Prince of the Night (Dreamspun) [Paperback]

Jasmine Cresswell (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dreamspun | Publication Date: July 1, 1995

Serving his beloved Italy homeworld as the freedom-fighting Count of Albion, a vampire hides his missions and his lonely heart in the shadows of the night until he meets the beautiful Englishwoman Cordelia Hope.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Topaz (July 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451405668
• ISBN-13: 978-0451405661
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,215,757 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A refreshing twist to the ever popular vampire story line., March 14, 2002

By 

"kmready" (Nashua, NH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prince of the Night (Dreamspun) (Paperback)

JCresswell did a wonderful job at recreating the mystery behind vampires. It was a refreshing change that made the story all the more better. The Count pulls the reader into the book to share the pain and heart wrenching emotions that he felt before and after he met Cordelia. Cordelia, on the other hand, was a very strong compassionate person who walked around with her eyes wide open and was willing to accept the unexplained. This is a must read for all who enjoy paranormal romances and/or vampire stories in general.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A fairly intelligent Gothic vampire romance, July 4, 2003

By 

Dr W. Richards "wmr-uk" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Prince of the Night (Dreamspun) (Paperback)

Cordelia, the 'poor relation' of the Earl of Stanwyck, is escorting her cousin Lady Mary through Italy to a summer home of the Earl's. Mary has fallen from grace and has been banished to Italy until she's fit to be seen again. The only problem is that no-one will agree to take the visitors to the Villa of the Three Fountains.

It is the mid-1800s, and Italy is divided, parts of the country under Austrian rule. And part of the problem is that the locals in Modena don't know whether Cordelia and her companions are in league with the Austrians; of course, that's not helped when a couple of Austrian army officers offer to escort the women to the villa. When they arrive, they find that the villa is occupied - by the Count of Albion, an Italian nobleman who claims that his father and grandfather owned it before him.

The Count reluctantly agrees to let the women stay, but Cordelia realises very soon that there's something extremely odd about him. They have a strange mental connection which very soon has her visualising herself in bed with him, making love with him... and allowing him to bite her throat. And she's not even afraid of the idea of it!

The Count, for his part, is desperately fighting his attraction to Cordelia; the last time he slept with a woman, he killed her, and he doesn't want that to happen to Cordelia. Unfortunately, she's come to him during his 'in heat' period, when he desperately needs to mate and to procreate. Can he keep himself away from her?

In the background to this novel is the struggle for independence against Austrian rule, and the Count is deeply involved here, though not in the way he may initially appear. This is an interesting and intelligent aspect of the story, which makes it even more disappointing that it simply vanishes as the story concludes. Cresswell also omits to provide any sort of closure for Cordelia's cousin Mary; she simply disappears from the narrative after a while. This sloppiness prevents this book getting a higher rating. Incidentally, I also agree with another reviewer about the idiotic character names.

Cresswell's vampire mythology is rather different from that of any other writer I've come across, and I'm not entirely sure that I like it. Her vampires, as we discover at the beginning of the book, are actually aliens from another planet. They don't appear to need to avoid the daylight. And, most strange of all, they can reproduce, as long as the woman they mate with survives the encounter.

Anyway, this is a readable book, but not a keeper for me.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good vampire historical, February 17, 2003

By 

bookjunkiereviews (India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prince of the Night (Dreamspun) (Paperback)

This is a surprisingly strong vampire historical romance, one that combines a vampire romance with a historical one - and in a slightly unusual setting - northern Italy 1859 at the height of the Italian fight for independence (or Piedmont's struggle to oust the Austrians from Modena etc).

I really don't have that much to add to what praise has been given by other readers. Like them, I appreciated the unusual setting and time period (there being a surfeit of historical romances set in England in the Regency). Like them, I appreciate the skilful interplay of the story with the historical background - along with the author's careful description of the location, the minor characters, and so forth.

What really stood out was however not the historical detail, or the unusual setting. It was the hero and the heroine. The hero is a mysterious Italian nobleman (although we soon guess his identity and his problem). The heroine is a sensible Englishwoman, the poor relation of a great English house who is escorting a petulant cousin "in trouble" to a safe haven owned by her father. Not only is Cordelia a delightful person to know (with even her more unusual linguistic and psychic skills explained), but she reacts relatively calmly to her discovery of the hero's various secrets. She is actually more worried by a murder of a servant than by any threats to her life (perhaps a bit unwisely).

The hero is also truly remarkable - and totally different from Christine Feehan's Carpathian super-alpha males. We do not doubt Dakon's determination or the difficult choices facing him. We do recognize the effort he must put into staying away from Cordelia. Time and time again, faced with almost overwhelming temptation, he refuses to give in.

I mentioned Feehan's Carpathians for a reason. It is a pity that Cresswell did not follow up on this book (or perhaps it is just as well). Cresswell's Vam-pyres and Feehan's Carpathians have some things in common, but many things are different (including their origins and their habits). One problem facing both societies is the lack of females of their kind, and how they should relate to human females (if at all).

My only quibbles with the books was firstly with the names of the hero and his father (which nearly beset me with giggles), and secondly with a couple of nearly irrational moves made by Cordelia. In addition, while I liked this book very much, it did not quite make keeper status for me. It was a four for me, but it may be a keeper for you.