Customer Reviews

One Night With a Prince (Royal Brotherhood) (v. 3)

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the third book in Sabrina Jeffries's "Royal Brotherhood Series", historical romances set in England's Regency period featuring heroes who are illegitimate sons of the Prince of Wales. "One Night with a Prince" is the story of Gavin Byrne, Prinny's unacknowledged son by an Irish actress. It is an entertaining, well-written tale with an attractive hero and unusual heroine.

Gavin Byrne is one of the "self-made man" variety of romantic heroes, a man who has risen from a childhood spent in the gutters of London to become the wealthy owner of an exclusive gentleman's gambling club. Prinny's denial and rejection of his mother, a childhood spent in desperate poverty and an unhappy love affair in his youth have left Byrne bitter and cynical. Gorgeous and controlled, he has had many (many!) mistresses but (of course!) scorns the idea of falling in love and getting married.

The heroine of the story is Lady Christabel Haversham, a pretty and rather unconventional young widow who needs Gavin's help to recover a packet of scandalous letters concerning the Prince of Wales that her feckless husband stole from her and sold to the dastardly Lord Stokely in order settle a gambling debt. Christabel's plan involves posing as Gavin's mistress in order to secure an invitation to an exclusive gambling party at Lord Stokely's country home. Gavin agrees to help her, privately planning to use the letters himself to get revenge on Prinny for his abandonment of his mother, and hoping to get Christabel to agree to be his mistress in truth.

Gavin is an engaging hero--handsome, sexy, intelligent, but embittered by life. I am always a sucker for stories with "heartless" heroes who find their souls through the love of a good woman. Christabel is an interesting heroine, although a bit too much of a street-fighter for a gentlewoman from the Regency period to be believable and occasionally straying into the dreaded "feisty heroine" territory. I did like the fact that she had a really bad temper--it was a nice quirk in her character. She was disappointingly proper at the beginning of the story (numerous internal monologues vowing *never* to allow sexy Gavin Byrne to kiss, fondle or seduce her--vows (of course) instantly forgotten with the mere touch of Gavin's lips!) She is also oddly innocent for a woman who was married for ten years, regardless of how much of a loser her husband may have been.

The book seemed to drag somewhat at the beginning with a bit too much exposition masquerading as dialogue, but the plot starts to move along as things heat up between Gavin and Christabel. (In an entertaining scene, he teaches her how to play "Whist for the Wicked"--a variant of strip poker.) Fortunately, Christabel is a very quick study and becomes an expert whist player in a matter of only two weeks. The plan to recover the letters is not exactly brilliant, but the romance is sweet (once the bickering is over) and the sensual scenes well done (althought I am not sure which night is the "One Night" referred to in the book's title.)

In summary, this is a very readable and enjoyable historical romance with an engaging hero and heroine. It is my favorite in the "Royal Brotherhood Series".
Recommended.

This is one of my all time favorite romance books. From page one the characters in this charming book reached out and grabbed me. Page after page I just got sucked in deeper until I closed the book with a happy sigh. This book had everything you need to create a good romance: a dashing hero, a beautiful feisty heroine, something that always seems to interfere with the hero and heroine, and, most of all...PASSION! You will feel like smoking after the sex scenes in this book. It was written with an amazing level of intensity and feeling that my heart was pumping furiously with the palatable passion in the story. The relationship between the leads is endearing. The secondary characters are enjoyable as well.T his book is sharp and fast-moving. Filled with Lovable and exciting characters. Lots of laugh out-loud, I-can't-believe-they-did-that scenes and oh so plenty of heart warming moments. This was a very entertaining book. This book was a pleasure to read and I couldn't put it down until it was finished. I really enjoyed the characters, as they were very likeable.

The relationship between the leads is endearing. I found the characters to be multi-dimensional and the author weaves a mystery into the story without slowing it down or interrupting the romantic flow. The love scenes are ample & steamy, and the plot is a good one. A fast paced book with an intricate plot that I cannot help but enjoy. The interaction between the leads was great. Sabrina Jeffries has found a perfect match for the notorious Gavin with feisty Christabel. They are well matched in temperament, intelligence and in their loyalty to their families. It was an interesting. There is enough conflict to make the story line interesting and not so much that your left wondering why they ever got together.
This book is sharp and fast-moving. I was sad to have it end, but satisfied at the ending!

sabrina jeffries is the kind of author who is without a doubt gifted when it comes to her depiction of love scenes. this is why i am always willing to read her books, even if they sometimes disappointment in terms of plot and/or character development. however, this book proves to be jeffries at her best. not only did she get it right with the love scenes, but the plot and characterization were very well done.

christabel, the marchioness of haversham, is a widowed general's daughter whose husband was addicted to gambling. needless to say, he left her impoverished and sold the one thing of value she had from right under her nose. turns out this thing is a set of letters with the potential to both prevent the prince regent from becoming king and put all of england into political chaos. on a personal level, the exposure of the letters could destroy christabel's father, which is why she is determined to retrieve them. they were sold to lord stokely, a debauched nobleman who is blackmailing the prince to force him to give stokely his daughter in marriage.

gavin byrne, self-made owner of a successful gentlemen's club, is the prince regent's son by a former actress. having to take care of himself since the age of 12, he is embittered because the prince reneged on a promise to financially support gavin's mother when he was younger while also denouncing her claim that gavin is indeed his child. when he is asked by his half-brothers to help christabel retrieve the letters at the bequest of the prince, he immediately sees an opportunity to use the letters as leverage for gaining his revenge against the prince.

when gavin and christabel meet in the book, it's actually the second time they've encountered each other. the first time was when christabel shot at him when he came to see her husband about a debt that was owed to him. needless to say, gavin is a bit hesitant about being in christabel's presence. however, the attraction once they meet again is immediate, as christabel's candor and honesty ignite a desire within the jaded Gavin, who up until then, has had plenty of mistresses. the plan is for christabel to pretend to be gavin's mistress so that they can gain an invitation to a whist competition being held at lord stokely's estate. gavin, attracted to christabel's forthright personality as well as her volumptous body (no skinny chit here, just a 30 year old woman with curves in all of the right places), is determined to make the arrangement a real affair, but he has no intention of ever falling in love with her.

what ensues are some extremely sensual encounters for the hero and heroine, in particular a "wicked whist" game that left me absolutely breathless. this is where jeffries really shines. christabel initially fights the attraction and tells him she would make a bad mistress because she would become too possessive and would ultimately care too much about him. gavin has never been rejected by a female so he doesn't let her rejection deter him. he thinks he can simply seduce her into getting what he wants.

watching gavin and christabel evolve during this story was beautiful. christabel, initially uncomfortable with both her sexual needs and her position as marchioness, becomes more confident in the bedroom and within the company of those in society. gavin, initially emotionally distant and jaded about society and women, becomes a vulnerable hero who can't help but wear his heart on his sleeve. although gavin DID use women in the sexual sense, at the root, gavin had a good heart. he just didn't realize it. he bears a guilt that makes him feel like he shouldn't have been born so that his mother wouldn't have suffered at the hands of the prince.

the plot was simple but not thin. i liked it because it gave the two leads plenty of time to spend together, which makes for great character development if done right, as it is here. plenty of sensual and sexual encounters, plenty of dialogue where the reader can feel the chemistry between the two leads, and plenty of inner struggle as gavin fights his feelings for christabel. the crucial point of the book is when gavin has to decide whether or not to use the information they're searching for to either hurt "prinny" and in doing so, hurting and losing christabel, or not hurt "prinny" and ending his lifelong dream to exact revenge against his father.

wonderfully engrossing and emotional story with compelling leads and some of the most sensual love scenes i've ever read makes this a HIGHLY recommended book.

I rarely rate a book with five stars (and I've read hundreds)but this is one of them. ONWAP had the right combination of: sexual tension (hot!), jealousy, chemistry,sex, and conflict that I require in a 5 star book.

Definitely one for the keeper shelf!

Christabel is the only daughter of a General who lucked out when she was saved by a dashing young Leuitenant who later becomes her husband. They had a happy, if not overly heated, marriage. Until his death she never considered that he had any faults. That's when all his dirty little secrets and trechery become apparent with a potential scandal that leads all the way to the Prince.

Gavin Byrne, part of the trio of princely [...] and all around ne'er do well, is charged with the duties of assisting Christabel in attempting to salvage this fiasco and protect his wayward Prince father (even though his majesty never lifted a finger for him). He is instantly attracted to Christabel and devises a plan for her to become his pretend mistress in order to perpetrate a ruse amongst his buddies and get her to the intended destination.

This story was well written (the dialogue, story flow, etc). That is not why I gave it less than a stellar rating. I felt all the moments of embarrassment were too much for the heroine to have to endure. They didn't lead to any sort of debauching and loosening of her morals or made her easier to sleep with. She seemed to want to do that from the start. So making her sit amongst his former mistresses and former fiance (there were many of one and one of the other) and listen to them talk dirty about his sexual exploits made me hate the hero. It made him seem like the prized stallion and not someone I was empathetic to. He was made him seem like someone who used women like tissue. I would have been more comfortable had that been apart of his past. It was also poorly timed. Too soon sex for the character development and too many embarrassing moments for the heroine. I couldn't sympathize with either of them.

His half-brothers, the Earl of Iversley and Viscount Draker, may have grown soft since their respective marriages and forgiven their royal sire his sins, but Gavin Bryne still holds onto the anger and contempt he feels for George, Prince of Wales, for his cruel and cowardly treatment of Bryne's mother. But when the Prince requests that Gavin help Christabel, the Marchioness of Haversham, regain property that her dead husband had wrongfully sold to Lord Stokely, Gavin agrees to help because he senses that there is more to the story than he's being told, and that this "property" just may give him the leverage he needs in order to make the Prince pay for the way he treated Byrne's mother. However, in order to do that he will have to work closely with the spirited and maddening Christabel, who just happens to affect Gavin in a way that no other woman ever has. Could the man, who vowed never to fall in love and marry, have finally met his match?

Of the three novels in the Royal Brotherhood trilogy ("In the Prince's Bed," "To Pleasure a Prince" & "One Night With a Prince"), this installment is definitely the best -- it has the best storyline of the three, and it is the most emotionally satisfying as well. It probably is the most sensually titillating as well (haven't read a scene like the one where Gavin and Christabel play strip whist in a while, and the scene with Gavin, Christabel and dressmaker was nothing to sneezed at either). And while the plot didn't exactly unfold at a breath-neck pace, it moved along at a steady and even pace with no rude starts and stops so that the overall effect was one of a smooth and continuous flow. This had the effect of making the read all the more pleasurable, and allowed us to "see" the mutual sexual attraction that Gavin and Christabel felt for each other flower into absolute love. However, while the depiction of the other characters felt disappointingly paper thin and followed stock-type lines, the author's portrayal of the hero and heroine was excellently done. Gavin, a self-made man was painted as intelligent, single-minded and driven, but who was also vulnerable and full of integrity -- in other words the kind of hero many romance readers would find thrilling and approve of wholeheartedly. While Christabel was portrayed as a strong-minded, quick tempered and resourceful young woman, who was takingly unaware of her feminine charms (again a character most readers would have found engaging). Thankfully neither Gavin nor Christabel possessed characteristics that marked them as having more hair than wit, and neither treated us to moments of high melodrama (a pet peeve of mine).

Few authors can maintain most readers' interest for an entire series/trilogy; but Sabrina Jeffries did just that. She wrote three very different and very appealing novels centering on three half-brothers. Each book has been well written, and each book has been an enjoyable and absorbing read. But as every reviewer has noted so far, "One Night With a Prince" is definitely the best of the lot. It tied things up nicely and gave us the happily ever-after ending we were all rooting for. Very satisfying indeed.

Ms. Jeffries saved the best for last in this final installment of the Royal Brotherhood series. It is definitely a page-turner, with a wonderful hero and heroine and a very compelling storyline. The story's hero is Gavin Byrne, bastard son of the Prince of Wales ("Prinny"). For his entire life, Gavin has hated his father, whom he has never met. The prince publicly denied his paternity and reneged on a promised annuity to Gavin's mother, forcing them to live in poverty until his mother's death when he was twelve. Gavin survived by sheer determination and ruthlessness and now, in his thirties, he is the wealthy, if somewhat aloof, owner of a very successful gentleman's club. He has had many mistresses and is considered an expert lover. However, they have always been married women and always kept at a safe emotional distance, because Gavin has no interest in a permanent relationship. In fact, if any of his mistresses say they love him, he ends the affair immediately. Into his solitary, cynical and somewhat shallow life walks a breath of fresh air in the form of the intrepid and adorable Christabel, the widowed Lady Haversham.

Christabel has been sent to Gavin by Prinny to help her recover a secret item that her late husband sold to Lord Stokely in order to pay off a gambling debt. In return for recovering the item, Prinny will make Gavin a baron and finally grant him an audience. Gavin is to attend an exclusive card competition at Stokely's estate, and Christabel wants to attend also to try and locate the mysterious item. The only way Gavin can procure an invitation for Christabel is to pretend that she is his mistress. To be convincing in the role, she needs much different attire than her black widow's weeds, but unfortunately she was left very little money by her late husband. Naturally, Gavin charges to the rescue with a lavish new wardrobe, and soon the pretty but provincial Christabel is transformed into a sophisticated beauty. Christabel views Gavin as a bit of a scoundrel because of his reputation for gambling and womanizing. Nevertheless, she finds him fascinating and is not impervious to his charm, wit and generosity. Even more tempting, in light of her unfulfilled marriage, are Gavin's seductive caresses and his undisguised yearning for her. Is it only a matter of time before the pretense becomes a reality, and is a passing affair what Gavin really wants from the delightful, tenderhearted Christabel?

I loved this couple and their amusing banter and flirting, all the while denying the strength of their feelings. Gavin is ridiculously territorial about his "supposed" paramour, and Christabel has overwhelming pangs of jealousy whenever she his around his former lady loves. Of course we know where this story is going, but it's so much fun getting there. The dynamic couple is immensely appealing, and I found myself so often smiling as I was reading. Gavin milks the mistress angle for all it's worth, taking excessive liberties with her, but Christabel is a good sport and refuses to be flustered. Their romance is sweet and tender and well-written, with very moving dialogue. Highly recommended.

A story with substance and likeable characters! Some people don't care for strong heroines, but intelligent heroines are my cup of tea. Christabel and Gavin's romance was plain fun to read!!!

Well, Jeffries has done it again!!! She made me fall for another of these (half) brothers. Gavin is my hero of choice for the day (maybe even much longer).
Our heroine-well, she could be quite annoying in the begining of the book. However, she did develop and grow on me soon into these pages. -don't be too discouraged by her- Truly; she improves chapter by chapter.
But, S.J. wrote a keeper here. This book recovered me from the disappointments I've faced with follow-up books by some of my fav authors lately. She proves that 'story lines' can continue & do so well.
This is a good read. If you haven't got your copy yet- what on earth are you wating for???

Gavin Byrne is many things, a rake, a womanizer, and an unacknowledged bastard of Prinny - but oh, you are so going to love him! No soft life for this royal son, as he made his own way out of the poverty of Drury Lane and was now a wealthy and powerful club owner with knowledge of some of the most intimate secrets of the ton.

Now the very respectable Lady Christabel, needed a favor and knowing that Lord Draker {IN THE PRINCES BED}was a friend to the notorious gamester asked that a meeting be set up. This wasn't the first time she'd met Byrne, and but she hoped that their first auspicious meeting, when she shot a hole in both his hat and cabriolet, wouldn't stop him from helping her now. She needed Gavin to help her gain entrance into a scandalous house party so that she could search and destroy letters that the host had obtained from her dead husband that could destroy what was left of her family.
When Gavin learns that somehow Prinny, the man he hates most in the world, is involved he knows that the letters must be quite damaging to Prinny's hopes of becoming king. Determined to entice the very alluring widow into his bed as an added bonus, Gavin agreed to get her invited to the house party so long as she didn't object to posing as his mistress - a masquerade that Gavin had every intention of turning into reality. Behind his machinations of seducing the desirable widow, he was also planning to steal the damaging letters and use them as revenge against the hated father who'd abandoned him and his mother, but even rakes turn away from revenge when that very revenge can hurt the people they love.

___ Jeffries continues to write books with heart throbbing sensual intensity that you never want to see end and this is such a prime example! Christabel is a wonderfully out-spoken, intelligent and feisty heroine who was the perfect match for the absolutely devilish and divine Gavin Byrne. I loved watching the metamorphous of Gavin, as he finally came to realize that the love he had for Christabel was stronger than his hatred for revenge against his father. Splendid protagonists, intelligent and dynamic dialogs - it just doesn't get any better than this as Jeffries wraps up her latest trilogy of the fabulous Royal Brotherhood series!! SIMPLY OUTSTANDING!!!