Romance

My Dark Prince by Julia Ross

Karen Wheless

I’ve read several books by Julia Ross (aka Jean Ross Ewing) but none of them have been keepers.  Still, she had a unique voice – it doesn’t seem like she’s still writing, which is too bad.

My Dark Prince by Julia Ross
(2000, Regency Historical)  9/30/12
Grade: 4

When Nicholas, prince of Glarien, arrives in her small village, Penny Lindsey wants him to fulfill his duties to his local tenants – but Nicholas has bigger plans.  His royal fiancé has been kidnapped, and he needs Penny to fill in for her during the wedding celebrations in London.  His marriage is necessary to save his country, but he finds himself drawn to Penny despite his royal duties.

This was an intriguing book with compelling characters, but it didn’t quite live up to its early promise.  I was intrigued by Nicholas, the royal prince who was torn between love and duty, and Penny was a strong counterbalance for him through most of the book.  But I found myself getting impatient with the love scenes and wanting to get back to the royal intrigue and adventure.  The storyline of yearning for forbidden love didn’t quite work – it felt predictable and repetitive.  But the story of Glarien and the intrigues between Nicholas and his cousin Carl (and the other secondary characters) kept me turning the pages.  That’s one reason I found the ending unsatisfying – it was strange to have a story that focused so heavily on royal duty and the intrigues of a fictional kingdom end with something of an Anglo-centric romance cliché.  Julia Ross has a unique voice but I ended up being just a little bit disappointed. 

I love a royal romance, but it’s surprising that so few authors follow through on their premise, especially in historicals.  It seems strange to me that you would spend all this time creating a fictional country with fictional royalty, and then end up with your hero and heroine living in England, but it’s happened in almost every historical royal romance I’ve read.  Maybe I’m the only romance reader who also has a weakness for stories about princes and princesses (and doesn’t want them to turn into English Earls in the end). 

Karen Wheless

I've been reading romance since I discovered Kathleen Woodiwiss at age 12. I love all kinds of romances, especially emotional and angsty stories. I finally cut back my TBR pile from 2000 books to only 400, but I still have lots of books left to read!

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