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Summary: Hilarious, tender, and touching!
Review: I've loved all of Ms. Medeiros's books, but this one truly shines. It's funny and tender at the same time. It made me laugh and cry and taught me some poignant lessons about life and love. If you've been waiting for that special read to come along, wait no more! This book is destined to become an instant classic.
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Summary: Smart, funny, sexy--a perfect book!
Review: Strong, fearless Bannor is undone by an unruly band of children--and then by Lady Willow. He's looking for a plain, maternal nurturer and ends up with a feisty beauty whose relationships with kids in the past hasn't been terrific. She does battle with Bannor's brood, wins them over, and then proceeds to knock him off his feet as well. This is PERFECTION. It's what every historical romance wishes it could be!
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Summary: Her usual funny and delightful romance
Review: By 1360, how one feels about Lord Banner the Bold of Elsinore depends on which side of the Channel an individual resides. Known as the "Pride of the English and Terror of the French", Banner faces the most difficult and complex challenge of his warring life. He is trapped by a dozen of the most vile, unruly, and barbaric warriors ever to walk the earth. Banner must confront his motherless children. His campaign plan is to have his steward find him a plain woman to marry, but he doesn't want to fall in love with his chosen bride. Lady Willow loathes her life as nobody's darling ever since her father remarried. Her stepmother expects her to raise her brood of children. In spite of exchanging one horde of children for another, when Banner proposes, Willow accepts because she figures that at least in his household she will not have any adults also making demands. However, escape from her former household does not prevent her step-siblings from arriving and making mischief. As Willow and Banner struggle with the danger posed from her "family", they fall in love, but will Banner recognize that the Lady is a thief who stole his heart? CHARMING THE PRINCE will charm fans of Medieval romance. The humorous story line is filled with action that brings to life the conflict between home and war for the noble soldier. However, what makes this tale so good is Teresa Medeiros' ability to make a myriad of characters seem warm and real with genuine relationships. Sub-genre fans will relish the Medeiros touch of enchantment that make this necessary read. Harriet Klausner
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Summary: Finally some Intentional humor!
Review: There's one thing that keeps me waiting for Teresa Medeiros' new books: her humor! Unlike other romance writers who go just do insipid "mushy, mushy" all over the page, Medeiros offers up genuine laughs--and not because of some odd mistakes. Like Marion Chesney, Medeiros strives to serve up a combination plate of individualized characters with "thought development" beyond "Oh, whatever will I do?" well seasoned with human foibiles and all sorts of situation and language "jokes." So far my favorite book is FAIREST OF THEM ALL in which a suppossedly unattractive hero cleans up so damn well with a shave and a bath that the self disguised "oh, so beautiful" heroine finally feels overshadowed by another person's looks-and a male's at that! I do hope that Charming the Prince fulfills its promise better than A BREATH OF MAGIC--more development of the historical context and its influence on the heroine's mind might have made that a great piece of writing instead of just another time travel thingy (yes, "thingy" is the just the word). Oh, and the fact that Medeiros' women aren't pillow wimps is a big plus for me. They're nowhere near as strong as Louise Erdrichs'Fluer in Tracks or Tales Of Burning Love, but Medeiros is on the right track by offering women with working brains.
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Summary: it was a great book
Review: i thought the book was romantic as well as funny i couldnt put it down until i was finsised
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Summary: A Knight To Remember
Review: Believe it or not, I got the inspiration for CHARMING THE PRINCE while I was watching an episode of XENA, WARRIOR PRINCESS. Xena's slovenly double, Meg, was rocking a baby's cradle with her foot while singing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" and drinking one as well. Hmmmm? I thought. What if I wrote a book about a woman who can't stand children (trust me--she has her reasons!)who just happens to fall in love with a man who has a dozen of them? What if this bold and mighty knight is afraid of nothing on earth--except for those unruly imps of his and falling in love with the bride he buys to care for them? Thus was born CHARMING THE PRINCE. Oops! Gotta run! XENA'S on and I need another idea!
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Summary: Historical Romance at it's best!
Review: Looking for a new kind of book to read, I picked up "Charming the Prince" at my local bookstore. As I do with all books before buying them I read the Prologue... and to my surprise, I found a seat in the big bookstore and kept reading!! I was 6 chapters into the story by the time I left the bookstore!! The story is enchanting and the caracters make your heart melt! I simply could not put this book down! This book was the first Historical Romance I ever had the pleasure of reading, and it got me hooked! I recommend it to anyone who is bored with modern romance stories. My copy of this book in paperback holds a place of honour in my library! A must read book!
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Summary: An enjoyable Cinderella tale plus. . .
Review: I have to admit, I wavered between a four and five star rating for this one. I love Teresa Medeiros's writing style, and I loved the poignancy of this tale (where Willow, the Cinderella of this tale, has always dreamed of her prince to rescue her from her wicked stepmother, only to find that her prince is not what she expected); however, Ms. Medeiros has a tendency to step out of reality in her stories, which she did to an overwhelming degree in this one. Sometimes this style works (as in Nobody's Darling), but here it does seem a little bit much.
First, what I liked - like I said, I love Teresa Medeiros's writing. Her prose flows smoothly and sweetly, gently enveloping the reader in a fantasy cloud of her choosing. She has also created a very likable heroine (Willow), who, after being married by proxy by the hero of our story, and hopes to finally find her prince who will love her, finds herself in a very different situation then she envisions. The first surprise is - he wasn't really looking for a wife - but for a mother for the twelve children that he already has! And to top it all off, once he sees her, he decides that he doesn't want her at all! And of course, there are a lot of funny side characters, especially the children - twelve children trying to make as much havoc as possible (and very often succeeding!)
Then there is the prince, I mean the hero, Bannor, who is actually quite likable, once you get past - say, the middle of the book - and he does turn into an exceptionally unselfish and sweet husband.
But I took off a star for the sense of unreality that pervades the entire book - an unreality that never quite goes away, even after all the explanations at the end, where everything gets tied up. I personally thought the explanations a little lame. I happen to be one of those readers that can take some unreality - I don't mind if this story can never have happened, if the author writes in a way that makes it believable - or sarcastic or funny - but this did not happen in this story.
Let's start with my first problem - a problem that I actually haven't seen mentioned yet. Bannor's father sired how many children - fifty or so? and that's the legit children. We are told that the amount of children he had that were not legitimate were probably twice that many. And out of all those children, and over the "real" sons, the king gives the castle to Bannor? And how exactly did he get into the kings amazingly good graces? I suppose by his fabulous strength, and prowess in battle, although the story doesn't say. Besides, where would a [...] child get the necessary training (or supplies)?
Then the children - I know that children can be exasperating, and hard to manage, but she keeps writing lines like - he went into battle against mighty enemies, but trembled before a far greater foe (the children). That's just a little hard to believe. Okay, maybe she's exaggerating a bit, but she keeps writing this over and over, it got a little hard to take. And anyway, I don't know how children were raised in the Middle Ages, but there doesn't seem to be a nanny, or anything, in charge of them. Even if they were supposed to be running free - well, you still need someone to take care of them - breakfast, lunch, supper, baths, etc. You'd think that with Bannor's wealth, he could afford to take one or two peasants and hire them to take care of the kids.
Come to think of it, Bannor really is a lousy father, isn't he? When the children misbehave, he doesn't seem to know how to react at all. They do all kinds of pranks, and he doesn't do a thing. He doesn't react to them at all. He doesn't even yell at them. I wonder why? And even when he explains why he doesn't discipline the kids - to me it seems more of a rationale than a real reason. That part of the story is a little unrealistic to me, too.
These are just a few examples. I can go on, but other reviewers have already done it for me. I'll just say that I love Teresa Medeiros, and I will definitey continue to read her books. I love the way she writes, and I found this book a very enjoyable read. Just do be prepared to do a little suspension of reality while you are reading this book.
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Summary: Cute Fairy Tale Featuring Lots of Kids
Review: "Charming the Prince" was pretty cute. At first, I was a little hesitant to read it, unsure if I wanted to read about a hero with kids (over 10 of them!). However, the kids make this story - starting from the first chapter in which we are introduced to Lord Bannor, who is being pursued by the evil enemy (namely, his children). The author had fun with this tongue-in-cheek story, not only in her descriptions of Willow's responses to her new family, but also how she treats Bannor's past and Willow's relatives, as well as Bannor's refusal to make love for fear of producing new children. I particularly liked how Bannor forgets which arm he's been injured on while Willow lovingly nurses his arrow wound. The only thing I didn't like was Willow's miracle recovery at the end - I actually found myself getting teary-eyed at the thought of her hurt, then - bam! - she's completely OK. That came off as too false and quick a resolution for me. But, overall, I enjoyed "Charming the Prince" immensely. I highly recommend it as a light, sweet fairytale of a romance.
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Summary: An Amazing Story!!!
Review: Oh my God! This is the firs of the five books I've read of hers and I must say...I was VERY SAD that it had to end (but VERY HAPPY how it ended.).
Although, there was not enogh romance for my liking, I still enjoyed reading about the lot (and I mean a WHOLE LOT) of Prince's childre. The pranks were great, the decloration of war was too funny, and when the hunter became the hunted was sextual.
I love this book from core to core.
Buy it! Read it! Enjoy it!
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