Review: Interesting but Hard to Like
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 01 6, 2013
The boxed set -Perhaps the worse thing in both books was that the hero or heroine did immoral and dishonest things when faced with a hard situation. In both cases, their situation would have been much easier if they'd made better choices. The characters are highly intelligent and have forceful personalities, so their poor decisions make little sense. Both novels also have plot elements that don't make much sense. The way the main characters are so easily led into a bad situation is hard to fathom. I had read some of Jennifer Blake's novels years ago, but I don't remember them being this bad. Although I found these two to be interesting, and I read to see what would happen, the characters were hard to like, the plots were shaky, and, at times, the writing was too wordy. I wouldn't read another one of hers.Royal Seduction (2  stars)Prince Rolfe of Ruthenia chases his older brother's mistress to Louisiana to pry information on why his brother was killed. He mistakenly takes her cousin, Angelina Fortin, for the mistress, takes her captive, and rapes her. Upon finding she had been a virgin, he realizes his mistake, but still keeps her. He ends up dragging her with him as he and his men search for her cousin. But, someone is also trying to kill him, and it's likely one of his own men.The entire book is written from Angeline's point of view, so the reader doesn't get close to anyone else. At first I could not understand why Angeline didn't have Rolfe asked around the town or even at the ball to prove she had not left the area to go to Europe, as her cousin had. When Rolfe realized he'd raped the wrong woman, he immediately made love to Angeline, so she could be fulfilled. This made no sense to me. I don't think Rolfe would have been able to put six shots into a playing card with pistols from 1820, much less put a hole in each of the six diamonds. The guns were not that accurate, and, if he had hit the card, it would have been shot to pieces from the size of the lead balls. The cover is also all wrong, because Rolfe was a blond without a beard. The ending was very high-handed and manipulative, but it still ended happily.I was able to figure out who the culprit was early in the book, but I read to see if I was correct. I found the book well-written and interesting but was turned off by the violence, rape, and sex. It was much too depraved for me.Royal Passion (1  stars)While in Paris, Mara's grandmother is led into a great gambling debt she can't pay. Mara is told the only way to save her grandmother from harm is to seduce the prince of Ruthenia and make sure he attends a certain ball. Prince Roderic is the son of Rolfe and Angeline from the first book. He is intrigued and excited by the beautiful woman who says she can't remember who she is after she fell into his world at a gypsy camp, but he's smart enough to be suspicious. There's political unrest breaking out all across Europe and especially in France. Conspirators are everywhere, and this woman may be part of their web. Mara is uncertain on so many levels, so her seduction of Roderic takes time. Eventually, she ends up in his bed where steamy passions erupt for them both.There's quick point of view switches between Mara and Roderic, but they never stay with Roderic for more than a paragraph or two. Mara keeps saying she has no choice but to become Prince Roderic's mistress and then a courtesan, but she does have other choices. She keeps throwing herself at him, and he keeps refusing her advances. Because she's being blackmailed, she chooses to deceive and lie and hurt the prince. At any time, she could have told him the truth. It was apparent to me what the blackmailer was planning, and, Mara was so intelligent, she should have figured it out, too, but she didn't.Sometimes there's too much description, like the pages upon pages describing Versailles and its treasures. There's also many lengthy paragraphs on the political situation in Paris at the time. There's so much information that, at times, it seems as if the author is just trying to use all the research information she has. Many of the secondary characters were famous people of the time and seemed to have no other purpose for being in the story. The banter and arguments between Roderic and Mara were often hard to follow. Part of this was due to the illusive Regency dialogue. Roderic spends much time thinking about who Mara is and wishing he could solve the mystery, so it makes no sense when we find out he's known who she is from the very beginning. In fact, he's so manipulative, controlling, and conniving that he's hard to like. For example, he plans and intentionally cuts Trudy's face with his sword just to show her her feminine side, which was cruel and uncalled for.The ending here was not nearly as good as the one in ROYAL SEDUCTION, either. There is only a half-way resolution of the romance difficulties. I found Roderic harder to like than Rolfe, although both of them fell short of what I like to see in a hero. In fact, this whole set fell short for me.