16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Simpering and simmering during the English Civil War, July 24, 2007
This review is from: The Winter Prince (Signet Eclipse) (Mass Market Paperback)
Author Cheryl Sawyer attempts to bring to life the much rumored (but unconfirmed) romance between Mary Villiers, the Duchess of Richmond and Prince Rupert of the Rhine, nephew to (the eventually deposed & decapitated) King Charles I of England during the early years of the English Civil War.
Mary Villiers is daughter to the infamous George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham (infamous for being lover to King James I and for his infectious charisma & dandified living). She was a very young girl when jealousy and spite lead to the murder of her father & Mary has tried to live a spot-free chaste courtier's life in the court of her informal "adopted" family - that of King Charles I, his wife Queen Henrietta-Maria and their sons. King Charles I is famous for his ineptitude which eventually lead to the overthrow of the English monarchy, and his wife, Queen Henrietta-Maria for her excessiveness, frivolousness and Catholic fervor. We meet Mary when she is 20 and in a passionless but respectful and friendly marriage to the Duke of Richmond. Mary pays court to the King and Queen nearly without question and without asking for favors - loyalty above all.
In walks the darkly handsome, roguish P.O.W. Prince Rupert of the Rhine, followed by his reputation as a ladies man. Mary and Rupert find themselves drawn to one and other and spend a year yearning and resisting their passionate urges. This sounds like a great set up for a good romance set against political turmoil... but the story didn't deliver. The passion is under developed (too many longing gazes and hidden thoughts) and the chance encounters are hokey (like meeting in a dark tunnel beneath the streets of Oxford that no one had traveled for 200 years). The military strategy sessions and battle descriptions did not add to the love story, and the love story did not add to the political history of the time.
Mary is hard to really truly like - her unwaivering loyalty and friendship to the selfish and fickle Henrietta-Maria is frustrating, and, as written, she seems too fragile, unaware and unsure of herself to hold the interest of the worldly, gallant Prince Rupert. Rupert, on the other hand, is a quirky man who holds to a chivalric code, speaks of himself in the third person, keeps odd pets and is a savage on the battle field (all documented to be true).
I wanted to like this book - but I found it to be just "OK" and a bit too slow for my liking. Those interested in reading about King Charles I and Queen Henrietta-Maria may find their presentation here of interest, though it is secondary to the main story. Sawyer keeps their characters consistent with opinions of the time. They are devoted to each other despite their religious differences. The Queen is a bit domineering, extremely fickle, and "meddlesome" in governmental and military affairs. Perhaps it would not have been such a significant flaw at the time if she had good political instinct, but she did not. Nor did her husband - Sawyer shows him to us as the indecisive and inept ruler he was.
To clarify, I did not expect a traditional sappy "historical romance" & was thus disappointed. I enjoy well written historical novels with romantic subplots. I enjoy the suspense of courtship - the Winter Prince just didn't hit the mark. If love expressed solely by whispered phrases once every 6 months and yearning gazes is your game, The Winter Prince is the book for you.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent book, July 27, 2008
This review is from: The Winter Prince (Signet Eclipse) (Mass Market Paperback)
Winter Prince is an example of the "cream" of historical romances. It's definitely a page-turner, the fictional and the historical characters and events are presented in a lively fashion, and the romance is believable. It's not the overdone type where the heroine's bones melt the first time she looks at some guy. The author doesn't make women of the past into crusaders for equality or give them other characteristics of current days. The author is as good at describing the politics of the ladies-in-waiting's chamber as she is at the dynamics of the King's Council, a rarity indeed.
I am glad to have found this book and will definitely look for more by this author.
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