The Serpent Prince (Princes Trilogy - 3)

Romance,headless woman cover

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. ( )

Book 3 of the Princes trilogy was a bit weak, committing some of the worst sins for a romance novel: boring characterization and story. The story moves too slowly, especially during the time that Viscount Simon Iddesleigh is convalescing at the home of country maiden Lucy Craddock-Hayes after he was attacked by unknown bad guys. I think we are supposed to be entertained by the attraction at first sight between the two, but I found there wasn’t much chemistry. Why? Because Lucy is so vanilla, and the banter isn't witty, funny, or meaningful. The same can said of the tiresome scenes with Lucy’s curmudgeonly, yet supposedly lovable, father.

Luckily, we move away from the tedious country house pretty soon. After the breath of fresh air (Simon) that swept into her life, Lucy decides that she can’t be satisfied living a country mouse life as the wife of a vicar. So she takes up Simon’s offer of marriage and moves to London. The rest of the story is marginally more interesting as we see Simon, in his bloodthirsty quest to avenge his dead brother, seek out the responsible men and engages them in dangerous duels. He loses a bit of his soul every time he kills a man, but he can’t stop until he gets revenge. Here, I like how Hoyt doesn’t sugarcoat things, the hero actually kills and kills. Quite more violent than most romance novels I’ve encountered—and it certainly made things more interesting. Of course, Lucy’s encouraging him to end such dangerous pursuits.

While Simon was a pretty engaging character, Lucy never came into her own as a fleshed-out character. She didn’t have an inner life that wasn’t attached to Simon’s exploits, so it seemed that she had no personality. We’re made to believe that she’s this spunky, perceptive woman, in the mold of other romance heroines, but I didn’t really see any evidence of this in the story itself. If Hoyt had further developed that glimpse of Lucy’s independence that we saw near the start of the book, when she realized she couldn’t settle for a quite country life, Lucy as anything but a bland cardboard cutout might have been more convincing. Maybe it’s personal taste, but I find stories with the heroine having to face her own problems in addition to what the hero’s confronting makes both characters more alive. We are shown Simon’s trips to the coffee house meeting his two friends, but barely anything that Lucy does by herself except for maybe two scenes with the in-laws.
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I was thoroughly impressed with Ms. Hoyt's work in The Serpent Prince. In the third book of the series Hoyt explores a plot that swiftly turns markedly darker than the two previous books that came before it.

In The Serpent Prince, we meet Lord Simon Iddesleigh and Ms. Lucy Craddock-Hayes. Lord Simon is found soundly beaten at the side of road by Lucy's home in Maiden Hill, a village a 1/2 a day's ride away from London. Lucy takes him in to her home and as he recovers it becomes rather clear that they have the quite the hots for each other. The plot thickens when we learn Simon is on a single-minded quest for revenge against his brother's murderers which threatens to destroy the budding relationship between Simon and Lucy.

For the first 2/3rds of the novel, Hoyt for the most part is able to create interesting and three dimensional characters. Serious, direct and innocent Lucy is described as an angel- an Old Testament angel- who sees through Simon's facades and witticisms to the man beneath. This scares the hell out of Simon but he can't help but be attracted to her. Simon's arrival only brings home to her how boring and empty her life has been.

Simon, let's face it, is honestly a creep in my opinion. Hoyt is unafraid to show his ugly side (oh and there are many) and most of the time Simon is obnoxious, stubborn and at times reprehensible. It is difficult for me to love Simon, particularly as he continuously shows a lack of honor, selfishness,and a narrow minded stubborness. At the same time, though, Simon is a complex character, one who deeply loves his wife. I really wish that Lucy took a more active role in the plot and in many ways this seems more Simon's story than Lucy's story.

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Lucy, while taking a peaceful walk stumbles across a man she assumes is dead, but upon futher investigation finds that he is injured, and takes him back to her home to help heal him back to health. Simon, is bent on revenge, however Lucy startles his sensibilities to the point where he craves her very touch, and aches to hear the sound of her voice. He knows that his life is not what he would have for her, since everything in him vows to take revenge for his brothers death on those that killed him, but Lucy's love will be the one to save him as nothing else could...The Serpent Prince is the third installment in the series. After reading the first book in the series, I loved it so much that I desperately couldn't wait to read the rest of the books in the series, and I just loved reading The Serpent Prince. From the very first page, I found myself captivated until the very last page, and even though I wasn't totally into the story, there was still a sense of mystery and romance that pulled me in. The characters were engaging, and their interaction with each other scrumptious. I also enjoyed how their was a sense of purpose in the characters and their interaction with each other was fascinating...although there were parts that I couldn't bring myself to like....the other much captivating parts made up for it. The sensuality between Lucy and Simon were intense and can at times leave a reader breathless in anticipation for more to come....Overall a Succulent and juice read that will warm you from head to toe.... ( )