to know about these new superpowers. 
6. Caveman Jack!
7. I used to have a tweak in my shoulder. Oh Violet you kill me. 
8. I’d like to hear what Lillian has to say. 
9. Um, hello, I’m concerned about what you have become.
10. Nah, there’s definitely someone or something else pulling strings for Delsaran. 
11. I’m interested in the missing tenth Dianomican. 
12. Well hot damn. Too bad the child was not the first. 
13. Interesting. Ngl, that’s not what I thought Adeline would become. 
14. Oh hello Jack chapter. 

My final thoughts on The Prince of Prohibition by Marilyn Marks

First and foremost, I was thoroughly surprised by how much I enjoyed reading The Prince of Prohibition. When I went into this, I thought I was just reading some fun little frivolous romantasy about the fae. Boy was I wrong. I think what surprised me most though, was how damn funny I found this book. I repeatedly laughed out loud.

I loved the characters Marks dreamt up. While our main character, Adeline, may not be my favorite lead character in a series, she’s not the worst either. Adeline has lived a very traumatic and sheltered life. I understood her, but I didn’t love her. I like my female characters strong and full of life. It’s not that Adeline isn’t well-written, she’s just not written for me. That being said, Adeline went through a lot of personal growth throughout The Prince of Prohibition, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of it in the future.

The rest of the characters? Hot damn, loved them all to bits.

I want to be friends with Violet and Lillian.

The plot was delightful, and clever. Our dear glamour touched Adeline finds herself in the company of the Band of Banished and chaos ensues. Some of that chaos just so happens to be a heist. A heist that involves a dragon! A heist that involves a dragon, in the twenties. Maybe it’s a common occurrence, but it was a first for me and I liked it. I liked it a lot.

One of my favorite details was the Knights of Templar and I hope that we see more of that thread in book two. Again, this may be a common theme in period pieces about the fae. But it was a first for me, and I thought it was a clever detail.

As it turns out, the journey our characters were on, was not the end.

The bad guys were not the bad guys. Well, they were, but there was more to it. And I was there for it. I want to know more about Jack and Violet and how exactly we got to where we ended in the last chapter of The Prince of Prohibition. Marks seamlessly answered current questions, while opening the door to others. I’m interested in the history of our characters, not just their future.

“Because God isn’t coming for us,” he’d said. “The Devil is.”

“Saints don’t sell their souls, baby.”

The weight of death pressed closely, a dark foreboding so deep, it lay on my chest like a weight and stole the air from my lungs.

A smile curled her lips. Razor teeth glimmered in the starlight.

Wisteria grew above my head, so dense it made a swaying ceiling of violet.

Heat bloomed on my skin, setting fire to an incessant pull deep in my blood.

Another omen dripping with charm, a threat so tantalizing you escorted yourself straight to peril.

He placed a lingering kiss to my jaw, filled with something so dark I feared I’d lose the light.

Most days, I was terrified of what would happen if he actually found me. Others, I secretly prayed he would.

A wrathful goddess, sneering down on her disciples.

The Devil sat on the top floor of The Glamour Hotel.

That simple touch was ecstasy, a symphony, a feeling so lurid that pleasant shivers broke down my spine.

All the great romances that compared love to magic had clearly never met Jack Warren.

You don’t want to fuck him. It’s the magic.

Gnarled trees twisted from burned grass along the fence, nearly obscuring the gravestones scattering the earth like broken teeth.

The walls themselves were made of bones, skulls mostly, but femurs and ribs and clavicles embedded among the fleshless heads too.

The bond curled between us, sweet as honey and fresh like falling rain.

Please Note : A good chunk of my annotations went poof. I had more quotes/passages I liked, but yea, poof. My kobo decided I didn’t need them. Honestly, when she finally dies I think I will officially move over to Kindle. Let me know in the comments how you feel about Kindle. Particularly if you previously used a Kobo. Thanks !

The Prince of Prohibition releases on March 14, 2023

To the best of my knowledge, The Prince of Prohibition will only be available in ebook from Kindle, and paperback print from Barnes & Noble. If you purchase through Kindle, March 14, 2023, is the official date. However, the print copy through Barnes & Noble will not be released until March 24, 2023, according to their webpage.

❥ Purchase : Amazon ♥ Barnes&Noble

❥ Marilyn Marks : Webpage ♥ Instagram ♥ Tiktok ♥ Goodreads

❥ Book Two Review : The Veil of Violence: Exploring Love and Betrayal