The Stablemaster's Heart (Tales of Lilleforth Book 2) by Sarah Honey

The Stablemaster's Heart is the second book in the Tales of Lilleforth series, with an age gap and demi rep.

From the blurb:

Mother Jones has spent his life working hard, running the royal stables at Lilleforth, and watching on fondly as those around him fall in love and lust.

But nobody, man or woman, has ever stoked that fire for him—right until the new royal groom barrels into his life. Vasily is all sunshine smiles, golden hair and laughter. For the first time, Mother finds himself attracted to someone, and he can’t help wondering what it might be like to court—and bed—his handsome new groom.

But Mother is over thirty, rough around the edges, and hardly a catch.

Vasily couldn’t possibly return his affections—could he?

Vasily Petrov, the fourth son of the king of Koroslova, is travelling incognito for a year. In Koroslova the old ways are the only ways, and a man being attracted to another man is unthinkable—especially if you're a prince. But in Lilleforth, Vasily has the chance to spread his wings and explore the side of himself that he can no longer deny, and he intends to make the most of it.

Except, he’s falling for his stablemaster—and worse, Mother doesn’t know he’s a prince, and Vasily doesn’t know how to tell him. And the longer he waits, the more he fears losing what they have when the truth comes out.

This was not the plan.

Sheena's Review:

The Stablemaster's Heart is the second in the Tales of Lilleforth series, it would be better read as part of the series, not so much as a standalone, even though it's different characters, some knowledge of the world and the characters introduced in the first book would be helpful.  

I loved the first book, and was so looking forward to this. It didn't disappoint, and does have a very different feel to the first book. We met Mother Jones in Book 1, he is the Stablemaster of the title, and I was looking forward to his story. This is an age gap (although Mother isn't as old as I first thought), demisexual representation, prince/commoner story and I loved it.  

I loved Vasily and Mother (while I did find the name strange, after a while I got used to it, but did love that Vasily called him his 'other' name while they were together). It was so heartwarming to see the slow burn of Vas and Mother's story, they were so sweet together but I always had this sense of impending doom as Vasily was keeping his secret from Mother. I so hoped for a happy ending for these two but couldn't see how they'd get it. I love that they did though, this was such a great story and I really look forward to more in this world. 

Rating: 4.25 Stars

The Stablemaster's Heart is available to buy as an ebook, paperback, or to read with Kindle Unlimited subscription.