The Raven Prince
by Elizabeth Hoyt
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Book Reviews of The Raven Prince
Book Review: Heavy on the passion, light, on the plotting, enjoyable
Summary: 4 Stars
A very enjoyable read, even though it is a bit heavy on the sensual/erotica side. I was close to giving this book 5 stars, but it seemed a bit lacking in the plotting / vivid settings and bit too heavy in the love scenes for me to give it the 5 stars. I prefer a novel in which the descriptive actions and settings is on equal footing with the banter, the dialogue; however, the banter and conversation overshadows the action and settings in THE RAVEN PRINCE.
Still, THE RAVEN PRINCE is too sweet, too fun to really dislike, even if the sensual passion and dialogue seem to reign supreme. Also, there's a bit of a discourse on feminism in the beginning of the novel which I really didn't care for.
I was surprised to read a novel which seemed to get stronger and stronger the more you read it. I was actually having the most fun in the second half of THE RAVEN PRINCE. The story within the story about the fairy tale titled The Raven Prince which gives the book its title was also very endearing.
Like most romance novels, the heart of THE RAVEN PRINCE belongs with our heroine Anna, as she breaks all social barriers and goes to whatever lengths necessary to claim her man.
The Story, possible SPOILERS.
Near-destitute thirty-one year-old Lady Anna Wren, widowed for 6 years, lives with her mother-in-law and seeks employment to improve her impoverished conditions. Although unbecoming of a lady, Anna reasons that it's better to take a hit in status than not live at all. This constitutes the first of many steps Anna takes to break out of her lady-like shell.
Enter our tall, dark, broad-shouldered and unforgivably rich Earl of Swarthingham, Lord Edward de Raaf. Known for his ugly visage due to his pox scars and rueful temper, he's chased away the last two secretaries and it falls on his pitiful and mercy-worthy steward Mr. Felix Hopple to find one in a day. Anna is at the right place at the right time, and though unheard, Mr. Hopple agrees to take on Lady Anna as the earl's secretary.
After Edward meets Anna as his secretary, tempers and passions flare and the story takes off from there. When Anna learns Edward plans to travel to London to satisfy his manly needs, she follows him and meets him at a stylish bordello as a masked temptress. When Edward finally discerns the identity of the masked temptress who seduces him for two nights in a row, the story couldn't get anymore fun.
My biggest complaint...
Not surprisingly, the range of depth in our heroine Anna's characterization far outshines that of our hero. It seemed all too easy to simply just kill off everyone from Edward's past life, his parents, his sister, his brother, his wife and his stillborn child. After Edward shares how his wife and child died, it came to a point like... c'mon enough already, okay, he has a tortured, wounded past, we get it already! I did appreciate how Edward wasn't a reputed libertine, and actually tries to make something of his estate before Anna. Still, Anna's characterization seemed far more interesting and realistic and Hoyt spends much more time with her obviously. Her desire and need to bear a child she couldn't with her first husband was poignant.
Despite Edward's egregious and fulsome wounded past, traces of feminism in the beginning and a little too much of lovemaking, the book settled on an enjoyable pace, ending very satisfactorily.
Book Review: The horny secretary and the lonely Earl
Summary: 2 Stars
Anna is a penniless, plain widow who needs to get a job (and not a rich husband as it seems to be the usual goal of penniless heroines) in order to keep herself, her mother in law and a maid in training. Edward is an Earl who is in dire need of a secretary since he appears to be unable to keep one for more than a few months due to his legendary foul temper. So, she starts working for him which is not a problem at all, I am sure women became secretaries all the time in Georgian times.
The cause for Edward's temper is that he has issues: his family died when he was a child due to the smallpox and he is the only one to have survived - he has pox marks all over his body which makes him ugly to everyone including his late wife who died in childbirth cursing his ugliness. But it turns out, Anna doesn't think he is ugly, she finds him attractive. He also finds her attractive but cannot make a move because she is a lady after all. Not only she is a lady, she is also a lady who cannot have children and what Edwards wants more than anything in his life, is to have a family. And this is why he goes to London in order to arrange a marriage with a chit who cannot look directly into his eyes but who says that the marks in his face do not bother her, and he is so desperate he actually believes her. Oh, he also goes to London because he needs to attend to his bodily functions and get rid of his desire for Anna by having sex with a prostitute at this exclusive brothel called Aphrodite' Grotto.
But Anna, the plain, penniless secretary who at this point has major hots for the Earl is a cunning feminist who believes women have the same rights as men to have sex without being called whores by society. What does she do then? She asks a prostitute that by a Deus Ex Machina of a secondary plot lands at her door step to help her get into the brothel so she can pretend to be a prostitute without Edward's ever knowing. What ensue then are two torrid encounters that leaves me, Anna and Edward breathless. Also, who ever knew that a simple mask could be such an effective disguise?
Of course, Edward ends up finding out about the plot, gets really upset (he even cries, thinking that she might have had sex with other men other than him or that she was only attracted to his pox marks) but sees no other option than to ask her to marry him. Which she refuses because she cannot deny him the right to have children. Until they eventually get together and work out their issues and there comes the Happily Ever After which surprise, surprise, involves children.
What started as an original premise quickly became an unbelievable plot that involved more sex than love. I could not see how, when or why they fell in love with each other. As a matter of fact, it was not even clear to me that they were so attracted to each other or that the sexual tension was powerful enough to make Anna take such a desperate measure as to pretend to be a prostitute. Edward on the other hand, was calling her "my Anna" in a point of the story where they were hardly even friends.
I did not connect to the characters mainly because I didn't see their connection to each other. I started out very excited about this book, having read nothing but raving reviews everywhere but must say I ended up sorely disappointed.
Review courtesy of The Book Smugglers
Book Review: A Perfect Example of Why You Should Never Accept 5 Star Reviews at Face Value
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm one of the few who DIDN'T read this book based on the glowing and exalting reviews. I actually purchased it used from the library bookstore, having never heard of the book or the author before. I suspect that fact allowed me to enjoy the book at least a little more than someone who was led to believe that it was the greatest thing since ice-cream.
I have to say that this book, to me at least, was still much better than the sequel (the Leopard Prince). At least the body parts weren't described in completely impossible ways -- and there weren't any "weeping opening(s)". That's probably the only thing that brought this book up to a 3.
It's not that it was so poorly written (not all historicals have to contain greatly researched data), or that the characters were so terrible (they all had their moments), or even that I thought it was too contemporary for the time period (I can suspend reality for a while). No, really what was so bad was the *romance*. Not the sex, since that was pretty hot (and not the least bit pornographic people! sheesh!). It's just that there didn't even seem to be a reason for the two of them to LIKE eachother, let alone LOVE eachother.
I can accept that two people who are not terriby attractive to the rest of the world can be attractive to each other -- that's the way love works. But they really never talk. They don't seem to share anything except a bed and a work space. They could be completely lovely people but all we're ever seen as a testament to their character is that Anna helps prostitutes and Edward helps his tenant farmers. There are plenty of things that evidence the flaws in their character.
I don't really have a problem with Anna going to the brothel and playing the whore for the night. At the time she wasn't trying to seduce him. She simply wanted the freedom to explore their desire the same way a man would. It was only AFTER the fact that she realized the encounter(s) meant more to her than they would have to him. He saw it as an anonymous encounter.
The whole "does she like me for my scars", closely followed by the "she must not like me because of my scars" got old. But not nearly as old as his coffee breath. Every time Edward came near her, he smelled of coffee. I'm pretty sure I'd be nauseated by that point. Also, I'm not sure "bony feet" (among other rather... off... descriptions given of a naked Edward) are all that arousing.
On a whole, this a completely average read. Not bad for a debut (certainly better than others), and not even as bad as the sequel. But is it the greatest book ever? Not even close. Is it the funniest, most romantic, most anything? Nope. But if you're looking for a simple book, easy to follow, nothing to really challenge you... this will probably fit the bill. Without giving out a billion spoilers like some people, I will say that it does have a happy ending. And you should be warned that, while not pornographic, the sex scenes are pretty detailed. If you read the negative reviews, tht is clearly a concern that many people have.
I'm not sure that I'll read another book by this author, but not because of this one. I DID read another book by her (the Leopard Prince) and disliked it. But I don't feel awful that I've read this book, which means that it could always have been worse.
Book Review: A Delightful Historical Romance with a Fairy Tale Twist!
Summary: 5 Stars
We are not all what we seem, is one of the themes that pervades this story, as well as the delightful introductions to each chapter of the real fairy tale The Raven Prince, that make this story a delight and a book difficult to put down. Edward De Raff, the fifth Earl of Swartingham is a large, pox-marked man, and is the lone survivor of the horrible smallpox disease that took his entire family in his youth. He returns to his home estate plagued with memories of them and a past marriage that ended in the death of his wife in childbirth; a wife who died unable to love him because of his scars. He plans to remarry the young, quiet, Lady Gerard, who continues to tell him (while always looking down at her hands) that the scars do not matter. But this man is also known for a temper and now has a more difficult situation because he is in need of a secretary; one that will stay with him long enough to complete his manuscript.
Anna Wren has lived in Little Battleford her entire life. A beautiful widow of good moral standing in the community, she has been living for the past six years with her mother-in-law and a young woman in need the two women took in. She has been hurting financially and emotionally, as when her husband passed, he not only left her to live with a financial burden, but with sad memories of a childless and unfaithful marriage. She is thinking through her situation and how she is to continue feeding her little family, when the Earl charges through town on his horse and nearly runs her over and unseats himself. As he rages out of the mud puddle he has fallen into, Anna sees this famous temper for herself, but also finds that she is intrigued by this large man. She soon learns the Earl's steward is looking for a secretary and asks for the position. Mr. Hopple is desperate and he hires Anna.
When Anna arrives at the estate to begin her job it is the Earl's turn to be intrigued. He finds her beautiful and intelligent and soon finds himself overwhelmed by lust for her. He travels to London to visit a famous brothel, Aphrodite's Grotto to work off his lust and temptation for Anna. Anna is drawn to the Earl as well and becomes angry that he would lust for her and then turn to another woman. She wants to disguise and mask herself and request the Earl as her guest at Aphrodite's Grotto. At one time Anna rescued a prostitute, Pearl, from the side of the road, after she was beaten and left for dead. Anna turns to Pearl for help, as Pearl knows the owner of Aphrodite's Grotto. Edward and Anna meet for two nights of passion so intense that they are both haunted with the sensual pleasure afterward. Soon Edward finds out it was Anna he met with and once his anger subsides, he makes the decision to end the arranged marriage to Lady Gerard and marry Anna. Anna feels she is not good enough for Edward, especially because she feels she is childless, and the chase, continued lust, passion and love build to a delightful ending.
The Raven Prince is truly a beautiful story with characters that are real and unforgettable. The love scenes are beautifully written. It is a story that makes you believe that true love conquers all. Elizabeth Hoyt is one of those authors that will not be able to write fast enough for her fans.
Book Review: Just different enough to be interesting!
Summary: 4 Stars
Widow Anna Wren finds herself in some financial straits. With her mother-in-law to help support, she decides to find work. Luckily, Edward de Raaf, Earl of Swartingham, has just run off his last secretary with his grouchy temper, and Anna is hired by the earl to do whatever it is that secretaries do. Naturally, they find themselves attracted to each other and fall in love, yaddayaddayadda. When Anna finds out Edward has been using a brothel in London for his "manly needs," she decides that she should jump in on the deal and disguises herself at the brothel to have a fantabulous night in his arms. In the meantime, various and sundry subplots, including several blackmail schemes, abound.
If you're tired of those gorgeous heroes and heroines who would easily gloss the covers of Cosmo without airbrushing, then grab this book. Both the hero and heroine are described as rather plain. Our hero is even ::gasp:: pock-marked! You can see some future angsting from this, of course. Our heroine is, naturally, plucky and practical, as all good heroines are.
Hoyt has written a tightly woven story of two people who need each other. There's the usual mutual admiration society, the falling in like, then love. At the same time the characters themselves come to life. Hoyt gives them their own quirks and personalities that are just different enough from your run-of-the-mill, interchangeable historical romance characters that they do stand out.
Even to the point that you may sometimes get irritated at them. The heroine's eyes were eternally tearing up and leaky. Not that she was weepy by any means. Just that she tears up. A lot. And the hero constantly had coffee breath. It was mentioned repeatedly. Granted, as my husband pointed out, if you have even just one cup of coffee in the morning, your breath smells like coffee all day.
Hoyt plays out what could have been a trite and tired old plotline (the heroine disguising herself so she can sleep with the hero without him knowing) to the fullest, and realistically enough that you do buy it as something that could feasibly happen. The characters' reactions and reasoning make sense. Even with the leaky eyes and coffee breath.
The secondary characters were interesting without taking over the story. Edward's valet, for instance, was a crotchety old man with no respect for the earl. He made my laugh a few times.
This wasn't quite the angsty, dark book I was hoping for, but it was a greatly enjoyable read nonetheless. Pick it up and enjoy!