The Summer Palace and Other Stories

Green but for a Season
Probably my favourite, but super biased beacuse Jord and Aimeric are probably my favourite characters (I know, I like sad things, what can I say). I would've liked to see more about the two characters' past, to be honest, like Jord's life before being noticed, or Aimeric's life in Fortaine (yes, this just me being biased again, and wishing for more glimpses into Aimeric's past/mind but it's ok). In the end, this is about Jord becoming who Laurent's trusted man and about their relationship rather than whatever was going on between Jord and Aimeric. But 15-years-old Laurent is funny
The Summer Palace
I know that for many this is the best short story, for me it's the exact opposite. It's cute yes, but meh. I kind of hate this new lovey-dovey, soft Laurent (shocking, I know). I liked him more when he was all bitchy and bossy, this it barely felt like him, which is the problem I had with the last book (along with the -imo- rushed ending). It felt like reading an ooc fluffy fic with a hint of smut, and nothing else
The Adventures of Charls, the Veretian Cloth Merchant This was funny! Nothing else to say, honestly
PetI really didn't need to read about the garden scene in the first book from Ancel's pov. But his banter with Berenger was hilarious.   “Do you even like horses?”
‘I can't read,' said Ancel.
“I see,” said Berenger. 

This is a collection of 4 short stories set in the same universe as Pacat's [b:Captive Prince 9305362 Captive Prince (Captive Prince, #1) C.S. Pacat https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1356028113l/9305362.SY75.jpg 14188292] series. The stories are as follows:1. Green But For a Season (Jord x Aimeric set in book 2)Story #1 wasn't anything special in my opinion. Perhaps this is because I didn't really care about this pairing during the series. Also, I didn't think this was especially well written.2. the Summer Palace (Damen x Laurent set after the end of book 3)Even though this one is technically the epilogue to the series, again, it fell a bit flat as with story #1. It was nice reading about the aftermath of Laurent's and Damen's successions, but the story itself didn't offer anything new that we didn't already read in the 3rd book.3. The Adventures of Charls, The Veretian Cloth Merchant (epilogue 2.0 set after book 3 and the Summer Palace epilogueThis one was my favourite in the collection. It had an intrigue and an adventure at its heart, and it had some of Pacat's signature humour interspersed in between the action. I liked Charls in the main series, so I guess it makes sense that I liked him here too. Even more so, I loved Laurent and Damen here (much more than in Summer Palace because they reminded me of how they were in book 2 (i.e., disguising themselves and sneaking around on secret missions without anyone else's knowledge). It was nice to see the duo go off on a secret adventure again.4. Pet (Ancel x Berenger, set in book 1)Finally, the last story took me by surprise. I didn't think I'd be interested in a story about Ancel, but it ended up being my second favourite story in this collection. Ancel didn't really grab my attention in book 1 (and Berenger even less so), but here he was given more depth, which made him ultimately interesting and more sympathetic.Overall, I wasn't crazy about this collection, and if hadn't it been for story #3, I would have found it all rather disappointing. I still love the main series though, and I'm glad I got to read the epilogue through these short stories.

I miss them already