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by Elizabeth Hoyt For those of you tired of beautiful heroines with perfectly delicate features, shapely figures and long, flowing tresses who fall in love with tall, handsome men with rippling muscles, glittering eyes, and strong jaw lines, there’s The Raven Prince. In an interesting switch, the author goes to great lengths to describe the unappealing physical features of the two lovers. Impoverished little Anna Wren is a plain drab widow whose late-husband openly strayed. After her husband’s premature death she takes a job working as a secretary for Edward de Raaf, The Earl of Swartingham. Edward is an ill-tempered man with a big nose and chin, and thin bloodless lips, whose face and shoulders are covered with pockmarks. Although they each respond to the other’s inner beauty, she also likes his long black hair and he likes her sensuous mouth (among other body parts). Her job goes well until Anna discovers that Edward periodically relieves his "tension" by visiting a notorious London brothel. She decides to relieve her own tension by arranging an anonymous and highly passionate lovemaking session with the Earl in which her face is hidden behind a mask. Although Edward is intrigued with his mysterious seductress, he unleashes his ferocious temper when the truth is revealed. Each chapter begins with an excerpt from a storybook about a magical raven and its human bride that loosely parallels the plot of the novel. The storybook also is woven into the novel itself, as Anna discovers the book in Edward’s library. This device will likely strike some readers as creative and thought-provoking, while others will find it a distraction they want to skip before diving into each chapter. These two unusual characteristics - physically unappealing lovers and a story within a story - make The Raven Prince a romance novel that refuses to blend in with countless other historical romances that fear even the tiniest deviation from the tried and true. |
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The Raven Prince