This would have been great if not for the "oh hey you're crying because you're knocked up and not because your husband is an ass" trope. Barf. ( )

No effort to make it even halfway historically correct. Silly interactions between the characters. The premise sounded good but the opportunity was wasted. Was supposed to be funny but was just ludicrous. ( )

Another day, another my reading list and library checkouts and life too busy to invest in this particular tale. It was ok, until it got boring.

DNF-somewhere between 30&65%

Should be retitled Charming the Princess! Lady Willow, the Cinderella-like daughter of Rufus of Bedlington, yearns for the love and affection she has been denied since her father brought home his second wife and her numerous children. Banner the Bold wants a mother for his unruly children but to his dismay he finds a love worth fighting for. ( )

I would rate this book 3.5.
I'd have to say that I rather enjoyed this Cinderella story. Lord Bannor the bold decides he needs to remarry, so that his new wife can look after his 12 (yes, I said 12) unruly children. His steward selects Willow for him, marrying her in Bannor's stead. Willow was forced to raise all her step siblings when her father remarried. Abused and neglected, with a creepy step brother, she jumps at the chance to escape her father's castle, but Bannor's dismayed when he sees how attractive she is, not wanting to sire anymore children. So he decides to drive her away but--of course--slowly falls in love with her instead.
Bannor's initial treatment of Willow, who just wants to be loved, almost caused me to put down the book. However, as time goes on we come to know Bannors back story. A dark warrior, the scourge of the French and beloved by the English, he lost his first two wifes while he was at war, and why he can't turn any new baby away who comes to his door. We see both Lord Bannor and Willow come to grow in their love for one another. I certainly had a good time reading this book. I liked Willow, a cheerful, well-adjusted character, who blossoms as a woman with the love of her husband. I came to enrjoy Lord Bannon, who's completed by his wife who forces him to learn how to deal with his children. Charming the Prince was certainly a fun read while not the best book I've read.
Jack Murphy ( )