Prize [Paperback]

Brenda Joyce (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: MIRA BOOKS (1997)
• ASIN: B000SF0NU4
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,859,157 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brenda Joyce is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of fourty-nine novels and five novellas. There are over fourteen million copies of her novels in print and she is published in over a dozen foreign countries. A native New Yorker, she now lives in southern Arizona with her son, dogs and numerous Arabian and Half-Arabian reining horses. Brenda divides her time between her twin passions' writing powerful love stories and her quest to become a nationally ranked Top Ten equestrian. For more information about Brenda and her upcoming novels, please visit her websites: www.brendajoyce.com, www.francescacahillseries.com www.thedewarennedynasty.com and www.mastersoftimebooks.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Zero stars, actually., January 2, 2009

By 

Gerwysse "gjg" (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Prize (De Warenne Dynasty) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is, seriously, the dumbest historical romance novel I've ever read.

We've got the dumb hero, bent on his revenge. I've only seen similar single-minded persistence in toddlers playing peek-a-boo. Add to this the fact that Joyce gives us absolutely nothing to like in the man/boy. In most (or in well-done) historical novels, we can see what the heroine sees to love in the hero, and we fall in love with him a little, too. None of that, here.

There's the dumb heroine, who falls in 'love' with the hero based on nothing but that he looks really, really good. There is literally nothing else to their relationship other than the physical attraction (and the fact that Love-with-a-Capital-Ell is necessary as a plot device). The heroine starts out promisingly enough, in a Scarlett O'Hara rip-off kind of way, but swiftly becomes a weepy, wilting, pathetic thing, constantly clinging to the hero and (I kid you not) begging him to love her.

This happens throughout the book. Unlike in good historical romances, there is no "turn" in the relationship until maybe the last 50 of the 500-or-so pages. The hero remains determined to be stupid. His mind changes in a miraculous turn of events -- and there are few things more annoying than a completely out-of-the-blue 'miraculous turn of events'. This one is especially baseless and annoying: "Surprahzz! I've decided to give up ALL my evil ways and be the doting husband now!"

Speaking of the Scarlett O'Hara rip-offyness of it: Joyce REALLY should have re-thought Virginia's repeated thoughts of moral superiority over the soldier Devlin ("Oh Em Gee! He KILLS people!"), as she freaking OWNS people without a thought, except when some slaves escape and she thinks what a terrible thing that is, because, you know, the slaves were so very very happy at Sweetbriar. Joyce's see-no-evil, hear-no-evil stance on slavery is very odd here given her careful historical research in all the other areas of the novel -- the one thing the book has going for it. If you'd like to read impeccable research *in conjunction with* beautifully-done characters and brilliant plotting (and super-hot sex!), look at Mary Jo Putney's novels.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Halfway through and I don't think I'll finish, February 8, 2007

By 

Krysia (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Prize (De Warenne Dynasty) (Mass Market Paperback)

Omigosh, what a boring disappointment. I've read other Brenda Joyce novels and bought "The Prize" based on past good experiences. But this book just plods along with repetitious dialog, unsympathetic characters and truly dull plotting.

What we have is another tale of the girl hating the guy but wanting to have sex with him. The guy hates the girl too but wants to have sex with her as well. In my neighborhood we call that dysfunction, not romance.

I'm halfway through the book and not much has happened other than they hate each other, they have sex, then they hate each other some more, they have sex again and then they think about it for four chapters before they start all over again.

I don't think I can stick with this drivel. I think I'll re-read "A Lady at Last" (also by Brenda Joyce)a true romance novel with characters you can actually like.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This was a total mess., May 11, 2009

By 

D. Rogers (New Carrollton, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Prize (De Warenne Dynasty) (Mass Market Paperback)

I have to agree with so many of the other reviewers. I absolutely started to loath this book and the author for creating such a story. I couldn't believe what a sniveling weakling the "heroine" was. Give me a break...who wants to be treated like a trollop and spit upon at every turn. How could the main character Virginia come off as being so strong upon introduction and become so weak? I was sooooo disappointed in this book. I found myself on more than one occasion just flipping through some of the pages in an attempt to just get it over with. I honestly detested this story.