When/how/why did you decide to read Caprive Prince? Tell me the whole story!
I read it in summer 2025 for the first time. I have a vague memory that I may have heard the title in some form on tumblr maybe circa 2015 but I'm not entirely sure.
I was really into MXTX works and followed a lot of artists and fic writers on twitter. One of them made a tweet about how before MXTX fandom, they really loved Captive Prince. I used to be an avid reader and was trying to get back into reading published works (not just fics lol) so I placed the first Capri book on hold on Libby along with a bunch of other books I heard were good and that I saw on booktok and would give a try (booktok was a mistake lol). It was like a 4 to 6 week wait I think, so I forgot about it and was reading other series. Honestly, it wasn't something I wasn't necessarily looking forward to; at the time it was just a single book in a growing list of TBR I was creating to get back into reading.
I like not reading blurbs of books and just going in blind, so when I got the notif at work that Captive Prince was available, I was just kinda like "yeah okay, I'll try this one to see if I like it". And it aligned perfectly with timing because I had just finished up another book the night before.
So yeah, I just... started reading with absolutely zero expectations because I literally had not heard a single thing about this series except someone I follow on twitter responding to another tweet saying "I miss my captive prince days I should reread soon".
Open the book, turn the page, read, a bit shocked but not disturbed or anything. I didn't know it was an adult novel but I have no issues with engaging with heavy topics and themes so I keep reading because it's genuinely good.
I don't remember exactly when it happened, but it was probably after the pet ring and before the whipping (or maybe the graden scene??) that it went from an "interesting-so-far" read to an "absolute-page-turner-im-not-sleeping-till-im-done-idk-i-have-work-tomorrow" read. I think I actually only stopped reading to pick up my phone and immediately purchase the whole trilogy next day delivery because I already knew that I needed to own this series and place it in a place of honor on my bookshelf.
The last time I had read a series and absolutely loved it and would stay up late to read was Heaven Official’s Blessing by MXTX back in like 2020-2021. And even now, I can say with my whole chest that Capri is without a doubt my number one fav series by a longshot.
I love that it doesn't worry about censorship. I love Pacat's unique writing style. The way they construct sentences, vocabulary, characters, world, dialogue... my god. And when you think about how short the books really are... Pacat is putting that real estate to WORK!!
And of course it was a whole other feeling of joy discovering the short stories existed after the initial read.
I've still been reading a lot since then and I haven't read anything that comes close to the feeling Capri gave me.
How did you guys hear of Captive Prince? Why did you decide to read it? And if it's your fav, have you been able to find another series that comes close? Because I'm literally still obsessed; reading fics every night, following artists and writers on twitter/bluesky/tumblr, lowkey writing my own fics in my head when I daydream. 24/7 after almost a year no joke it's so serious for me 😭