The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Raven Prince
Book Review: Finally an historical with teeth
Summary: 5 Stars
Yes, I will rank her up there with earlier Loretta Chase and Lisa Kleypas. This book is incredibly good don't miss it. I especially loved the ending and the way the heroine didn't wait around to be rescued. Great job.Book Review: Four and a Half Stars
Summary: 4 Stars
The Raven Prince follows the developing relationship of Mrs Anna Wren and the Earl of Swartingham (Edward). Anna becomes the Earl's secretary to earn the money her household needs to stay solvent. However, when she learns the Earl intends to visit a brothel in London, she decides to take matters into her own hands and rendezvous with him there as a mystery woman rather than have him satisfy his desires with anyone else.
What makes the story for me, are the characters of Anna and Edward. They come alive on the page and you're completely pulled into their world. They are well-matched, Edward has a formidable temper - no china ornament is safe when he's around - but Anna is more than capable of standing up for herself.
He hesitated. "I wouldn't want to intimidate you, Mrs. Wren."
"You don't."
There's also a thread of humour that runs through the book, moreso in the early part before everything goes wrong, though it also pops its head up again towards the end. Edward is very sharp. And I could quote and quote from their snappy exchanges but I'll leave them for you enjoy when you read the book.
The story is beautifully constructed. I don't want to give anything away, but there are small incidents or things that are mentioned in passing that have greater relevance later in the story. So it's well worth taking the time to savour the story rather than rush through it. The secondary characters are also well written - whether villain or friend.
The love scenes are sensual but it is the relationship between the characters that I love, the little details that have raised this to a keeper for me. I can't say that The Raven Prince has converted me to historicals, but I'll definitely be picking up the rest of Elizabeth Hoyt's backlist.
Book Review: Gentle Georgian Romance
Summary: 4 Stars
Anna is a young widow living with her mother-in-law in the country. To make ends meet she takes a job as secretary to a local aristocrat, Edward Earl of Swartingham, and an attraction begins to develop. His family died from small pox which has left him badly scarred, then his first wife died in childbirth. Throw in a charming secondary story about the Raven Prince, a cute mastiff along with a forbidden night at a high class brothel in London and you have this gentle romance.
****Possible Spoilers****
There are two main conflicts in the book, first is two blackmailers one of whom was having an affair with Anna's late husband and the other an unscrupulous aristocrat, then there's Anna's infertility. The relationship between the couple is believable although I felt Anna protested that they couldn't get married for far too long. Overall a great first novel.
Book Review: Gosh.......
Summary: 5 Stars
.....I can't believe this book is actually as good as all the reviews say it is. I began to read it as soon as I got it out of the Amazon box. It has been my unpleasant experience with these reviews that a book which receives only super positive reviews just has to be too good to be true. But in this case, it is really as good as everyone says.
The hero and heroine are both believable people. They have flaws, both physically and emotionally but this author has allowed them to live normal lives in spite of their past histories. Anna is sweet, caring, competent and would make a wonderful best friend. Edward has some rough edges but then, most of us want our hero to need the association of a loving woman to help him overcome those sandpaper tendencies. Elizabeth Hoyt allowed this romance to progress slowly and naturally. It felt as if these characters fell in love because they got to know each other. Yes, there are very sensual love scenes in the book but they fit the characters and the plot perfectly.
If this is a debut novel, it is the best debut I've ever read. And believe me folks, I'm picky, picky. If I had to make a comment, it would be about the excerpts from the fairy tale which preceed each chapter. I wanted to get on with this story so much that I didn't want to slow down to read the fairy tale. I finally solved my problem by waiting until I had finished the book and then reading the fairy tale all at once. Wow, isn't that a huge problem???? There is an excerpt from the next book (The Leopard Prince) included and I see that the male lead is Harry Pye from this book. I'm glad. He had intrigued me. This book states that The Leopard Prince will be released in Fall of 2007 but I see that Amazon shows it to be released in April 2007. Hopefully we can all wait that long!!!!
Book Review: Got there....
Summary: 4 Stars
Slow start to the book, and was beginning to wonder when Anna and Edward were going to actually do something about their feelings for each other. Gave it a 4* because of this.
Was better once it got going.
Enjoyed the ending too.
This was the first book I read by this author, and it won't be my last. Like the fact that EH doesn't write about picture perfect characters.