The Ice King (Masquerade Historical, 45)

After the death of her guardian, Tanya Kirova was doomed to spend the rest of her life stuck in the Russian countryside when fate smiled on her with the arrival of her distant relatives. Alexei and Marie Kirova graciously allowed her into their home for a few weeks in order to experience the wonders of St. Petersburg before she was sent to live with yet another elderly relative just doing their Christian duty. Tanya was delighted to explore Russia's most wondrous city and was eagerly determined to bottle up every new experience. It was at her first ball where she caught the eye of Prince Nikolai Volkhov, and her innocent eagerness to explore her hosts' staircase was the first step in thawing out the man known as the 'Ice King.' Prince Nikolai's deadened demeanor was known to everyone within the Russian aristocracy and so it was with wonder and awe that they watched the little nobody from Yaroslavl melt the Ice King. Nikolai wonders if he might let go of his ghosts with Tanya by his side, but he also wonders if his past misdeeds may be too much for her to understand. It is with a heavy heart that the Ice King bares his soul and prays, as does all of Russia, that his Tanya finds it within herself to set him free. Foolish man. He had nothing in his past that needed to be forgiven. If anything, the only thing he needed was a great big hug. Nikolai was a wonderful hero. While known as the Ice King, this hero was far from icy. He was actually sweet, kind, (yes, I said kind so deal with it Nikolai) considerate, witty and so full of heart that I wanted to gather him up in my arms and rain kisses and hugs upon him. While Nikolai definitely showed moments of dry wit: "I'm afraid I was showing off to impress you." "But you might have fallen!" Tanya said faintly, gazing at him with a mixture of horror and incredulity. "In which case, presumably you would not have been impressed after all." he is not a humorous man. And while I definitely saw moments of unhappiness in his character, I never saw moments of ice, either. His outlook on life was certainly dour, thanks to his Rebecca-esque witch of a wife, but from the moment we meet him, he was so, so ......... nice! He was one of the nicest character's I've ever read. I know that probably sounds boring, or boringly beta, but it was much more interesting than that. And Tanya was also one of the nicest heroine's ever. She was quick witted, level headed, gracious, and I will forever love her for loving Nikolai. This was a truly lovely book. At first it started off slow and the middle section of the book seemed to go nowhere. But that is part of this books charm. The best way I can describe this book, is that it's smooth. There are no peaks or valleys in this book. No raging emotions or passionate scenes of lovemaking. Instead, it's smooth. Tranquil. Gentle. It's peppered with interesting facts about Russian architecture and the Russian scenary was vividly described. The character's were all warm hearted and