The Serpent Prince

THE SERPENT PRINCE may by my favorite of the Prince books. What can I say? I'm a sucker for an elegant savage. And the hero of the novel, Viscount Simon Iddesleigh, may be the best example that I have ever encountered of the type. Pale, lithe, urbane, with a too-clever tongue, he pretends to be a fop but is too obviously driven and intelligent for anyone to believe the charade. The novel begins when Iddesleigh is abducted, beaten, and left for dead in the tiny town of Maiden Hill. The heroine of the novel, Lucinda Craddock-Hayes, finds him lying by the side of the road and has him taken back to the family manse, where she can nurse him back to health. The moment that Simon wakes, something clicks between them. One thing I liked very much about THE SERPENT PRINCE is that while secondary characters frequently jump to the conclusion that if there is trouble in paradise, it's probably because Simon is running around like a tomcat sleeping with other women, Simon never questions his love for Lucy - or his ability to remain faithful - and Lucy, for her turn, doesn't doubt him either. In so many romance novels about rakes, the heroine is constantly racked with fear, convinced she can't keep (or deserve) her man's interest. In THE SERPENT PRINCE, the connection between Simon and Lucy is solid and true from the beginning, and the faith that the couple have in one another really brings that home to the reader. They love one another, it's real, and that's that. No, it would take something truly dark and terrible to separate Simon and Lucy. That something is Simon's determination to revenge his brother's death by killing all the men who conspired to cause it. As the novel opens, he's already killed two of the four men responsible - in duels - and although the killings don't sit lightly on his conscience, he's not even tempted to change course and find another way. There is something truly brutal, feverish and animal, about Simon. It comes through in his single-minded pursuit of revenge but it's present in his love for Lucy, as well - the edge of desperation and ferocity always lying just under the surface when he's with her. It's simply part of his character, and not really subject to change. This is another thing I liked about THE SERPENT PRINCE - Simon isn't declawed once he embarks on the road to marital bliss. Lucy anchors him enough to keep him from self-destructing; she gives him something to live for, and that changes some of his decisions; but Simon is never domesticated or tamed. At the end of the novel, he's still the elegant savage that I melted for at the beginning. I recommend THE SERPENT PRINCE wholeheartedly. The characters are wonderful, the romance heartwrenching, the sex sizzling. It's a tour de force.

Maybe it's because I haven't read the previous two books? I don't know, but I read the blurb on the back about Lucy's quiet country life being disturbed by her encountering a stabbed, beaten, naked man on the Lane to her home and I was immediately intrigued. There's a mystery here--and I LIKE mysteries!!! Perhaps that's it? I thought Lucy was a strong character. She is mature and confident. She immediately feels compassion for a dead man dumped along the road--and when she learns he is still alive, she calmly insists on getting him the proper care, despite a quirky man servant and a cranky, blustering, but loving father. Simon is the more difficult character... but one has to love his cool at finding himself waking, injured in a strange bed in an unknown place when he was last in London walking along the street, before being jumped by three men. He falls in love with his "angel"--and I don't see why the love at first sight isn't reasonable, here. Lucy is a calm and loving anchor in Simon's troubled and chaotic world. Simon is the hope of love and passion that Lucy doesn't have in her ordered country life, where she has been slowly courted by the vicar who is so passionate he's taken three or four years and hasn't yet asked for her hand. That Lucy quickly realizes she can't settle for the vicar, even as she knows Simon's world isn't her own, is a mark of her sense and her sensibility. Simon, too, knows his world isn't her world--not because she's a simple country miss (as Lucy sometimes fears) but because the attack upon him is part of the current darkness of his life--one of revenge and death, leaving little room for love and goodness. Convalescing, Simon gradually tells Lucy the tale of the Serpent Prince, ostensibly so Lucy, talented with her drawing and painting, can illustrate it as a gift for Simon's young niece. I think the tale fits their character and the story perfectly. He is revealing his thoughts of unworthiness and his road of sacrifice, even the sacrifice of his love. It's beautiful and moving, and rather than just imposing a superficial frame of reference for the romance, deepens it. Now, perhaps Hoyt has handled this even better in her earlier two books, I don't know, but I do know I liked it all well enough here! Historically--yes, the details were very light, but the elements of Georgian style Simon's life reveals is fine enough: his red-heeled shoes, his close-cropped hair under his wigs, his duels and fencing, the brothels and gaming hells and coffee houses... But I am predisposed towards Georgian romances... and men whose witty tongue and sartorial excellence hide their inner, far more sensitive soul. I found it all profoundly romantic and I couldn't put the book down. Now, perhaps I am in for an even better experience when I read the other books? What's so bad about that?

Elizabeth Hoyt has improved with each release in her Fairy Tale Prince Series. It has become difficult to determine which one is the favorite, so it has to be the one you are currently reading! Her unique style of having an actual fairy tale being told by one of the characters while the real fairy tale-like storyline is developing, is extremely creative, leaving readers glued to the pages, once again reading another Prince series book that is interesting, sensual, and difficult to put down. These are not light stories with flighty characters, but complicated storylines containing characters that are imperfect and sensual, with moral character. In The Serpent Prince a beautiful country girl Lucy Craddock-Hayes leads a quiet life helping others, wondering if love will ever come her way, when she happens upon Viscount Simon Iddesleigh, naked, unconscious, and near death on the side of the road. Lucy rescues Simon to recuperate in the home of her cranky old sea captain of a father with loyal servants who are old sea salts, just as cranky as their captain, whose antics, along with the rakeful Simon when he awakens, will keep the reader smiling. When he awakes he has immediate lust for the beautiful country mouse. Lucy, who has always led a perfect country life of decorum, is surprised by her sensual desire for Simon. But Simon has deep, dark secrets of vengeance underneath his sexy smile and beautiful body. Evil that already killed one he loved and may endanger those he has now come to love. Will the beautiful Lucy's sweet goodness be enough to transcend the evil in handsome Simon's life so he can truly love? Only one way to find out...read this third book in the series! The Prince Series is a romance series fans will want to collect and read over and over again. A pure delight. Readers anxiously awaited this release and they will continue to look forward to the next Hoyt Historical Romance!

I read and loved Hoyt's previous two novels this summer, and this third one eclipses them both. I loved every minute of this novel. Miss Craddock-Hayes is just the sort of heroine I like; smart, compassionate, and attractive (I did list those in order of importance). Simon isn't the kind of hero I usually empathize with, but there was just something about the way the characters were so realistically drawn, with a twist of humor, that made them incredibly appealing as a couple. Simon clearly adores Lucy, and always treated her as such. This dynamic is always a requirement for me, which is why I've never liked authors like Christina Dodd. Maybe it was the fact that Lucy so obviously needed someone to shake up her life that made Simon so appealing. I wanted him to give Lucy what she needed. And boy did he. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. The sensuality in this book was the most wonderful that I've ever read. BUT, it never overwhelmed the real story, which of course is the relationship. This isn't the sort of romance that's heavy on the sex at the expense of believability and character development. What makes Hoyt such a standout is her ability to weave the elements of the romance genre together with such balance and so seamlessly, that you forget you're reading a romance novel. This takes real skill and intelligence. Moreover, her humor is unique in that it actually makes me laugh, and it's never too cutsey. This book is not for you if you're a prude. What I love about the romance genre and authors like Hoyt is their ability to portray women being sexual in a wonderfully healthy, expressive way. And, here comes a spoiler, the scene in which Simon stumbles on Lucy in the bath and then pleasures himself afterwards was incredibly HOT, and it operated only on a skillful portrayal of sexual tension; the characters never touch each other in one of the hottest scenes in the book. I would only ask that Ms. Hoyt keep writing historic romance for a good long time. She's a master of the genre, and brings significant changes to the genre. Bravo!

You've probably guessed by now that Viscount Simon Iddesleigh, languid and seemingly laid-back, he of the frothy lace at his wrists and the shockingly lethal hand with a sword, is a tormented, still-waters-run-deep hero. Yes. As the layers are slowly peeled back there's even more to his soul-deep torment than you expect. When the story opens, plucky country lass Lucy Craddock-Hayes finds Simon in a ditch, completely naked and beaten to an inch of his life. Of course she hauls him home and nurses him back to health (against the torrid protests of her servant and sea-dog father). The conversations these two have are rapier-sharp to-and-fro-ing. Brilliantly funny to read, gorgeous wit. This is a man who's all too easy for Lucy to fall in love with - as opposed to the country vicar who's been courting her for three long boring years. Then Lucy realizes that Simon carries a shocking burden of revenge for his beloved brother Ethan's death, one Simon must continue, even if it means his own violent, bloody end. (The swordplay in the book will convince you, once and for all, how excruciating it really is to die by the blade.) Once his enemies learn that Simon's still alive, they come looking for him. He knows too much. The absolute and beautiful redemption Lucy gives to the anguished Simon is profound and terribly moving. Who knew his nightmarish depths, from the previous books? Of course there's swooningly thrilling cameos from Edward de Raaf (The Raven Prince) and Harry Pye (The Leopard Prince), totally ooh. Wound through the story is the fairy tale about the goat girl and the Serpent Prince, fabricated by Simon to fascinate Lucy, his `angel'. Lucy suspects he's making it up and it's all about him, so she promptly changes the dreadful ending to suit Simon - and her. A ten hanky read, very powerful.