Charming the Prince

Rating:
Summary: Speechless...
Review: This was my first time reading Teresa Medeiros. I've heard many times that she is a fantastic writer, but now that I've found it out for myself I'll always be on the look out for more of her books.

This book could be somewhat compared with a Cinderella story only ten times more wonderful. Filled with delightful children, a "take your breath away" hero and a beautiful yet insecure woman... this book just has it all.

What struck me at the very beginning of this book was that at page 1 I was brought almost to tears and hurting for Willow and by page 12 I was laughing hysterically and already so involved in what was going on that I couldn't put the book down! How often can you get that deeply into a book so soon?

The story is woven with laugh out loud moments, tender love scenes and amazing children and secondary characters. I love how easily Teresa Medeiros incorporates humour into her story. I literally felt as though I were there watching the action.

This book was refreshing and different from the typical plot lines you find in many romance novels. I have started another of her books and am finding it just as unique. I'd recommend Charming the Prince to anyone... I'm so glad I've found this author and I can't wait to collect all of her books!

Rating:
Summary: Heartwarming and Tender
Review: I admit, when I first read the cover, I was a little skeptical about this book. I didn't like the fact that a guy can father a dozen children when many of those years, he was off at war. Well, was I wrong! As the story progresses, it is so engrossing. I didn't want to eat or sleep until I finished reading this book.

Lord Bannor has spent many years off fighting in the wars. Now, he was returned home, and suddenly, has twelve children who he knows absolutely nothing about. They chase him around and torment him. He decides he'd better get a wife so she can handle this problem, so he sends his steward out.

Willow is basically living as a servant under her evil stepmother's care. She overhears the steward offering for her, and she jumps in to escape her purgatory. When she arrives, she is attacted to Bannor, yet he doesn't want to get involved for he doesn't want any more children. The children torment her as they have done countless other maids and governesses. I couldn't help but feel "Way to go, girl!" when Willow finally decides to fight back, against the children and husband.

The main story between Willow and Bannor is not the only aspect to this novel. There is the battle between the children and Willow against Lord Bannor and his soldiers. It was hilarious all the things the children did to the seasoned soldiers! Also, Willow's stepsister stows away with Willow to the castle and she has a thing for Desmond, the oldest son of Lord Bannor. Then there is the question of all the children.....who are not all Bannor's....but I wont' tell you more. You simply have to read this book to find out. You won't regret it! I didn't.

Rating:
Summary: Teresa, we love you!
Review: This is the first of her books I've ever bought, but not the first of hers I'd read. In fact, I had forgotten her name but then rediscovered her with this one! I loved the story of Willow, Bannor, and their tribe of unruly children. No matter how many other romances I read, I return to this one. If you like Teresa, you'll probably enjoy :
Julia Quinn (Bridgerton series and related historicals)

Julia London (Rogues of Regent Street + her other historicals)

Jane Feather (most anything of hers)

Christina Dodd (candle in the window, a well pleasured lady, that scandalous evening, once upon a pillow, I could go on)

Nicole Jordan (has a ton of out of print stuff I haven't gotten around to, but her historicals are great-passion, seduction, ecstasy...)

Christina Skye (early works like east of forever & come the night + Draycott Abbey series)

Madeline Hunter (by arrangement, by design, lord of a thousand nights, etc.)

Stephanie Laurens (Bar Cynster and her other regencies)

I also enjoy Christine Feehan's Dark Carpathian Series.

Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!!
Review: I laughed so much during this book! It was great a must read.

Lord Bannor the Bold is the pride of England and the fear of the French. So what could someone of this reputation fear? Why his dozen unruly children of course. Not knowing what to do with them or how to handle them he sends his steward out to find him a mother for his children. But there is a condition to this bride search. The lady in question must be maternal in nature, unattractive and too plain to tempt him in matters of the flesh. His steward brings Willow who is not maternal in nature in fact does not like children over much since she had to raise and take care of her step sister and brother and who is far form unattractive. As a way to pay her new husband back Willow joins forces with his impish children to teach him a lesson that he will never forget. That is the lesson of love.

Don't miss this one if you love to laugh while faling in love.

Rating:
Summary: Starts out cutesy and doesn't stop there....
Review: Of all the Teresa Medeiros books I've read thus far, this one disappointed me the most. I found myself on an excessively long layover, and had finished this fluffy fare by the time my plane boarded. It tops out at a very quick 342 pages, and while the writing is entertaining enough in typical Medeiros style, it's the story here that is profoundly lacking.

The story starts out with a scene ripped directly from Cinderella itself (and a Hollywood remake starring Drew Barrymore) -- Willow's father marries a rich heiress with a brood of her own and supplants our young heroine in her father's heart. She becomes the unwanted daughter, and servant to her stepmother's handsome children.

Bannor the Bold (ugh) is your typical warlord. Only now his war is over, and he returns home to his castle to be the father to the children he managed to father while off to war for the past 14 years (a huge, questionable hole in the plot that the author never explains, and the heroine never thinks of, but hey). A rather prolific daddy, he's got 12 brats, and now he needs a mother to take care of them, and assigns his steward to the job, telling him not to pick out a hot babe for his bride, because he doesn't want any more kids. Steward being the moron that he is, the story being as predictable as it is, Bannor gets stuck with the gorgeous lady Willow.

Now, if I was Willow, I'd be plenty irked that I'd been shipped off from one family of brats to another, but Willow quickly adjusts and finds the time to fall all over Bannor, who isn't all that hard to like. Why? He doesn't have a personality, really. The story doesn't really have a lot of hard conflict -- the pace is set by Willow vs the Kids, then Willow & the kids vs Bannor, so on and so forth. There's even a silly scene (that's supposed to be sexy) involving a shilling that made me groan with dismay.

It's not a bad story, if you can look past the cheese that coats it. Willow is a boring Cinderella, the kids are nightmares, and Bannor the Bland doesn't particularly stand out. I liked Medeiros's previous books that I had read, and was looking forward to this one. I'm wavering between 2 and a half and 3 stars, honestly, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.

Rating:
Summary: Heart Warming, Enchanting, Wonderful!
Review: This was a great book! I, like another reader kept putting off reading this book because of the review I read talked about the 12 children Banner sired. This made him sound too arrogant. Was I surprised! Right from the beginning this book grabbed my heart.

Willow adored her father and longed for a mother. She thought when her father left, he would come back bringing her home a mother to fulfil the desire of her heart. Little did she know what would come with her. In spite of her circumstances, Willow was a dreamer and never gave up on her dreams. She always believed deep within her that someday her prince would come.

Banner afraid to love seeked only a mother for his children. He sent another to seek out a woman who would love his children but not tempt him to have more. When he first laid eyes on her, his heart started to melt and he wanted to kill his friend for choosing such a tempting lady. This is a must read, you won't be disappointed!

Rating:
Summary: More sitcom than romance
Review: Generally I have enjoyed this author's work, but this one was a little different. It was more like a sitcom set in medieval times than a historical romance. It's easy to imagine on network TV: "What happens when England's fiercest warrior confronts his most dangerous enemies yet - ten unruly children and a whacky new bride? Watch the hilarious adventures of Bannor the Bold, coming next week!" In short, it's full of madcap adventures and hilarious mishaps and whacky fun with Bannor the Bold and his whacky, hilarious, madcap family. Anyway, it wasn't my idea of a romance, and although it was funny in places, I don't even like to watch sitcoms, much less read them.

It's not that I have a problem with a little humor in a romance novel. I like Moning, Barnett, Garwood, and many other authors who include humor in their novels. But in order for a romance to work for me, I still need a hero I can take seriously. I need to believe he's a fierce alpha male, no matter how tender he is with the heroine. Bannor is nothing but a bumbling, two-dimensional comic strip hero and there is no serious characterization in the novel to show otherwise. Other characters keep talking about how he can twist an enemy's head off with one hand, but it's always said as he cowers in fear of his bratty toddlers. We never *see* anything of the warrior he's supposed to be. In fact, we see very little of his character at all, as most of the book is taken up by the neverending buffoonery of the hero's ten children, who do and say all the sorts of cutesy, funny things that children in a sitcom do (they fight with each other, they wear out their father with "pony" rides, they demand fig pudding for breakfast, they throw tantrums and wear kettles on their heads, and so and so on and so on). It's impossible to take Bannor seriously as a person or a romantic hero - he's just an oafish straight man for the comic antics of the children and the heroine.

I'll give the book three stars for some nice love scenes, although I had to really press my imagination to enjoy these, as I could do so only by forgetting the rest of the book and pretending Bannor was someone I actually cared about. Also, I like the herioine. She was well-drawn and convincing. If only she'd had a real hero to love.

I wouldn't reccomend this book to those who want a hardcore romance with a hero you can fall in love with. On the other hand, if you're happy reading a light farce, as the reviews for this book would suggest many people are, you might enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Charming the Reader
Review: This is the first Teresa Medeiros book I'd ever read. I was unsure what to expect, and found myself pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it! Medeiros doesn't spend too much time developing lurid sex scenes, but instead they're rather tastefully done. And the writing is funny and delightful.

Medeiros does lean a bit on fairy tales, I've noticed, but she plays with them, and mixes them around a little bit. This story starts exactly like any Cinderella story you might read, but moves far beyond that into a charming world of Teresa Medeiros's own making. I found myself laughing and crying -- sometimes simultaneously. Medeiros has certainly found an avid fan in THIS reader! Her writing is too delightfully charming -- excuse the pun -- to even attempt resistance.

Rating:
Summary: Fun Fairytale with Good Plot Twists
Review: Teresa Medeiros excels at fairytale based romances, and Charming the Prince is no exception. The novel begins as if it were Cinderella meets The Sound of Music then spins an unusual twist on each.

As a child (in 1347 England), Lady Willow of Bedlington was displaced in her father's affections by a greedy and heartless stepmother whose many brats Willow was forced to help raise. When Willow finally escapes her servitude to marry a distant "prince" she's never met-Lord Bannor the Bold-she's crestfallen to discover that her new husband had twelve brats of his own and is seemingly repulsed by her. (Actually, he is so attracted to her he must keep her at a distance to avoid fathering a child with her as he already has more children that he wants.) To make matters worse, the children are a terror and as hostile to her as she is to them.

Willow and the children finally form a truce in an unexpected way while Bannor turns out to be harboring a secret the reader next suspects. Willow seeks help in the most unlikely place, and after more surprising plot twists, Willow and Bannor triumph.

In sum, this is a highly unusual and surprising romance novel that works even better with its strange plot twists. It didn't stir my emotions as deeply as some books have, but its many characters are lively and well-drawn, and the story is engaging. For a pleasant and absorbing read, don't miss Charming the Prince.

Rating:
Summary: TOO CUTE!!
Review: This book was just tooooo cute. Its a classical idea with a twist. If you like the Sound of Music and Cinderella then you'll love this. After reading many of her books I have to say this one has the best twist!