Customer Reviews

Prince Charming (Ascension Trilogy)

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I applaud Gaelen Foley for writing this stunning novel. No way could I put this one down! For the past two nights I've been reading up into the wee hours, unable to stop (even for sleep), to see what would happen to Rafael and his lovely 'ginger cat', Dani. Readers know from the moment they meet that these two are destined for one another. They are so well-matched--in wits, intelligence, and cunning. Rafe is irresistible as Dani is adorable; and as the sophisticated rake takes in the virginal country bumpkin, readers can only expect sparks to fly--which they do! Granted, there aren't enough love scenes, but the romance is certainly there. My only complaint is when Rafe returns to his mistress. Although Foley keeps the encounter brief--and knowing that it plays a critical role in Rafe's reformation as an incorrigible rake--it still was disturbingly graphic!

PRINCE CHARMING is my second Foley novel--with PRINCESS being the first. I have to say that out of the two, the former is far better than the latter. Perhaps my preference falls for Rafael's story, because I too find him so irresistible. Actually, that's half the truth; but really, it's the transformation that Rafe undergoes in this novel. He finally grows up and learns to take responsibility. Furthermore, he finally opens his heart again to take a chance on real love. Rafe and Dani's relationship is really what drives this story and what makes it so poignant and compelling. I rate PRINCE CHARMING as one of the best romances that I've ever read. It's one of those stories that you never want to end. I wish I could give it 10 stars! It's a KEEPER.

Once again Gaelen Foley has brought us back to Ascencion to revisit the royal family. The crown Prince Rafael is bored. His days are spent playing and his nights womanizing. He is known as Rafe the Rake, until one night he is robbed by a highwayman, the Masked Rider.

Lady Daniela Chiaramonte rides as the Masked Rider in order to pay her taxes and help the people who rely upon her. After a failed attempt to rob the crown prince, her life is forever changed.

When King Lazar and Queen Allegra leave Ascencion to visit their daughter and son-in-law in Spain Rafe is made prince regent and put in charge. The only condition is that he marry and produce an heir to the throne. Rafe reluctantly agrees, but when he captures the Masked Rider and realizes how much his kingdom loves her, he saves her from being hanged and marries her instead.

At first the marriage is just to win the people over, but soon the two fall in love. Their newfound love is constantly put to the test when a jealous cousin plants suspicions in Dani's mind and tries to overthrow Rafe.

If you loved The Pirate Prince and Princess, then Prince Charming is exactly what you've been looking for. Ms. Foley completes this wonderful series and leaves us all wanting more. Can we only hope and cross our fingers that Prince Leo will have a story?

I'm exhausted because I stayed up until three a.m. to finish this magical book! PRINCE CHARMING is that good. If you like fast-paced books with well-developed characters and conflicts that are fun yet heart-tugging, you'll love PRINCE CHARMING by Gaelen Foley. The villain is very, very bad as well, not to mention facinating. I've read all three books in the Ascencion Trilogy and cannot imagine how this author is going to top herself. Rafael (Rafe the Rake) and Daniela Chiaramonte were meant for each other from the first moment of their exciting meeting to the last page. What's great about PC is that while Rafe and Dani have their differences, they also talk. And the big misunderstanding that's often problematic with romance novels is non-existent here. A truly exciting, magnifique read from rising romance star, Gaelen Foley! Don't walk, RUN out and buy all three books in this trilogy before they are gone: THE PIRATE PRINCE; PRINCESS; AND PRINCE CHARMING. You'll love them.

TRILOGY IN SEQUEL: The Pirate Prince.....The Princess......The Prince Charming

We return to the finale of Gaelen Foley's make believe Isle of Acsencion and the Di Fiori family series. I admired the way she create such unique Island, surrounding it with real Spanish & Mediterranean countries, molding it with history and spicing it with adventure and dreamy romance. It's fast-phase, educational and heart soaring.

Raff and Dani's love story is a mixture of beauty and frustration. One minute, everything's dreamy, as it should be. Next thing you know, a hard twist ruins the fairy tale and into a nightmare. I have read all of G.F's work and she continue to amaze me. She knows how to weave stories that brings out different emotions of her readers. In this book, I specially fancy how Raff and Dani's relationship strenghtens through the obstacles they encountered. I also enjoyed Raff character. He was portrait as a carefree, nonchalant and rogue in PRINCESS. However, this was all a facade for deep down, he is somewhat bitter and insecure. So because of this, he's very much misunderstood by his people especially the elders in his father's council. Meanwhile, Daniela's destitute circumstances left her no choice but to take drastic measures in order to survive. She has responsibility to her ill grandfather and she also wants to help those who are poor and oppressed. That's when the famous MASK RIDER came to exist. Like Raff, Dani also lived her life with a facade. Courageous, strong, willfull in the outside yet scared and longing in the inside. Both needed each other to fill in their needs and weaknesses. Their initial heart pumping meeting and the heart warming father-son scene at the end is only a couple of my favorites... There is a lot more, of course.

There's two reasons why I didn't rate this book a five stars. One is my disappointments in Lazar and Allegra's parenthood. Both had so much love in them in THE P.P that I expected more of them as parents...For some reason their parenthood not only in this book but also in PRINCESS, became somewhat lacking. They are too involved with themselves and seems to take their children for granted. Second reason is that one unforgettable and utterly distasteful scene of Dani sitting in Raff's lap while he was caressing her - during a council meeting! To add fuel to the fire, Dani would interupt during the meeting demanding the council's respect for Raff. Oaaaakay! Perhaps this is to prove her loyalty towards Raff but heck, I find that scene disturbing, embarrasing and totally lack of good breeding. She acted as if she belonged there as a queen already and they aren't even married yet. I doubt even the Queen herself would degrade herself by sitting in the King's lap during a council meeting. I hated that part of the book. Totally lack of self respect & decorum. Yuck! I was turned off for awhile, took me days to repick up the book... but as I continued to read on, the adventure and romance simply overshadowed that silly scene. I just try to forget that part of the book. Ugh. Oh well, Despite my above complaints, I manage to rate this book a 4 stars because overall, it is totally entertaining. I recommend it to everyone who enjoys a good heart soaring novel. So, Don't wait, read the Ascension Trilogy and be 'awed' by this new Author.

[1816, Ascension] In the past five days I have read Gaelen Foley's first works - the Ascension Trilogy: The Pirate Prince, Princess, and Prince Charming. I thoroughly enjoyed Foley's Knight Miscellany and was excited to read some of her earlier work, as nowadays there are rarely good historical romances that I haven't read!

I have to say that though the trilogy started off pretty well (I didn't like it as much as some of Foley's Knight books and had a few issues here and there) the series got progressively worse.

I was very excited for this book, for I love a historical romance where the hero is a devil-may-care rake who is matched with a somewhat awkward or unusual girl. In PRINCE CHARMING, Rafael is most definitely such a man and Dani is wonderful as an independent, tomboyish girl who knows her own mind. However ...

SPECIFICS:
(* = kind-of-spoiler, ** = spoiler)
(1) Though the hero and heroine start off as described above, there were definite inconsistencies in both. Rafael is supposed to be a rake who cares nothing for anyone; he is selfish and immerses himself in pleasure and little else. Also, as a result of a youthful indiscretion, he does not trust easily - most especially women. Within a few days, however, he is transformed, and I found this quick turnaround hard to believe. I can see how he could be disarmed by Dani's youth, innocence, and honesty, but his suspicion is supposedly so deeply ingrained, that I don't think he would allow himself to fall so quickly and in such a manner.
*(2) Dani started off as SUCH a wonderful heroine ... and quickly deteriorated in my mind. She so easily falls for Orlando's (the evil cousin) speech when he tells her the Prince is just using her to strike at his father and etc. that I was very, very surprised. One minute she's in love with Rafe, allowing him liberties, excited about the future, and the next she is swayed by a few words from someone whom she doesn't even know and has no reason to trust! She goes from loving Rafael to deceiving him in about one minute; it made her seem immature, gullible, and far too impressionable!
(3) I think that Foley runs into a hard-to-overcome obstacle in her choice of this series ... PRINCESS and PRINCE CHARMING revolve around Serafina and Rafael, who are Allegra and Lazar's children (the hero and heroine of the first novel, THE PIRATE PRINCE. Though I won't go into PRINCESS, in regards to PRINCE CHARMING, character failings that can be blamed on the parents are, in this case, blamed on Allegra and Lazar. The reader's loyalties are torn, therefore, because two books ago we loved these two characters and were rooting for them to get together. And then you have the second and third novel where, truth be told, they are not portrayed in the best light and their children start off as selfish or wastrels who don't really achieve or do anything substantial with their lives.
*(4) Even though he doesn't go through with it, it bothered me how far Rafael did go with the other woman, Chloe, as a result of Dani's rejection and his resulting sexual frustration.

P.S. Just a general note: for those of you who are not familiar with Foley's writing, she does have darker undercurrents than most historical romances, sometimes addressing such things as rape, murder (and not just for a mystery-type subplot), etc.

BOTTOM LINE:
The book definitely has its highlights and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Gaelen Foley or historical romance, but I might suggest that you get it from the library instead of buying it. If experienced with Foley's writing, you may be disappointed; if you aren't, then know that she has even better books out there - some of my favorites being Lord of Fire, Lady of Desire, and Devil Takes a Bride.

Having now read all of the books in the Ascencion trilogy, you come away with the feeling that being royal kinda sucks! You get told what to do, when to do it, how to do it, forced into marriages you don't want and on top of all that there are the abduction and assasination attempts. Sheesh! Are the perks worth it? That's what Rafe might wonder as he struggles to assert himself as Prince in the shadow of his larger than life father, the god-like King Lazar. Rafe made a serious and careless mistake when he was 19 that haunts him to this day and makes him feel inadequate to succeed his father. As a tender young lad, he made the mistake of falling for an older, treacherous woman who wound up betraying Ascencion to the French based on information she stole from Rafe. Ascencion survived (thanks to the scrumptious Darius!) but Rafe has never lived it down or forgiven himself 10 years later. Now no one takes him seriously, so why even try? Poor baby - though a spoiled, self indulgent pleasure seeker, you just can't help but love Rafe! He's sweet, good natured, easy going, funny and a lot smarter than people give him credit for. You really root for him to finally grow up and get over himself and take control of his life.

Lady Daniela Chiaramonte has lived a completely different kind of life. The life of former aristocrats who have lost everything. Her father ruined the family with drink and gambling after losing his wife in childbirth. Now Dani must find some way to make ends meet, take care of Grandfather and pay the taxes. So she becomes a highwayman robbing the rich carriages of the prince's idle, useless friends and sets about redistributing the wealth. But one night, she robs the wrong coach - the Prince's - and narrowly escapes with her life. But her friends are caught and she must try to rescue them. She is caught in the attempt and is brought before the Prince who had met and attempted to seduce Lady Daniela before discovering that she is the infamous (and popular) Masked Rider. He offers her a deal - marry him and she saves herself and her friends and helps the prince to improve his standing with the people of Ascencion. Dani is stunned by the offer but has no choice but to accept. Secretly, though, she is attracted to this golden prince who could have any woman in the world. How can she, an unsophisticated tomboy hold onto a man like that?

From there, we deal with trust issues, court intrigue, blossoming romance, possible poisoning and Machiavellian plotting. Can the fragile feelings building between Rafe and Dani survive it all?

I just adore all of Gaelen Foley's books. Her characters are realistic, flawed, interesting and lovable. I know some took issue with the parenting of Allegra and Lazar, but I think it was all the more realistic that they were not the perfect parents. Royal parents rarely are as demonstrated regularly by the royal families of England, Monaco, etc!

All in all, _Prince Charming_ wasn't my favorite romance, but the main character, Prince Rafael is what saved the book. Okay, that sounds a little harsh. The story really wasn't that bad and Gaelen Foley has an amazing talent. But, in _Prince Charming_ she devotes her writing skills to developing the main character, Rafe. Rafe is amazingly developed before the readers' eyes. He has so many complex layers and feelings it seems as if you've been watching him his whole life and you know everything about him. I think that he is the male character that everybody gets in their mind when they finish reading a book with zero character development and want more. I've never encountered a better developed character. But, all of this character development really took a back seat to the romance. Oh, it's there all right, with some steamy love, but because Rafe is such a larger then life hero, we aren't as interested in it. Aside from Rafe, there were some other things about _Prince Charming_ that I enjoyed. Dani, the heroine was also fun to read about, and I wish that Gaelen Foley would have spent a little more time on her. At the begining of the book, she is the Robin Hood figure of the magical isle of Ascencion. That was such a nice change. Romantic heroines are often brave, but they seldom ever actually make a living from it. Dani and Rafe were lovely to read about side by side as they both go through an amazing change through out the book and at the end they have grown and become better people. I also liked reading about Ascencion, Gaelen Foley's magical Itallian isle. So, if you want to read about a character who is the epitom of character development with a little romance tossed in, this book is for you. It's strongly recomended to a devoted reader.

Prince Rafe is bored, and spoiled. Spending his time in frivolous pursuits. All that is changed when his father needs to take a vacation from the throne, and it is up to Rafe to prove that he has what it takes to be king. Then Rafe meets Daniela and his boredom seems to disappear. Daniela is a hero to the people of her country (the Robin Hood thing). She is brave and loyal, but not too perfect. I liked the characters in this book, but at times I found myself shaking my head over some of the ridiculous things that they wound up doing. Rafe behaved like a jerk (holding/fondling his girlfriend in his lap in front of the council of advisors). No wonder people wouldn't take his authority seriously. And really, what was up with the Daniela instantly becoming bonded to Queen Mother five minutes after she wakes from a coma? I understand what the author was going for, but that was too much. Having said all that, I did enjoy this book. I liked the fact that Rafe & Daniela were a united front. They were in love and they fought almost all of the obstacles together. I will definitely read more of Gaelen Foley's books.

So I will admit that I have a love/hate relationship with Gaelen Foley's novels. Those that I love go on my keeper shelf among my favorites and those that I hate...I tend to really hate.

Unfortunately this one ends up in the latter category. Minor spoilers ahead*******

Here are some of my complaints:
1. I loved loved loved Pirate Prince, and I don't like couples that I love messed with. I don't like how Foley portrays either Allegra or Lazar in this book. They were such great people in Pirate Prince, and I would like to think that they were better parents than Prince Charming suggests. I also would like to think they were still "madly in love" which I didn't get a sense of.
2. I didn't really care for Rafe. He seemed spoiled and very unprepared for the throne....another knock on Lazar.
3. I liked Dani as the Masked Rider, but liked her less as a princess....she seemed childish especially in the chapters following her marriage to Rafe.
4. I didn't care for the twist on Rafe and Adriano's relationship.
5. I didn't care for the twist on Orlando's origin

I liked this trilogy and of course would recommend finishing it by reading Prince Charming...I only wish that it could've been as strong and engaging as Pirate Prince and Princess were.

Gaelen Foley's Ascension trilogy (The Pirate Prince, Princess, and Prince Charming) is one of the best historical romance series I've ever read. Foley's characters are vivid, compelling, and human. Their relationships are complex, believable, and HOT. The setting is a Mediterranean fantasy land; after reading the books, I felt as if I had been on a tropical cruise! The plots are breathtakingly exciting. I kept thinking, "What on earth will happen next?" and couldn't wait to turn the page and find out. I read the three books as fast as I could, but was sad when my vicarious adventures in Ascension came to a close. Absolutely delightful!