Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: Harlequin
Release Date: September 2004
ISBN: 0-373-77007-3
Awards:  
Format Reviewed: Advanced Review Copy / Paperback
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Genre:   Paranormal Romance / Romantic Fantasy
Reviewed: 2004
Reviewer: Shannon I. Bigham
Reviewer Notes:
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The Stone Prince
By Gena Showalter

   The Stone Prince is not your run-of-the-mill romance novel by any stretch of the imagination. Yes, man meets woman and they fall in love. However, the "man" in The Stone Prince is not human. He is a statue. Well, his name is Jorlan and he is actually from another planet and his cruel brother has put an evil spell on him, which has turned Jorlan into stone. Jorlan will remain a statue until a fair maiden kisses him which will temporarily break the spell. For the spell to remain permanently broken, Jorlan and his fair maiden must fall in love within fourteen days.

   Katie is the "fair maiden" and she is in her mid-twenties, six feet tall, and is still a virgin. She also owns her own company and restores homes for a living, which is where she "meets" Jorlan, in the statue garden of a Victorian mansion she is restoring. Katie cannot resist her puzzling but undeniable attraction to the brawny male statue - so she kisses it and the spell cast upon Jorlan is temporarily broken. Not only is Katie shocked when the statue turns into a man, she is even more shocked when she realizes she has an extremely sexy yet chauvinistic alien on her hands! A looming question is, what will happen when Jorlan's brother finds him and will he seek out final vengeance against Jorlan? Will the spell be permanently broken by Jorlan and Katie falling in love in a mere two weeks?

   The Stone Prince was original, funny and entertaining. Showalter did an admirable job of making the story as believable as possible and paranormal romance fans will easily become engrossed in the plot, not to mention the sizzling attraction between Katie and Jorlan, which is liberally interspersed with their flirtatious sparring. Paranormal romance fans will also want to keep an eye out for Showalter's upcoming release, The Pleasure Slave.