Customer Reviews

To Wed a Wicked Prince (Thorndike Core)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

London, 1807. Livia Lacey cannot help feeling intrigued with Alexander Prokov, a Russian prince, when she meets him at a ball. After all, he pushes the next man in Livia's dance card into a fountain just because he wants to dance with her. Then he woos her with attention and gifts -- from impromptu calls to sending flowers and giving her horses and diamonds. Livia is taken aback by his boldness and its lack of propriety, and she wants to discourage such scandalous attentions, but how could she resist such a charming man? Alexander Prokov has his own reasons for pursuing Livia. He wants to marry her so that he could own her estate, for the place holds answers in terms of his past and his mother. He is also a Russian spy, keeping close tabs on Bonaparte and his dealing with Russia by way of the English, and what better way to this than to gain the English's trust by pretending to be a rogue with no other interest than attending parties and playing cards? Livia is nothing but an ends to a means to him... or is she?

Yawn. To Wed a Wicked Prince is one of the most boring romance books I have ever read. Alex pursuing Livia during a large portion of the beginning of the novel is coma-inducing, and things don't improve after that. Well, there is more action toward the end, but it's too little and too late for this reader. The novel lacks passionate romance and page-turning adventure, and aren't those the reasons to read historical romance novels in the first place? The political intrigue aspect of it has been done to death, and Feather adds nothing unique to it. In spite of Gaelen Foley's anachronistic style of writing (modern language and situations), the political parts of her novels are well researched and nicely executed, something that Ms. Feather lacks. But political intrigue aside, the characters simply never drew me in, and I found myself not caring for them either way. The actual feel of the time period -- aside from a few modern words and phrases -- is not bad, so at least I wasn't thrown with some glaring inaccuracy, but that does not a good read make. I miss the novels of this genre that make you fall in love with the characters and make you bite your nails during the sexual tension, the misunderstandings and intriguing adventures (if any). Most of today's romances lack the aforementioned things. That is why I will look to older romances I haven't read. The warm weather has finally arrived, and I look forward to reading good romances to balance out my appetite for meatier literature. This is my first Jane Feather novel and I think it will be the last. After all, I'd like to stay awake when reading a romance book.

Like others who reviewed the first book in this series (A WICKED GENTLEMAN), I am a fan of JF's older books. She just seemed to be trying harder then.
What I like about the series is the fact that the three women are mature and sensible. In AWG, Harry (the hero) even remarks twice [in case the reader missed it the first time] that these women have a mature sense of humor and can laugh at sexual jokes - and how unusual that is.
Like AWG, this book had too many characters and it was often difficult to figure out just what the Russians were plotting. Nothing happened for 80% of the book. The only suspense was at the end and the denoument could have been lifted from any other romance novel. Nothing original there.
There were also lots of dangling threads: What was the scene in the lawyer's office about when Alex asks him to vet the will? Why was Sophia so self-sacrificing, when Alexis wasn't? Just too tortured.
I was also bothered by the fairly constant misuse of titles. Very sloppy.
I didn't mind the yapping dogs as they added some comic relief.
An okay book, which I did finish, but if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't buy it.

I was very disappointed. If it didn't say Jane Feather on the cover, I would never have believed she'd written To Wed a Wicked Prince. I didn't care a bit about the characters; the romance-meter never budged off zero; and, the conflict, which should have made me cry, left me yawning. I can't believe I actually read to the end; this dreadfully dull read was a chore to finish. Instead of taking a place of honor on my shelf of romances worth reading again, this book is destined for the paper recycling bin.

I have a very bad habit when it comes to books that arrive in series: I tend to try and read all of them. Sometimes this works out quite well, especially when an author is very good such as Lois McMaster Bujold or CJ Cherryh or Julian May. But then there are the times when a sequel falls flat on its face, and I'm left gritting my teeth in annoyance as I wade through an implausable story.

Such was the problem with the second book in Jane Feather's Cavendish Square trilogy of historical romances set in Regency England. This time it is Livia Lacey's story, the owner of the house on Cavendish Square and the Russian prince that she gets romantically involved with. I have to say I was taken aback by the hero in this one -- usually they tend to be titled Englishmen, not foreigners, so there was already something out of the ordinary to expect here.

When Lady Livia Lacey meets the dark, charming Prince Prokov she is dazzled, but keeps her cool demenour. To her, this stranger is just another emigre in London society, caught between two warring factions as Czar Alexander and Napoleon have now become allies at Tilsit. He is smooth, polished, and wildly extravagant as Livia finds out to her own dismay. First there's a beautiful grey mare, then a whirlwind romance and the prince asking for her hand, and a life of pampered luxury.

But Prince Alex Prokov isn't all that he seems either. He keeps hiding secrets from Livia, who is steadily getting confused by his behaviour. One moment he's making passionate love to her, the next he's ordering her about and working very hard at hiding something. What that is will turn Livia's life upside down, and no doubt ruin her marriage as well...

What really annoyed me about this one: Livia turns into a bit of a doormat around the prince, even to the point of when he banishes her beloved terriers to the mews she doesn't kick up a fuss. He creates dissent in her cozy household by insisting that his servants being in charge, and finally, bullying her about and turning into a general all around jerk once the ring goes on her finger. What's worse is that the author has him fixing the relationship problems with great sex. And even worse still -- he keeps lying throughout the book, over and over again, even though he knows that it will drive Livia away from him.

I'm sorry, but while it's true that men could be right bastards in the past, it also perpetuates the sort of behaviour that should be outlawed these days. And frankly, if any man who wanted a serious, permanent relationship with me ever pulled the 'It's me or the pets' sort of crap, I'd be showing him the door right quick. No one does that to me. And frankly, I don't like reading about it either. It borders on emotional and mental abuse, and that doesn't sell a book to me.

This was a just plain rotten novel. The attitudes are too modern and flippant, Prince Alex is trying to be James Bond in Regency dress, the relationship between the two leads hovers on the brink of abuse, and the ending was way over the top. There are better writers of Regency novels out there, and honestly, if I had already not bought the third book in this series, I wouldn't have bothered reading more of Jane Feather's work.

Over all, barely two stars. Skip this turkey. Not recommended.

The problem with this book is that there's no emotion whatsoever. The story starts off with Livia meeting a Russian prince at a ball. From the start, I couldn't bring myself to even like her. She was mean to Alex, not accepting his sweet gifts and compliments. Why was that? Jane never told us why, because she never described what any of the characters were feeling!

And there was just too much other stuff going on. Like Cornelia and her husband, and Alex and his friends, and Aurelia's orphanage - that belongs in Aurelia's story, not Livia's.

Not once did Feather write "She felt 'this way' because of 'that'." So there was no passion or love in the book, you couldn't feel it. It was like there was no romance at all. To me this wasn't a romance book, it was more of a historical story that bored the crap out of me.

This was the first Jane Feather book I've read, and I hope all her books aren't like this.

The problem with this book is there isn't any conflict, there is no tension, no drama, no problems to be overcome. It's dull and somewhat confusing even. Livia meets the Prince, Prince courts Livia and in a matter of days she is in love and wed and that pretty much sums it up. Oh the author tries to throw in some conflict by making the Prince a spy, but I must say I never really understood who he was spying for. Is he for the Czar? Working against the Czar? Only pretending to work against the Czar? And is the Czar sending his agents to kidnap him because he believes he is a traitor? By the end of the book I still didn't understand any of that sub plot, who knows. Basically the only conflict is that he is a spy, big whoop...and that his mother used to own the house on Cavendish square, interesting but the author does next to nothing with this storyline so it is just another somewhat interesting fact that just sort of lays there not really leading to anything. Livia loves him from the beginning to the end, goody for her, but the only conflict they have is his habit of being high handed and the fact he is a spy. She loves him more than she loves England it seems. I don't know this whole book had sort of a thrown together feel to it, like the details of the story hadn't really been worked out and as a result it wasn't very good and the ending was flat and dull.

The first installment is this series was great, a real keeper. Alas, that can not be said for this book. For too much time was spend on dastardly Russians meeting behind closed doors and not enough developing a real relationship between our intrepid English heroine and super secretive Russian prince. Things only got interesting in the last third of the book when Livia began to suspect that her new husband may not have married her for the right reasons. Despite touting that Livia was not a typical, naive spinster, she dove into this marriage knowing nothing about him except he was great in bed. Lots of lust, not enough love.

The only highlights were seeing Harry, Nell, Aurelia and the kids again. Let's hope Aurelia's story proves better.

This was the first book I have read by Jane Feather. It was difficult for me to get past the first few chapters but I pushed through. Around the middle of the book it picked up to OK and by the very end it made its way to pretty good. Based on this book I doubt that I will read this author again.

The author's liberal use of "five-dollar words" (that were era-appropriate) along with phrases that were cumbersome and, in some cases, downright insulting made this a rather frustrating read.

Are we REALLY supposed to believe that a prince raised in the Russian royal court, living in 1807, would think to himself: "He was not the brightest candle in the chandelier" -- ?!

And how about Livia's musing: "Her brain hurt, she decided. Wrestling with the ramifications of this extraordinary situation would exhaust the mental capacity of Diogenes in his barrel." (Now my brain hurts, too.)

Poor character development, s-l-o-w pacing and a ho-hum storyline made me want to set this book aside long before it was over. The passion even seemed forced and somewhat crass -- several times the author indicated Alex's excitement by writing, "Livia felt his penis pressing against her belly." How very romantic.

"To Wed a Wicked Prince" goes into the donation pile...unfinished.

I have enjoyed Jane Feathers tri before, but this set I have to agree with others just sort of slowly drifts along. To Wed A Wicked Prince, really wasn't wicked and the plot was lacking to say the least. You knew what was going to happen with little to no surprises. The lead lady was interesting and her leading man was somewhat charming. There was humor that helped the book but the characters were missing the pull that gets you into the book. Overall a good read, but I will not keep it to reread. The love sequences in this book were better than the 1st of the trilogy, this book brought more romance to the table and was not as "vulgar" as the 1st. I enjoyed this book much better than the first, but the plot was boring and to much information that is very hard to follow, giving the war was in other countries and over 100 years ago. This tri feels like something the author had to throw together to keep her name on the shelf.