34 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Sexy Historical, September 9, 2007
This review is from: The Serpent Prince (Mass Market Paperback)
Lucy Craddock-Hayes is content in her quiet country life. She lives with her father, sketches in her spare time and every week goes riding with the vicar in the hopes that he will finally propose. Lucy is happy with her life...that is until the Viscount Simon Iddesleigh comes into it; he is opening new doors for Lucy.
Simon's life is consumed with avenging his brother's death; he won't rest until this task is finished. When he is rescued by Lucy, she introduces him to the softer, quieter side of life. Soon both Simon and Lucy are seeking a life different from the one they are currently living.
While I liked this story tremendously, I didn't love it like the previous two books in the series,
The Raven Prince (Warner Forever)and
The Leopard Prince (Warner Forever). I thought Ms. Hoyt concentrated a little too much on the sex and the revenge part of the story, missing out on developing the relationship between the two characters more. Despite that minor flaw, she still managed to write a thoroughly compelling read with loveable characters.
As in the previous two books there is a secondary story told throughout; a fairy tale quality story complete with princes, magic and the granting of wishes. This was a fantastic story and I am anxiously looking forward to her next book.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Great Expectations -- What happened???, October 1, 2007
This review is from: The Serpent Prince (Mass Market Paperback)
The last time I read a book about a foppish Englishman and enjoyed it I was in Jr. High and the book was The Scarlet Pimpernel. Usually I find such characters shallow and boring. Thus I found myself absolutely SHOCKED to be reading - and loving - the first half of this book. I wanted the characters to fall in love, I wanted them to declare themselves somehow, I wanted it to go on and on... Until we found ourselves in London, and the revenge subplot began to take over. I kept reading and reading, wondering where these delightful people had gone. Where was the suggestive banter? Where were the clashes of class, taste, and expectations? Where had the book I was reading gone?
I don't remember ever reading a book that felt so abruptly different - as if two completely separate manuscripts had been mixed up at the printers. The second half could have been about any two boring, predictable characters who persist in keeping secrets and behaving like idiots with each other. It had none of the fun or life of the first section. I read it all, hoping to find those two delightful people hidden in it somewhere, but they never showed up again.The characters had no spark, no uniqueness. They behaved in totally predictable ways, moving through a plot so hackneyed it could have been from any ordinary novel, the kind you read once and wish you hadn't wasted your time on. I don't know when I have been so disappointed by a book! The Serpent Prince started out a five and ended up a mundane, generic waste of time. Two very disappointed stars.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
One of the grittiest, darkest revenge plots in romance, September 28, 2007
This review is from: The Serpent Prince (Mass Market Paperback)
With THE RAVEN PRINCE's (****) Edward de Raaf, THE LEOPARD PRINCE's (****) Harry Pye and finally THE SERPENT PRINCE's Simon Iddesleigh, Elizabeth Hoyt's heroes evince some of the most unconventional yet compelling guy-characterizations I've ever read in this genre. These are believable, passionate guys in love; not just rich, handsome, pining cartoon pimps to service the virgin heroine. Definitely one of the better virgin-heroine-saving-the-tortured-soul routines I've read in romance, THE SERPENT PRINCE paints the wounded story of Viscount Simon Iddesleigh's quest for revenge. Originally introduced in THE RAVEN PRINCE, we know Simon is an expert swordsman, and an accomplished duelist. Although I generally don't go for the virgin-heroine-rescuing-the-tortured-soul routines, that's not what I didn't like about THE SERPENT PRINCE. Thankfully, there were no ultimatums here and no emasculating the hero at the end like so many tortured-soul-revenge stories in romance. In fact, this was the darkest, most believable tortured soul/revenge stories I've read in romance, and better than Madeline Hunter's THE SEDUCER (**). Unlike Hoyt's prior two novels however, THE SERPENT PRINCE was mostly a *yawn* for 250-275 pages in this 362-page paperback. I also thought the settings and prose declined from THE LEOPARD PRINCE, but the disappointingly boring plotting and pacing may have contributed to the weak prose and settings.
I liked the characters, and again their interaction and passion is mutually giving which I always enjoy in Hoyt's stories. Hoyt isn't afraid to let her heroines grab their heroes by the balls, so-to-speak. Unfortunately, THE SERPENT PRINCE's profligate, handsome hero and virginal, sweet heroine dutifully mimics romance genre's strictures for the h/h (more so than Hoyt's characters from prior novels). Other than the h/h, I also liked one of our antagonists, Sir Rupert Fletcher. His characterization was unique, and although I didn't agree with him, I found myself understanding him. He is the perfect gray character, and I do like ruthless realists.
Since we don't learn the complete background behind Simon's plight for revenge until 275 pages into this novel, it was difficult to get behind his revenge. The book describes a convincing tale of a man who truly loses a part of his soul with each duel and each kill. We desperately wanted to see Simon drop the revenge for his heroine Lucy even though Lucy didn't lay down any such ultimatums so like other romances. Once we learn the full import of Simon's revenge, we finally begin to understand his demons, his rage, and his helplessness. But by this point, it's late in the novel, and we're rooting for him to give it up. Thankfully, love doesn't handicap Simon like so many other romance novels, and actually empowers him to redouble his efforts.
Like Hoyt's prior two novels, THE SERPENT PRINCE is very sensual. She never disappoints in that department.
Again, one of the most grittiest, realistic revenge stories I've read in this genre. I thought the background behind Simon's reasons for his revenge should have been revealed much earlier. Between Foley's DEVIL TAKES A BRIDE (***), Hunter's THE SEDUCER (**) and Hoyt's THE SERPENT PRINCE, all dealing with the hero's tortured plight for revenge, this is one of the better ones. Certainly better than Medeiros' awful THE BRIDE AND THE BEAST (*) which emasculates its hero.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
