Review: The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt

THERE COMES A TIME IN A LADY’S LIFE…

Widowed Anna Wren is having a wretched day. After an arrogant male on horseback nearly squashes her, she arrives home to learn that she is in dire financial straits. What is a gently bred lady to do?

WHEN SHE MUST DO THE UNTHINKABLE…

The Earl of Swartingham is in a quandary. Having frightened off two secretaries, Edward de Raaf needs someone who can withstand his bad temper and boorish behavior. Dammit! How hard can it be to find a decent secretary?

AND FIND EMPLOYMENT.

When Anna becomes the earl’s secretary, both their problems are solved. Then she discovers he plans to visit the most notorious brothel in London for his “manly” needs. Well! Anna sees red—and decides to assuage her “womanly” desires . . . with the earl as her unknowing lover.

This is my first Elizabeth Hoyt book and I loved it. From the first page to the last, I was enthralled with the story. It was so unconventional that I couldn’t help but love it. I didn’t want it to end, but it ended on a note that was perfectly suited to the story.

Anna Wren has to find employment before she and her mother-in-law find themselves on the street, unable to pay for their tiny cottage. It doesn’t take Anna long to realize that employment for a woman isn’t easy to come by. When she finds out that the Earl of Swartingham is in need of a secretary, she decides that it is the job for her. It’s only after she starts her duties that she finds out that the Earl is the man who almost ran her down on a walking path not too long ago. That doesn’t deter Anna from wanting to continue the job as his secretary.

The Earl of Swartingham can’t believe that his steward hired a woman as his secretary. Even men quake under the force of his temper, so he has no doubt that he will send a mere woman running for her life. He underestimates Anna’s determination to stay. In Anna, he finds the one person he can’t seem to intimidate or scare away. No matter what he yells or what he throws, Anna doesn’t cower or run away in fright. It doesn’t take long for Edward to develop what he thinks are inappropriate feelings toward the pretty widow. Before he acts on those feelings, he decides to head to London; more specifically to Aphrodite’s Grotto, a place where he can sate the urges that Anna has invoked in him.

Anna is furious and hurt when she finds out where Edward is going and why. Determined that she will not let the man she has come to love go to another woman, she enlists help from an unlikely source and finds her way into the Grotto. With a mask to hide her identity from him, what Anna experiences goes beyond a mere mating of the body. When Edward requests her to return, Anna does so. Yet when he requests for her to return a third time, she knows it’s time to return home for she can never be the woman that Edward needs by his side. She also knows that he will never forgive her if he learns of her deceit.

The decision to tell Edward is soon taken out of her hands and she finds herself in the exact position she was trying to avoid. Though she wants to refuse his offer of marriage, he won’t allow it nor does Anna especially want to. Still, Anna knows that Edward will never be able to forgive her b/c she can’t give him the one thing he wants: an heir.

I read this book in one day. I loved it that much. I’ve since read all the books in the series and this is my favorite one. That is unusual b/c I generally find the books get better as the series goes on. I really loved everything about this book, including the vindictive vicar’s wife who eventually got what she deserved. Anna was an unexpectedly strong heroine who fell in love with the most unlikely of men. Unlikely it may have been, Edward and Anna were perfect for each other.

4.5 out of 5.

This book is available from Grand Central. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

Other books in the series:

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