Speed Date: The Leopard Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt

Current Cover

The Deal: Harry Pye has never had any problem working as a land steward for Lady Georgina Matiland, even though she's a rather unconventional lady and landowner, until he finds himself escorting her back toward her estate in Yorkshire, and they are forced to spend more time together than usual.

Lady George doesn't fit the mold of a society miss, she's wealthy in her own right, too tall and not classically beautiful but, as the sister of an earl, she's accepted in society even if she's not particularly popular. She had never taken notice of Harry, as he tends to blend into the background (by choice) with this brown clothes and brown hair. But his wicked green eyes and dry humor draws her in, bit by bit. 

In Yorkshire, however, there are lots of trouble. As Lady George's estate is next door to the Granville estate, and Harry has a long, complicated relationship with them, sheep keeps on getting poisoned and Harry is being pointed as a possible culprit. 

And the endless Yorkshire rain doesn't help. 

Original Cover

My Thoughts:  I love Harry Pye as a leading man. He isn't as mysterious, flamboyant and dramatic as Simon (from Serpent Prince) and he doesn't have the temper of Edward de Raaf (from the Raven Prince), he's a much more understated sort of hero, but quite alpha in his own quiet way. 

He doesn't throw tantrums or makes wild declarations, but he is very much in charge of himself and his emotions (except where George is concerned) and he doesn't see it like a threat to his masculinity to be working for a female. He likes his job, and is also a very kind man.

Lady George was harder for me to like at times, but she has a good heart and she always means to do well, even if she sometimes gets blinded by her station in life. 

Plus, I really liked the secondary characters and the small cameo appearances by Simon and Edward - I love that this series is connected by the men's friendship.

All in all, the Leopard Prince is definitely on my Top Three of favorite Hoyt books.

1/2

What's a Book Speed Date, you ask? It's a quickie review--about 150 words or so--of any genre book (variety is the spice of life, after all).

If you want to join in or just read other speed date reviews, check out The Book Swarm

Book Review: Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt

At First Sight: Ever since her husband was lost at sea, widower Silence Hollingbrook has devoted her life to the Orphan Home her family runs in St. Giles, and to a particular little girl she found at her doorstep, Mary Darling. 

As far as both of them are concerned, Silence is Mary's mother, and she'll protect her with everything she has, even if that means striking a bargain with the notorious river pirate Mickey O'Connor. Mick claims to be Mary's father and that he left her in Silence's care to keep her safe, but now his enemies - and he has plenty of those - have found out and he has taken Mary to his palace so he can keep the baby girl safe. 

Silence doesn't like or trust Mick - having tangled with him once before with disastrous results - but her love for Mary makes her follow her to Mick's lair, just as he planned. Ever since that night when they struck a bargain that shattered Silence's reputation, he has been fascinated by her and will not rest until she's truly and forever in his grasp.

Second Glance: Though Elizabeth Hoyt has written some of my most favorite books ever, I've been struggling with her Maiden Lane series. I thought the first book, Wicked Intentions,  was okay, not nearly as good as I expected but OK enough. I could never get into the second book - Notorious Pleasures - because I just didn't connect with the characters. Still, I was so excited about Scandalous Desires since it featured a pirate.

And yeah, I liked Scandalous Desires more than I did Wicked Intentions but it was far off from the books I love the most from this author. Mick's past was a bit contrived and I'm not sure I believed it all the way - maybe believed it's not the word, I guess I just didn't care, and it's his past that's fueling the story.

Silence was likable and I enjoyed seeing her take care of Mary and how she starts to make a little place for herself at Mick's palace. But I don't care about her family - and from what I see many of the future books will be about her family - and she has a tendency to run after Mick a lot. 

Also there is this thing that really annoyed me, it regards Mick and his pirating and the dumb reasons he has not to quit and what ends up happening in the end, it felt like a bit of a cope out. 

Bottom Line: Scandalous Desires is an okay read, it's well written and the premise is interesting enough but it's not the best by this author and I actually don't think I'll be continuing with this series. 

2/3

Speed Date: The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt

Current Cover

 The Deal: Realizing that the little money her husband left is no longer enough to support herself and her mother in law, widow Anna Wren decides it's time she finds a job. Luckily for her, she happens to learn that the Earl of Swartingham is in need of a secretary. 

Edward de Raaf, Earl of Swartingham has decided to return to his ancestral home - which he left after a small-pox epidemic whipped out his entire family- with the intention of settling down, getting married and having a few kids. 

Having been widowed for several years, Edward wants his future marriage to be a success. Too bad that he keeps getting distracted by his new secretary, the one person in his life who isn't afraid of his temper, and who doesn't mind his scars. 

Original Cover

My Thoughts: The Raven Prince is one of my favorite books ever, it took me forever to read it because I just wasn't ready to buy into the buzz of it - and it was a very buzzed-about book about five or six years ago - but I loved it. 

It has all the things I love about a good Boss/Secretary story but in an historical setting and it works! Edward and Anne have their issues and life hasn't always been kind to them, but they aren't depressing characters to read about. And the love scenes are pretty darn hot. 

Also, it does a good job of introducing the next to heroes of the series - Simon and Harry- without them stealing too much of the attention. Oh, and there is a secondary love story that's very, very sweet. 

What's a Book Speed Date, you ask? It's a quickie review--about 150 words or so--of any genre book (variety is the spice of life, after all).

If you want to join in or just read other speed date reviews, check out The Book Swarm

Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt

Widow Temperance Dews has lived and worked in St. Giles ever since her husband died, helping her brother Winter to run an orphanage in one of London's worst slums. One night, chance makes her cross paths with Lazarus Huntington, Lord Caire and changes her life forever.

Temperance is in great need of money for her orphanage and Caire comes with an interesting proposition: Temperance helps him to find his way around St. Giles and he'll help her find a patron for the orphanage. No one thinks is a good idea, but Temperance goes ahead anyway, not only because she needs the money but because there is something about Lord Caire that taunts her and makes her want to stay close to him.

Lord Caire is equally affected by Temperance, finding her emotions fascinating, especially since he's convinced he can't feel anything. But he is obsessed with finding who killed his latest mistress, who was murdered in quite a gruesome way in St. Giles, which is also a great excuse to keep Temperance close.

Okay, so I love Elizabeth Hoyt, I do, but I didn't love this book. I'm sorry to say I didn't feel that instant connection with Temperance or Caire, it was an entraining story but I never connected with the characters. I couldn't understand Temperance sometimes, and Caire is quite right when he calls her a martyr, she does have martyr-like tendencies. And the same thing happened with Caire, he's so obsessed but I never felt there was anything driving him so it was all a bit flat to me.

And there is also a rather convoluted sub-plot regarding Temperances younger sister Silence.

The setting is awesome and Mrs. Hoyt writing is good, but Wicked Intentions didn't do it for me because of the characters. However, I did like Lady Hero, who's going to be the heroine of the next book in the series, so I'm going to check that out.

2/3

Series Review: The Prince Trilogy

Three friends, three loves stories, three fairy tales.

I admit I was quite late in join the ranks of Elizabeth Hoyt's fans. I had heard lots of praise for her debut, The Raven Prince, but since I famously dislike most buzzed-about books I was a bit reluctant to read it. Eventually I did take the plunge and never regretted it.

The Raven Prince is the story of Edward de Raaf, Earl of Swartingham, whom -after surviving a small pox epidemic that killed his entire family, and the death of his first wife (who died in childbirth some ten years prior) - is ready to move on and start a new family, he wants his family's home, the Abbey, to be full of children and happiness once more. As such, the last woman he should be interested in is Anna Wren, a young widow who works as his secretary (Edward is an Agricultural scholar, and often writes papers about such matters, needing someone to transcribe them in a clear hand). Anna has no connections or money, and she's quite sure she can't have children, still some attractions are undeniable and this is one of them.

After The Raven Prince, comes the Leopard Prince, about one of Edward's friends, Harry Pye; he's introduced in the first story, along with Viscount Simon Iddesleigh, the three gentlemen are friends and agrarians. Harry works as an estate manager for Lady Georgina Maitland, a relationship that turns quite complicated when they begin to feel attraction for each other. Georgina is a bit eccentric and never really thought about getting married, she knows engaging in a liaison with Harry isn't the smartest move but she can't help herself, and neither can Harry. But where will that take them?

Finally, The Serpent Prince kicks off when Lucy Craddock-Hayes finds Viscount Simon Iddesleigh half-dead on her doorstep. After finding out some finer points regarding the death of his beloved brother Ethan a few years before, Simon is bent on revenge and the people he wants to take revenge from are beginning to take notice, which lead to his half-death estate. Lucy is for the most part quite happy living with her father in their small town, but meeting Simon changes everything...

Well, of course I'm not going to spoil or anything, but all these three books were wonderful and in some way unusual. Plus, Mrs. Hoyt wove these funny little tales into her books (the titles of the books come from said 'tales') and it's a trait that has carried on to her other works, and I often find myself re-reading them.

Recently, all three books were given a cover make over (the ones posted above) which was why I decided to do this series review.

Original Covers:

To Desire a Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt

After escaping a seven-year long captivity, Reynaud St. Aubyn has finally made it back to England, only to find out that his title, lands and money has been given away to a distant relative due to the fact that everyone thinks he died during the battle at Spinner's Falls.

Sick with fever and more than a little angry, he stumbled into his family home, talking in French and collapsed right in front of Beatrice Corning, the present earl's niece .

And so the story begins, with Reynauld trying to regain what was taken from him, trying to finally find out who was the traitor that gave them away at Spinner's Falls and with him laying his claim on Beatrice because in a world where everything doesn't make much sense to him anymore, she seems like home.

To Desire a Devil is the forth and final book in Elizabeth Hoyt's Legend of the Four Soldiers' series and I'm sad to say that I didn't love it. Oh, there were parts that were very good and I loved the trademark fairy tale told in the epigraphs of each chapter, but I just never grew to like Reynaud. He was a very selfish hero during most of the book and it was hard to even sympathize with him. I liked Beatrice and her friends Lottie and Jeremy, and I liked catching up with the couples of the previous books in the series but Beatrice and Reynauld just never convinced me as a couple.

Maybe it's just because I've loved all of Mrs. Hoyt's other books and I had high expectations but this one was only so so for me. Still, the writing is quite good and I did enjoy most aspects of it.

Grade:
2/3

List Maniac #4 - On Favorite Books Read in 2009

Okay, so there are my favorite books I read during 2009 - regardless of when they were published

In random order.

Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature by Robing Brande (Review) - I was surprised at how much I loved this book and at how much it took me back to my middle school experience. But I loved Mena (I could never get her parents though), and the Connors and all the puppies!!

To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt (Review) - One of my favorite authors writing one of my favorite type of story: A take on Beauty and the Beast! Nice characters, nice plot, awesome dog!

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (Review) - There is not one book by her that I haven't liked, Melina writes realistic fiction about teens with a perfect pitch and distinct voice. She could write a groceries list, I would still read it and love it. And I was so glad to finally get my paws on this book after waiting for 2 years!

The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong (Review)- I'm not a paranormal fan but Darkest Powers is one of my favorite exceptions, Book 1 (The Summoning) was OK, but The Awakening blew my socks off! And I CAN'T WAIT for The Reckoning, I think is my second most coveted book for next year.
And yeah, I LOVE Derek.

Girl Overboard by Justina Chen Headley (Review) - Okay,s o I'm not Asian, I have only once seen snow - and I had to climb up a volcano for it, but it was worth it - yet I totally connected with Syrah and her love for snow and her family and, I was also mostly raised by an old person (my Grandma Sophie) so I loved Bau-Mu.

Being Nikki by Meg Cabot (Review) - Even though I'm a longtime fan of Meg Cabot, there was a while there when I didn't really love many of her books, they were OK, they were fun, but I knew there would be no re-reading in the future. Then I got Airhead last year and surprise! I really liked it. And when Being Nikki came out earlier this year, it was LOVE!

His Secondhand Wife by Cheryl St. John (Review) - I had never bothered to read much Americana, I never though I would like historical romances set in America, but my romance reading friends told me "You have to read Cheryl St. John, then you make up your mind", and I'm seriously glad I did read it. Noah and Katy's story just so romantic, and now I'm an avid reader of this author.

Forever Princes (Princes Diaries #10) by Meg Cabot (Review) - It was an awesome book to start the year! Usually when a series ends there is something or other that I don't quite like, but it wasn't the case with this book!! It reminded me of everything I loved about Mia and left me with warm fuzzies when it was all done.

The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler (Review) - I had read some of her books before and while I really liked some of them, others were not so awesome to my taste, but in Virginia I found an awesome heroine whom I would love to call a friend.