Charming the Prince

Rating:
Summary: TOTALLY 'lame'
Review: Sometimes I wonder if some of the book reviews online were written by the author or a friend of the author. This is the only book I've ever read only half way through and put it down, and the half I read was HARD to read. It is totally corny and awful. If you like a goofy book, this is the one for you.

Rating:
Summary: Yucky!!
Review: Yuk! - lots of cutesy kids
Yuk! - too, too saintly heroine
Yuk! - too predictable

Sorry, but this wasn't for me - what a let down after some of her other books. I agree with the other reviewers who wanted a good romantic novel with tension and spice between the hero and heroine as central to the plot. Please, please leave out the gushy, boring kids and one last point - if they had to be in it for whatever reason why, why so many of them for goodness sake? Being a father to so many made the hero completely unfanciable for me - an absolute requisite that I think most people would agree on??

Rating:
Summary: Disney with steamy scenes
Review: This was just too hokey for words (but, I'll try anyway). Too much focus was placed on the children. I read a romance novel for romance. Oftentimes there's a side plot to create conflict (a mystery or other problem), but the romance is always central to the novel. In this novel, the romance between the hero and heroine played second fiddle to the relationship between the children and their father & the heroine. Several chapters were devoted to a "battle" between the heroine and the children against the hero. Medeiros was trying to inject humor with this "battle," but it ended up as a hokey, Disney kind of humor that took up too much space and ended up being silly and frustrating.

I've read a few of Medeiros's novels. I think she has the potential to write a good romance, but she gets too caught up in trying to make the reader laugh, to the point that the joke goes on ad nauseum. If only she could keep the romance at center stage and stop trying so hard to be funny (& falling flat at that), I'd enjoy her novels.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely delightful and hilarious
Review: seeing a large warrior being brought to his knees by meddling children is always a good way to start off a book in my opinion. this book was fabulous and had me laughing to the point of tears most of the time. the romance is very well played out and flows easily throughout this novel. this is my very first book from Mrs Medeiros but it certainly will not be the last. Well done Teresa!

Rating:
Summary: The only book I've EVER read twice!!
Review: This book is the only one out 300 that I have ever read twice. It has every thing , but my favorite thing is the humor. It is just great fun. Teresa Medeiros has really ruined book reading for me because noone does it like she does.

Rating:
Summary: Poor...
Review: Charming the Prince wasn't anything worth getting excited over which is a shocker coming from Medeiros, who wrote amazing novels like, "Whisper of Roses" and "Lady of Conquest"...I found this novel entertaining when it came to the children and Bannor's reason for protecting them regardless of their real parentage in some of the cases. The name Bannor left a bad taste in my mouth and so did the , in my opinion, rote dialogue in parts of this novel...it was funny in some instances and just plain silly in others...not Medeiros' best effort by far! Please don't use this book as a tape measure to judge her storytelling skills...she is MUCH better! And the name...Bannor?? Whatever.

Rating:
Summary: Too many children--funny and emotionally satisfying
Review: Lord Bannor has defeated many enemies, but the dozen children waiting for him in his own castle are too much. Clearly they need a mother. Clearly the one thing he does not need is more children. The answer is obvious--a loveless marriage to a madona-type who will cherish the children and protect him from their exuberance.

Willow of Bedlington has gave up her childhood to raise her step-siblings, and the half-siblings that came after them. When a strange offer of marriage comes along, she thinks only of escape. She doesn't expect to find the prince of her dreams come true. Nor does Bannor expect this beautiful vision. In fact, a tempting, sexy wife is the farthest thing from his mind--or it would be if he could stop thinking about her.

Still, taming the small herd of children, bringing love into a family that Bannor has seen so rarely that he doesn't even know all the childrens' names is a challenge for both of them. A challenge that descends to all-out war before it can rise to sensual delights.

Author Teresa Medeiros delivers a funny, emotionally rewarding historical. Bannor, with his background as a bastard son and his life spent at war for his king is the perfect damaged hero. Willow is classic cinderella, but with the determination and decisiveness to be her own fairy godmother. CHARMING THE PRINCE is a definite keeper.

Rating:
Summary: Cinderella meets medieval fantasy or stepmother reality
Review: Charming the Prince is a sweet and funny, if slightly unrealistic, take on a medieval Cinderella meeting her prince. The hero - Lord Bannor the Bold, of Elsinore Castle [Hamlet, anyone?] - is a very fertile hero, so fertile that his children are his biggest problem. He has a parenting and discipline problem, so he sends off messengers to search for a suitable mother, er, wife, to manage his brood. Oh, and she must not be a beauty, because he wants no more children.

And so, Lady Willow is chosen to be his bride - entirely by mistake. She has hopes of a true Prince in need of her specifically, who will rescue her from a miserable drab existence as a medieval Cinderella from her remarkably fertile and poisonous stepmother. And she finds her Prince - except that he comes with several children, some of them infant-in-arms. Lord Bannor apparently is father to many bastards whom he takes in and raises as his own. And his children are all sorely in need of discipline.

But they also desperately crave their father's love and attention. And so a plan of action begins, with some remarkable reverse psychology used in the process. Just when things are beginning to look up, Cinderella, er, Willow's wicked step-mother and step-brother show up, complete with her ineffectual father.

This was fun reading, and I smiled and laughed at points. It is however not a book that I would really consider re-reading or keeping in my collection. Perhaps it is the subject matter, perhaps it is the feeling that I failed to identify with two beautiful persons - the hero Bannor or the heroine Willow (despite all of Bannor's good points).

If you like mildly wacky humor, especially situational humor, this book is fast and fun reading. If you always wanted to read a book from a stepmother's point of view, this is also a great book (especially since it combines that with humor). A good (if serious) Regency romance from the stepmother's point of view is Catherine Blair's A FAMILY FOR GILLIAN.

If you detest children in romances, or detest a plethora of Marys and Margarets, avoid this book, however! [You knew that, right?]

If you are a fan of Cinderella-themed novels and romances, do try this book. [There are other romances using the same theme, but none set in the Regency period that I can recall]. Fans of the film EVER AFTER (starring Drew Barrymore) might want to try this book for the wacky humor, and the unexpected behavior of one step-sister.

Rating:
Summary: a very enjoyable read
Review: I really enjoy this authors books. They are always full of humor and tenderness. I lookforward to each one.
This one is the story of Lord Bannor who has a dozen children who are driving him nuts. He decides that they need a new mother and sends his steward to get him a wife. He comes back with a new wife alright but one that Bannor can barely resist. She is the beautiful Lady Willow. Lady Willow has been treated by her stepmother and step siblings like a servant. She is thrilled to get married and away but soon finds that all she is to be to her husband is a caretaker for his children. She sets out to change this and inlists the help of the children.
Bannor cannot resist her and even though he fears making her pregnant wants her very badly. The love scenes are tender and make one want to sigh.

I enjoyed this book very much and would recommend it to anyone who wants a light read for a rainy or sunny afternoon.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: A thoroughly charming, funny, delightful medieval romance. If you haven't read CHARMING THE PRINCE yet, you don't know what you're missing. Run, buy, read...you won't be sorry.